NEWROB – Yes I know.

JULIANS – You can tell that engineered floors were sanded and sealed before they were installed. Every board on an engineered floor casts a reflection in a slightly different direction. A solid hardwood floor has a continuity of surface and reflection if it is sanded and finished in place, as it should be. A solid floor can also be refinished, you may struggle with refinishing an engineered floor more than once or twice, if at all. Engineered floors sometimes feel ‘plastiky’ and sound ‘plastiky’ underfoot. I am an architect and have never seen an engineered floor that looks or feels as good as a real wood floor. If you are paying the money for a very posh engineered floor then you may as well get solid wood.

Why on earth should a solid wood floor be sanded in situ? If it’s made well it won’t need at finishing once fitted.

Sorry but you’re talking a load of crap right through your post. I’ve got both in my house, both 20mm thickness, the engineered stuff has a 6mm solid wood top. There is no way you can tell the difference between the two.

You can tell that engineered floors were sanded and sealed before they were installed. Every board on an engineered floor casts a reflection in a slightly different direction. A solid hardwood floor has a continuity of surface and reflection if it is sanded and finished in place, as it should be.

Hmm, interesting, and your reasoning make sense to me , but I think it would take a very expert eye to spot the difference, I certainly cant tell any difference. and even then the difference should only be apparent if the solid floor was laid , then sanded and sealed. I’d guess that most are finished before being laid.

Good view point nonetheless.

There’s going to be variation in the quality of solid, engineered and laminate floors, and variation in terms of the fit and finish too. I have solid wood throughout most of the house but would consider refurbishing it in places to get a better finish.

NEWROB – If you want the best finish it should be sanded in situ. Of course it doesn’t have to be done like this but in my experience this method gives the best finish. I bet you a quid I could tell you which floor was which. I suppose I just detest fakery and modern construction methods as well.

The nicest timber floor I have ever seen was reclaimed solid flooring from a school that was installed glued and screwed (exposed screws) in approx. 3 inch wide strips. Beautiful. Part of the problem is I think that most people have not seen what is possible and are therefore prepared to put up with all the crap flooring and installation that is peddled these days.

We did Amtico. Interestingly people comment on how nice our new wood floor is…
The need to go to specsavers.

We had Karndean ‘stone’ with their grey plastic grout lines. It looked really good and wore really well but I was never under any illusion it looked like real stone. People were regularly surprised though – always amazed me. .

A solid floor can also be refinished, you may struggle with refinishing an engineered floor more than once or twice, if at all.

All depends how thick the wood is. I think ours is 12mm, which is a lot of sanding to wear through….

We had engineered wood put down in our lounge and hall, we wanted it to be stable so went for that over solid wood. Laminate was never in scope

All depends how thick the wood is. I think ours is 12mm, which is a lot of sanding to wear through….

Is that the total thickness of the floor boards, or the thickness of the finishing layer that you can sand?

Is that the total thickness of the floor boards, or the thickness of the finishing layer that you can sand?

No idea, was about 20 years ago…

Will take a look tonight if I remember…

However, I have sanded some big iron drop dents out of it, so there’s several mm of real wood there at least…

All depends how thick the wood is. I think ours is 12mm, which is a lot of sanding to wear through….

Possible but unlikely. When we were buying ours the wear layers were mostly either 4 or 6mm. That’s more than enough to sand to take out scratches a couple of times and I’d be surprised If you’d be wanting to do it within 10 years or even longer. Even if you’d got solid wood you’d not want to take more than the thickness of the wear layer on engineered off it. Big dents you’re better off filling.