Eco Friendly Flooring Overview
Solid Wood Flooring
Solid
wood flooring is milled from lumber and each plank is a single species
and a single piece of wood throughout its thickness and width. It
is commonly available unfinished and factory-prefinished, and the
standard thickness is 3/4”. Solid wood flooring that is 2-1/4” wide
(or less) is called strip flooring, while solid wood flooring that
is 3” to 5” wide is called plank flooring. Solid wood flooring 6”
and wider is generally referred to as wide plank flooring. Solid
wood flooring in widths wider than 6” or 7” are rare. Solid wood
in those widths is available but it is not stable and shrinks or
expands significantly with changes in relative humidity. The wider
the board, the more susceptible it is to expansion and contraction.
This makes wide plank floors quicker to develop gaps under dry conditions
and cupping or buckling under wet conditions. With wide plank solid
flooring, many installers choose to both glue and nail the flooring
to help keep the planks flat and in place.
Engineered Wood Flooring
Unlike
solid wood flooring, engineered wood flooring is made up of multiple
layers and components. There are many different types and formats
of engineered wood flooring. All types of engineered wood flooring
have two basic components. The first is a wear layer or surface
layer. This is the wood that is seen and walked on in the installed
floor and therefore typically gives the product its name (a maple
wear layer on a pine substrate is called “engineered maple flooring”).
The second component is a substrate, or the platform that supports
the wear layer and can be made up of various materials and/or layers.
In at least one of those layers, the grain orientation runs perpendicular to the grain of the wear layer. The wear layer of engineered wood flooring can be sawn from lumber, and the substrate can be made from lumber or from composite materials. Wear layers and substrate materials can also be made of veneer.
Sliced
and Rotary Veneers
A veneer is a
relatively thin sheet of wood that is sliced either from lumber,
half- or quarter-logs, or peeled in a rotary process from whole
logs. In both cases, the process is performed with an extremely
sharp knife and generates no sawdust and little waste. Sliced veneer generally goes into high-end applications such as
architectural paneling, custom casework and furniture, and so forth.
It is rarely used in flooring.
Rotary veneer is peeled from whole logs. The log is placed on a
machine that is basically a large lathe and spun at high speeds
before engaging with a sharp knife that runs the length of the log
and ‘peels’ the veneer away in a continuous sheet, until all that
remains is a core. Because the process is perfectly circular, while
logs are not, the knife wanders in and out of the growth rings,
producing graining that is often wild and random. While rotary peeling
is the most efficient way to produce veneer and peeled veneer can
be thicker than sliced veneer, because of its wild graining, rotary
veneer is rarely used in architectural paneling. Rather, it is used
for the plies of construction plywood and for less expensive engineered
wood flooring.
Rotary Veneer
Rotary veneer is peeled from whole logs. The log is placed on a machine that is basically a large lathe and spun at high speeds before engaging with a sharp knife that runs the length of the log and ‘peels’ the veneer away in a continuous sheet, until all that remains is a core. Because the process is perfectly circular, while logs are not, the knife wanders in and out of the growth rings, producing graining that is often wild and random. While rotary peeling is the most efficient way to produce veneer and peeled veneer can be thicker than sliced veneer, because of its wild graining, rotary veneer is rarely used in architectural paneling. Rather, it is used for the plies of construction plywood and for less expensive engineered wood flooring.
Solid vs. Engineered Wood Flooring
Both solid and engineered wood flooring have a place in the marketplace. Each has its appropriate application, depending on project conditions and customer priorities. That being said, there are a number of persistent myths and misconceptions surrounding engineered wood flooring. Solid wood flooring is considered by some to represent real quality in wood flooring, while engineered wood flooring is sometimes thought to be a cheap substitute for the genuine article. While it is true that there are cheap and low quality engineered wood flooring products on the market, there are many flaws in this conception as it applies to EcoTimber engineered wood flooring and other quality brands.
The great advantage
of solid wood flooring over engineered is that the solid planks
almost always have a thicker wear surface (the wood above the toungue
& groove), allowing for additional sanding and refinishing.
3/4” solid wood has about 1/4” of wood above the T&G, which
in most cases will allow for 3 to 5 sandings. Most engineered wood
floors will allow for 2 to 3 sandings, depending on the thickness
of the wear layer, the hardness of the wood and the skill of the
craftsman.
Benefits of Engineered Flooring
- Cost: Engineered
wood flooring is generally less expensive to install than solid
wood flooring, especially when it is installed directly over concrete
subfloors. Solid wood requires a plywood subfloor, as it generally
has to be nailed down. If a jobsite has concrete subfloors, then
purchasing and installing plywood on top of the concrete in order
to accept solid wood floors adds significantly to costs and uses
extra resources.
- Stability: Because
of its layered construction, engineered flooring expands and contracts
less than solid wood flooring.
-
Versatility: Engineered
wood flooring can be floated over and glued to concrete and other
non-wood subfloors as well as nailed or stapled down to wood subfloors.
- Other Benefits: The other benefits of engineered wood flooring include their efficient use of resources. Engineered flooring uses high quality wood only where it counts, which is in the visible wear surface of the floor. As the diagram below shows, the raw material yield is far superior. In the substrate, engineered wood flooring generally uses relatively abundant grades and fast-growing species of wood. Solid wood flooring is generally all higher grades of a desirable species, which are a precious and limited resource. From the tongue & groove down, which is usually about 2/3rds of the product, this precious wood is essentially wasted.