What hardwood flooring actually is
Hardwood means a floor whose walking surface is a solid piece of timber. That sounds obvious until you start shopping, because half the products in a showroom labelled "wood look" have no wood in them at all. Two genuine types are worth knowing.
Solid hardwood is a single piece of timber, normally three quarters of an inch thick, milled with a tongue and groove and nailed down to a wood subfloor. Engineered hardwood puts a real wood wear layer on top of a cross-laminated plywood core. Because those core plies run at right angles to each other, the board fights its own tendency to swell across the grain. That is the entire reason engineered exists, and it is why it goes places solid wood cannot.
Not looks. Both types can carry the exact same white oak veneer and be indistinguishable underfoot. What separates them is moisture and how the floor meets the structure beneath it. Below grade, over concrete, or over radiant heat, engineered wins. On a dry wood subfloor above grade where you want maximum refinishing life, solid wins.
Which rooms hardwood belongs in
Living rooms, dining rooms, halls, offices, bedrooms and stairs. Anywhere the floor is going to be looked at as much as walked on, and anywhere you want the space to read as one continuous surface rather than a series of separate rooms.
Full bathrooms and laundry rooms are the exceptions. It is not that wood dissolves on contact with water. It is that standing water sitting in a seam overnight will lift the grain and swell the edge, and in a room where that is a normal Tuesday, you are buying a repair. Put tile in the wet rooms and run hardwood everywhere else. Kitchens sit in between: plenty of hardwood kitchens hold up for decades, and the deciding factor is usually whether the household mops up promptly or leaves it.
How the two types compare
| Characteristic | Solid hardwood | Engineered hardwood |
|---|---|---|
| Construction | One piece of timber through the full thickness | Real wood wear layer over a cross-laminated plywood core |
| Typical thickness | Around 3/4 inch | 3/8 to 3/4 inch, with a 2 to 6 mm wear layer |
| Refinishing | Several full sandings over its life | Depends entirely on wear layer thickness |
| Below grade | Not recommended | Possible with a passing moisture test and a vapour barrier |
| Over concrete | Needs a built-up wood subfloor first | Glue-down or floating, directly over a prepared slab |
| Radiant heat | Generally unsuitable | Suitable when the manufacturer approves it |
| Seasonal movement | Noticeable gapping and cupping in dry or humid swings | Substantially more stable |
| Installation methods | Nail or staple down | Glue, nail, staple or float depending on the product |
Durability, and what actually damages a wood floor
Two different properties get confused here. Species hardness governs denting. Finish quality governs scratching. They are not the same thing, and a floor can be excellent at one and poor at the other.
Denting comes from point loads: a dropped pan, a chair leg without a felt pad, a stiletto heel. Species like hickory and white oak resist it well. Softer species like American cherry and pine mark easily, which some people happily accept as character and others regret within a month.
Scratching comes from grit dragged across the surface, which is why an entry mat does more for a wood floor than almost anything else you can buy. Finish sheen changes how much of it you see. A high-gloss floor is a mirror, and mirrors show everything. Matte and wire-brushed finishes scatter light and hide fine scratching so well that the same wear pattern becomes close to invisible.
Sunlight. Direct sun changes the colour of wood over time, and anything sitting on the floor acts as a mask. Move a rug after two years in a south-facing room and you will find its outline permanently recorded in the floor. Rotating rugs and using window film on the worst-exposed rooms prevents it. Nothing fixes it afterwards short of a refinish.
How we install it
The visible part of a hardwood installation is a small fraction of the job. Most of the outcome is decided before a single finished board goes down.
Subfloor assessment
We check flatness against the manufacturer's tolerance, look for movement and squeaks, and take moisture readings of both the subfloor and the wood. If the numbers are out, they get corrected. This is the step that separates a floor that is still tight in fifteen years from one that gaps in its first winter. Our subfloor preparation page covers what that correction involves.
Acclimation
Boards are delivered ahead of installation and left in the space, unwrapped, so their moisture content drifts toward the conditions they will live in. Wood installed too wet shrinks and gaps. Wood installed too dry swells and cups. Neither is fixable later without pulling the floor.
