5 Smart Ways to Save While Buying Quality Engineered Wood Flooring
Introduction: When it comes to luxury residential projects, choosing the right wood for flooring, decks, and facades is crucial for both aesthetics and budget. Coming to indoor wood floors, Engineered wooden flooring is a popular choice due to its stability, durability and aesthetic appeal. However, it can be pricey. Here are five tips to help you make smart, economical decisions when purchasing engineered wood without compromising on the overall quality.
1. Understand Wood Grading
What It Means: Wood grading is the classification of wood based on its appearance and quality. Higher grades are more expensive because they have a more uniform look and fewer imperfections like knots, worm holes etc.
How to Save: Opt for a nature or rustic grade engineered wooden flooring for areas where the floor might be mainly covered with rugs or furniture. These grades often have more character and despite the imperfections, look awesome as wood is a natural product and variations and imperfections are a part and parcel of its appeal. These gradings can be significantly cheaper than select grade wood. A grade with a lot of knots does not necessarily mean lower durability. It is mainly the look. If that works with your interior design concept, go for it and save!
Select & Better grade
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1 Natur grade
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Tavern grade
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2. Choose Random Lengths
What It Means: Engineered wood flooring comes in various lengths. Random lengths are mixed and can range from short to long pieces in each package.
How to Save: Choosing random lengths can reduce waste and cost as they allow for a more natural look and less cutting.
A random length engineered wood flooring!
Photo credit – © Coswick
3. Go for Smaller Widths
What It Means: The width of the boards can influence the price. Wider boards are often more sought after for larger spaces and hence more expensive.
How to Save: Select narrower boards for areas where you want to create a cozy feel. Smaller planks can tend to make an area busy particularly with a lower grading so keep the rest of interior design calmer. They can be more cost-effective and still deliver a beautiful result. Plus, they can make smaller rooms appear larger.
A room with narrow-width engineered wood flooring
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4. Use widely available Wood Species
What It Means: Wood species like American Walnut and Teak tend to come with a higher price tag than say Oak due to their restricted availability and high demand for premium projects. They are sought after due to their natural brown and golden color however Oak can also be stained to create a similar if not an exact effect. Also, the lower price tag of Oak does not denote that Oak is an inferior species. It has a beautiful grain, is sturdy and the most popular wood for engineered wood floors across the world. There are other nuances to selecting Oak such as the way the oak veneer (the top layer of the engineered wood floor plank) is cut but at Span Floors we only use top quality European sawn oak which gives a great result.
How to Save: Consider stained Oak engineered wooden flooring for your project instead of the pricier wood species.
American Walnut
Teak
Oak
5. Use thinner top layer
What It Means: Engineered wood floors are made of multiple layers. The top layer is generally the most expensive part. The thicker it is, the more expensive the floor. This is not to say that the other, lower layers do not matter but that is a topic for another blog.
How to Save: Consider investing in a top layer of around 3mm. A good engineered floor with a 3 mm top layer would be good enough for many years. As a broad thumb rule, if you decide to sand (refinish the floor when it has become dull or scratched after years of intensive use) your floor may, after 10-15 years need sanding and recoat (it is not necessary as it all depends on the maintenance), it will only shave off about 1 mm from the top. You will still have about 2 mm left. This can be refinished and depending on the coating you use, it will be good for another 10-15 years. Do not unnecessarily be dragged into buying a thicker top layer as you might decide to replace your floor due to newer trends before you are able to wear out even the 3 mm top layer.
3-layered Engineered Wood Flooring with 3.2mm top layer!
Photo credit – © Coswick
Conclusion: By following these tips, you can significantly reduce the cost of your engineered wood purchases without compromising on quality or style. Remember, it’s about finding the right balance between aesthetics and budget. You will not go wrong in following the above tips if you invest in a good quality product from a reputed vendor. Reach out to us at +91 9971509922 or +91 9212096387 if you have any questions or would like to explore our large collection of engineered wooden flooring products.
Warm regards,
Satinder Chawla
Founder