Thread: Engineered vs real wood floor ?

OK, another decision, which I thought was settled. My wife wants to go with real wood floors upstairs. PD House is now suggesting we consider engineered wood floors upstairs.

I know the engineered wood floors can be strong and all. But, I still have the memory, back with the ex, we had a Pergo brand floor put in the kitchen. When things got arranged again, it turned out that the fridge was pinching the supply line, coming up from downstairs, for the ice maker. It developed a very small leak and ended up doing quite a bit of damage to the Pergo floor. So I'm leery of how well that type of floor will hold up in the humid tropics. We will also have 2 bathrooms up there. They will obviously be tiled, but still wet feet and stuff will get on the floor outside the bathrooms.

I don't have the details about the floor my wife wants other than she tells me it's real wood. PD House is going to send me details about the engineered floor. I think it's literature from Armstrong.

Any thought either way? And no, we are NOT doing a parquet floor. Ugh!!!

Thanks again in advance !

Steve

My Mooban house has laminate wood and I dont like it. It doesnt feel right or sound right.
I would prefer proper floorboards on battens.

i don't like the feel of wood imitations, i prefer real wood and in large, thick and wide pcs. in the recent architecture trade show in muang thong, i came across a vendor who sells rubber tree flooring which is available also in quite large tiles of up to 32x250x1200 mm at 1,600bht/sqm.

I would certainly go for real wood just because the pattern of every single plank is different.

I buy ancient planks for any flooring - they come in any size and are well matured

any marks/holes etc are all part of the character

difficult to find though, but fun looking

Thanks all. The wife is keen on natural wood. I've heard good things about engineered wood, but I still have that bad memory of that pergo floor with the ex here in the USA. I agree that the engineered wood surface tends to look a little sterile. I tend to favor the natural wood as well. Sorry Dr Andy, my wife doesn't have the time to go searching for ancient planks.

Also, because we are not going with the wood laminate, PD House has to discount even further. We think that is part of it. They are already losing a bit of money for being 7 months late.

Steve

There is no substitution for real wood IMO.

^ there is a big difference between laminates and engineered wood

Originally Posted by DrAndy

I buy ancient planks for any flooring - they come in any size and are well matured

any marks/holes etc are all part of the character

difficult to find though, but fun looking

Wish I could find a cheap place to buy those, last month I was in Ayuthaya and they sold Teak planks (about 20-25cm wide and 1cm thick) for 429B per plank. Too expensive for a poor guy like me

Be sure to treat real wood for termites otherwise.... I don't think termites like "engineered" wood.

Wood on concrete is not wood flooring! Wood on wooden battens or joists is. As has been said wood on concrete doesn't feel the same.

The wood will be upstairs, not on the ground floor. There is a whole anti-termite grid laid out under the house. Too late about the concrete...LOL

Steve

Originally Posted by stevefarang

The wife is keen on natural wood.

I wish mine was; she wants Tiles throughout.

I lived in a place in Bkk for two years that had parguet style flooring - twas nice, the cats liked it; they could slide for metres...

Wood is best, always.I am living in an apartment on level 4 in phnom penh near the river floored with wood grain vinyl planks laid on the old slab.
It is cheap, easy to clean, soft on the body and looks good

Originally Posted by Necron99

My Mooban house has laminate wood and I dont like it. It doesnt feel right or sound right.
I would prefer proper floorboards on battens.

Seems to be the going trend these days [laminated].....as it's cheaper and relatively easy to install.

I, too, definitely prefer real wood floors - if you are looking for wooden-like flooring.

If you are choosing laminate wood flooring, might as well lay a nice ceramic down - because both are very close.

I was looking at some Padauk (badoo) wood in a reclaim site today. 2.5 metres long, 30 cms wide, 2 cms thick. All clean and straight. 250 Baht each. Problem was he only had 12 of them and I need more.
You really should spend a little time and look around. The reclaim sites are everywhere.
Just shave a mm off of these old teak planks and find gold.
Regards.

Originally Posted by oddsock

I was looking at some Padauk (badoo) wood in a reclaim site today. 2.5 metres long, 30 cms wide, 2 cms thick. All clean and straight. 250 Baht each. Problem was he only had 12 of them and I need more.
You really should spend a little time and look around. The reclaim sites are everywhere.
Just shave a mm off of these old teak planks and find gold.
Regards.

Where is this reseller? I'd like to buy them, so cheap!

I'm in Chiang Mai. The reclaimer is on the 121 outer ring road. There's one on the 1317 who just does doors and windows, thousands of them. Some of them are looking to make a quick Baht, most are great value.
Regards.