Hardwood Flooring near you

Solid hardwood is milled from a single piece of wood. Engineered hardwood has a top layer of real hardwood, the wear layer, bonded to a core of plywood or other cross-laid wood layers, which makes each board more stable when humidity changes. From above, a good engineered floor can look identical to solid.

Species affects colour, grain, how the wood takes stain and how well it resists dents. Grade describes appearance, not strength: how many knots, colour variations and mineral streaks the boards may show.

Prefinished boards arrive sanded, stained and coated at the factory, usually with slightly bevelled edges. Installation is faster, there's no sanding dust or finish odour in the house, and the room can be used soon after. Site-finished boards go down raw and are then sanded flat, stained and coated in place. That takes longer and calls for dust control, ventilation and drying time, but it gives a perfectly flush surface, any stain colour you want and a continuous coat over the joints.

When new wood has to blend with an older site-finished floor, for instance after a wall is removed, the new section is usually installed raw and finished in place, often along with the rest of the room, so the colour matches.

The right method depends on the product, the subfloor and the room, and the manufacturer's instructions list which ones are allowed.

Before installing, a careful installer measures the moisture content of both the subfloor and the new wood with a meter and compares the readings with the manufacturer's limits: a subfloor much wetter than the flooring will push moisture into it. The house should be at normal living conditions, with the heat running in winter and wet trades done. Once the floor is down, stable air keeps it quiet. Health Canada's moisture and mould guidance calls for indoor relative humidity between 30% and 50%, and holding the home within that band also limits how much the boards shrink in January and swell in August.

Wood also needs room to move. The installer leaves an expansion gap at every wall, column, threshold and fixed object, sized according to the instructions, then hides it under baseboards, quarter round or transition strips. A floor laid tight to the walls can buckle in humid weather, and a heavy island or cabinet set on a floating floor can pin it and cause the same damage.

Solid boards can't be nailed into concrete, and a slab, especially below grade, can keep giving off moisture. That's why engineered wood is the usual answer on concrete: glued to the slab, floated over an underlay, or nailed to a wood subfloor built on top. In every case the slab is tested first and covered with the barrier the manufacturer requires, and a damp or leaky basement is dealt with before any wood goes down.

Radiant heat adds a second stress, drying and warming the floor from below. Many engineered products are approved for hot-water or electric systems, with conditions on surface temperature, a gradual start-up and the attachment method. Solid wood over radiant heat is riskier, so read the flooring instructions and involve the heating contractor before choosing the product.