NYC Engineered Wood FlooringEngineered Wood FlooringEngineered wood makes a wonderful compromise for those who love the look of real wood but want something a little more durable. Engineered wood is made of thin sheets of a material like plywood glued together with a top veneer of solid wood and a laminate finish. More durable and stable than hardwood, engineered wood can easily be laid over concrete without warping, making it a reasonable choice for use in basements or any other room prone to moisture and humidity. The durable finishes reduce the risk of scratches, but if scratches do occur, engineered wood NYC flooring can be sanded one to three times. (It’s a good idea to hire a professional sander, though, because it is quite easy to sand through the wood top to the plywood base.) Engineered wood is becoming more and more popular because of its stability, and, because it uses less valuable resources than traditional solid hardwood with its plywood base.As the leading supplier in the home renovation industry we can deliver any type of NYC flooring from any manufacturer.

Please browse through our well-known engineered wood NJ flooring manufacturers on this site or visit one of our three showrooms to find the perfect floor for your home. If there’s something you don’t see here or in our showrooms, just ask us and we’ll find it for you.FLOORINGHARDWOOD FLOORINGENGINEERED WOOD FLOORINGLAMINATE FLOORINGCERAMIC TILENATURAL STONE FLOORINGENGINEERED STONE FLOORINGGREEN FLOORINGWHEN Joshua Davis and Rebecca Ascher, partners at Ascher Davis Architects in Manhattan, were renovating a 19th-century house on Nantucket, they needed new floors that would complement the vintage architecture. At the same time, they had to satisfy their clients, whose many requirements included floors that would not warp or squeak. The solution, it turned out, was to avoid “solid wood” — the tongue-and-groove boards that have been standard for centuries — in favor of a thin layer of oak, mounted on a base of plywood. This kind of product, known as an engineered floor, is made not in a sawmill but in a factory, where the layers are glued together, cut to size and finished before being shipped to the site. 

The newest engineered wood floors — which offer many advantages, supporters say — have little in common with the simulated-wood or veneer-topped products sold at discount outlets. With top layers that are made of hardwood and are up to one-quarter-inch thick, the engineered floors are marketed to some of New York’s most exacting designers by companies like Relative Space, on Bond Street, and LV Wood, in the Flatiron district, at prices comparable to those charged for solid wood floors. Patio Chair Slip CoversBoth firms have flourished in Manhattan, where the concrete slab construction of new condominium buildings creates demand for high-quality floors that don’t require subfloors. Weight Loss Coach Phoenix“It doesn’t make sense, in a new building, to put in a plywood subfloor and then put another wood floor on top of it,” said Tyler Greenberg, a principal in Relative Space. Boho Outdoor Furniture

“It’s a disaster environmentally because you’re using so much more material, and you’re losing ceiling height for no good reason.” An engineered floor, less than an inch thick, can be glued directly to the concrete slab. At Relative Space, engineered floors, most of them made in Italy and Germany, sell for as much as the most expensive solid floors; one product, at about $100 a square foot, is finished off with a sprinkling of 24-karat gold. Mr. Greenberg said the price changes weekly, depending on the price of gold. On Nantucket, Mr. Davis and Ms. Ascher weren’t looking for an unusual finish, but they were looking for a very high-quality floor. Toward that end, an engineered floor allowed them to inspect the finish of every board before it was installed. The product they chose, oak with a hand-scraped finish, was made by Parkett Flooring of Toronto. Other designers turn to engineered floors when they need planks wider than six or eight inches. A solid wood floor composed of too many wide boards may become unstable through expansion and contraction.

But with an engineered floor, the stability of the thickest layer — plywood or composite board — keeps it “from shrinking and buckling and moving around,” said James Caroll, who owns LV Wood with his father, Jim.  Mr. Greenberg said he can provide boards up to 18 inches wide and 35 inches long, dimensions that are almost impossible with solid wood. In addition to the stability problem, “It’s hard to find a tree that would allow for it, without it being criminal,” he said. Still, as recently as five years ago, Mr. Davis said, he and Ms. Ascher avoided engineered floors because “they had a plastic-y look that we abhorred.” Brad Ford, a prominent Manhattan designer, just completed a house on Long Island with engineered floors from LV Wood, and said he thinks that, among those who haven’t seen engineered floors lately, the products get a bum rap.  Mr. Greenberg said there is something of a generation gap, with younger architects seeing the virtues of engineered floors before their more established elders. 

Then there’s Clodagh, the veteran Manhattan designer who is an expert on natural surfaces. She said she had recently begun using engineered floors in residential interiors because they’re finally able to fool her. “I can’t always tell the difference between engineered and solid wood floors,” she said. Her one concern about engineered floors is that they can’t be refinished as many times as solid wood, because sanding the top layer more than once or twice may expose the base layer underneath. Lee F. Mindel, an architect with Shelton, Mindel & Associates, said that his Manhattan firm, which is known for high-end residences, “still prefers solid floors, since they can tolerate refinishing.” Solid wood floors “have stood the test of time,” he said, noting that such durability is ecologically beneficial. It is true, Mr. Mindel said, that he has used engineered floors (which he refers to, irreverently, as B.L.T. sandwiches) in boats and airplanes, where thickness and weight are crucial.

But, for most residential applications, he wrote in an e-mail, “There ain’t nothing like the real thing.”  Supporters of engineered floors respond that there are only so many times you can sand even the best solid wood floors before the surface starts to look a little ragged, as the tongue-and-groove sections of the boards are exposed. They also note that engineered floors aren’t subject to the “cupping” or “crowning” (respectively, concave or convex warping) that are major complaints about traditional wood floors; this quality makes them valuable in places with much moisture and in new condo buildings, where large windows mean that every flaw will be seen under bright light. They can also be precut to fit rooms precisely, avoiding the possibility of jagged edges, a big advantage in dwellings without baseboard moldings.  Then there are the environmental benefits. Because the top layer of an engineered floor is at most one-quarter-inch thick, a piece of wood that would produce one solid floorboard can yield four or more engineered boards.