Is Bamboo Better Than Engineered Hardwood

Laminate floors are made of plastic layers glued together while engineered hardwood floors are made of a solid wood top layer glued to an hdf or multi ply wood substrate.

Is bamboo better than engineered hardwood.

It is always nailed down to the subfloor a process that requires some skill. Solid wood flooring comes in long planks usually made of a hardwood species. Between engineered hardwood and bamboo which is the most inexpensive flooring for budget minded shoppers. A thinner engineered hardwood flooring costs about 3 to 5 per square foot.

In fact its costs are similar to those of solid hardwood. Although it is commonly grouped with hardwood flooring bamboo is not actually a wood but rather a woody grass. The cost is generally less than traditional hardwood and like engineered hardwood bamboo flooring is easy to install for diyers. The finest solid hardwood costs 10 or more a few dollars more costly than the best engineered flooring.

Engineered hardwoods with a medium thickness may cost between 5 and 10 per square foot while the highest quality flooring costs between 8 and 13 per square. Engineered wood flooring costs considerably more than bamboo. This is because trees take a long time to grow with most species used in flooring taking 40 years or more to grow to maturity. However bamboo does have a few detracting points.

Engineered bamboo also called stranded bamboo flooring material is more durable than natural bamboo but is highly processed from its natural state being stripped boiled cut bonded and pressed. Solid hardwood can be refinished more than engineered hardwood. The price of solid hardwood flooring is slightly higher than engineered flooring though both start at 2 to 3 per square foot. Solid hardwood vs engineered hardwood.

It is milled with tongues and grooves on opposite edges so that the boards interlock when installed. Some people assume engineered and laminate floors are the same thing but they are not. It is harder than most hardwoods which makes it extremely durable. Bamboo a native plant to tropical regions with heavy rainfalls grows much faster than hardwood and has a different cellular structure.

Additionally bamboo is termite resistant and comes in a huge choice of stains and plank widths. It s a bamboo flooring vs. Lighter colored bamboo is harder than darker bamboo as the carbonization process used to darken the wood makes it softer. Like bamboo it is readily available.

With or without a factory finish. Hardwood engineered flooring showdown. Bamboo is not wood. The biggest advantage of hardwood is that it can be sanded down and refinished more times than bamboo particularly if the wood is solid.

The harder the material the better it resists dents especially if it has a durable factory baked finish as do most bamboo and engineered hardwood boards.