Exploring below the surfaces of Engineered Timber Flooring.

Engineered Timber Flooring, the basics.

The manufacturing process of engineered wood flooring starts by gluing together several woodpiles with real hardwood veneer glued on top. The plywood underneath is referred to as the core board. The core board is made by stacking the piles on top of another in contrasting directions and then pasted together. The crossing of piles makes the completed planks more stable than solid wood planks, this means that they are less likely to contract or expand in response to changes in humidity and temperature of the space. The added fundamental stability gives engineered floor a unique property where it can be installed over concrete subfloors, over an in-floor radiant heating system and below grade. An increase in number of piles of plywood would mean a more stable floor, which subsequently increases the overall cost of the flooring. An alternative to plywood core board is High Density Fiberboard (HDF), these are even more stable than its plywood core board counterpart.

Installation process

Installing engineered flooring is not as complicated as it seems, in fact it’s a rather simple process. The most common installation approaches include floating floors and glued. Using the floating technique, boards are hinged together using a tongue and groove method and occasionally stuck to each other, although this is not always compulsory.

It is traditional to include an expansion space of approximately 10mm around the edges of floating engineered timber floors to sufficiently account for any fluctuations in shape over the years. An alternative method of installation that is commonly used is to stick the engineered timber floor to the subfloor. These methods allow the floorboards to attach directly to the concrete slab of the structure negating the use of nails or any other preparation, which saves substantial time and money during the installation process.

Engineered Timber Flooring at Renaissance Parquet

We have access to a new range of engineered floors that is the closest alternative to solid timber: Triple French Oak Engineered, composed of 3 solid Oak layers glued and pressed together.

It can be wider, longer and thinner than solid boards without the risks of cracking, shrinking. Its characteristics made the product cheaper and easier to install.

Equally, we can manufacture engineered stairs and risers to match your floor finish.