refinishing Archives - Top 5 Install

Solid vs Engineered Hardwood: The Room Decides, Not the Budget

Two plank offcuts end on, one solid oak through its thickness and one showing a thin veneer over cross laminated plies

Solid vs engineered hardwood is usually framed as a quality question. It is not. Both have a real wood surface, and the thing that decides between them is underneath the floor.

Engineered Hardwood: What It Is and Where It Belongs

Two engineered wood planks resting on an oak floor, cut ends showing veneer over cross laminated plies

Engineered hardwood is real wood, and nearly every question worth asking about it concerns the part you cannot see. A practical guide to veneer, core and finish.

Solid Hardwood Flooring: What It Is and How Long It Lasts

A hardwood floor half stripped to bare wood, with a sharp line between the old dark finish and the freshly sanded pale oak

Solid hardwood flooring is the only common floor that can outlive the person who installs it. Everything difficult about it comes from the same fact that makes it last.