Racking and fastening
Before anything is fastened, boards get laid out dry so that colour, grain and board length distribute across the room instead of clustering. End joints are staggered so the eye does not catch a repeating pattern. Then boards are nailed, stapled or glued depending on the product and the subfloor, with an expansion gap around the entire perimeter that the trim later covers.
Transitions and trim
Doorways, thresholds and any change in material get a proper transition rather than a strip of moulding hiding a bad cut. Registers are cut around, not covered. Shoe moulding or base goes on last.
Looking after it
- Sweep or vacuum on a hard-floor setting. Grit is the enemy, not water.
- Damp mop with a cleaner made for wood finishes. Never wet mop, and never use vinegar, ammonia or steam, all of which attack the finish.
- Felt pads under every furniture leg, replaced when they wear through.
- Keep indoor humidity in a reasonable band year round. Wide seasonal swings are what open gaps.
- Recoat the finish before it wears through to bare wood. A recoat is a fraction of the cost of a full sand and refinish.
Style options worth knowing
Board width changes a room more than colour does. Narrow strip flooring reads as traditional and busy. Wide plank, anything over five inches, reads calm and contemporary and makes a small room feel larger because there are fewer lines in it.
Surface texture is the other lever. Smooth and sanded is the classic look. Wire-brushed pulls out the soft grain for a subtle relief that hides wear. Hand-scraped is heavier and more rustic, and it dates faster than the other two.
On finish, matte and satin have replaced gloss almost entirely, for the practical reason covered above. Site-finished floors let you match a stain exactly and produce an unbroken surface with no bevels between boards; factory-finished boards come with a tougher cured coating and get the room back sooner.
If hardwood is not the right answer
Sometimes it is not, and it is cheaper to hear that now. If the room floods, has a slab with a moisture problem, or takes constant heavy traffic with no tolerance for marking, look at luxury vinyl plank for the waterproof core, or laminate for a harder wear surface at lower cost. Neither can be refinished, which is the trade you are making. For bedrooms and stairs where warmth and quiet matter more than the surface itself, carpet still does something wood cannot.
We would rather tell you that up front than install a floor that fights its room. If you want the options laid side by side, the flooring comparison puts all five together.
Common questions about hardwood
Is engineered hardwood real wood?
Yes. The top layer is a solid slice of the species you chose, and it is what you see and walk on. Underneath sits a cross-laminated plywood core that resists the seasonal expansion which makes solid boards cup and gap. It is a construction difference, not a materials substitution.
How many times can hardwood be refinished?
Solid three-quarter inch hardwood has enough material above the tongue for several full sandings across its life. Engineered boards are limited by wear layer thickness. A two millimetre layer will usually take one light refinish, while four to six millimetres behaves much closer to solid wood. Ask for the wear layer measurement in millimetres, not a marketing grade name.
Can hardwood go in a basement?
Solid hardwood should not go below grade, because a concrete slab releases moisture vapour continuously even when it feels dry. Engineered hardwood can work there when a moisture test comes back within tolerance and the correct vapour barrier goes in. Skipping the moisture test is the reason most failed basement wood floors failed.
Does hardwood need to acclimate before installation?
Yes, and it is not a formality. Boards sit in the space so their moisture content settles toward the conditions of the room. Installing wood that is wetter or drier than its future environment is the most common cause of gapping and cupping in the first year, and it is not covered by any warranty.
Is hardwood a bad choice with dogs?
Not automatically. Species hardness matters more than the fact of having a dog. Hickory and white oak resist denting considerably better than pine or American cherry. A wire-brushed or matte finish also hides fine scratching far better than high gloss. Keep nails trimmed and put a mat at the door they come in through.
Can you install hardwood over my existing floor?
Rarely, and we would want to see it first. Nail-down solid hardwood needs to fasten into a proper wood subfloor, so whatever is on top usually comes out. Some engineered products can go over sound, flat, well-bonded existing material. Height at doorways and appliance clearances often decide it before anything else does. Our floor removal service handles the tear-out when it is needed.