Engineered wood flooring is a kind of wood flooring derived from solid wood flooring. It is new type solid wood flooring made by crosswise laminating three layers of solid wood structure or multi-layers of plywood. Natural wood look, convenient to install and maintain, anticorrosion, damp proof, anti-microbial and electric heating are the merits of parquet that make it be an important part in flooring market.
Laminated flooring is also called impregnated paper lamination wood flooring. It is grooved and tongued floor made by process like hot-press, mortise etc. and has high density fiberboard as substrate and veneering decorative impregnated paper and wear resistant impregnated paper on its surface and equilibrium paper on its back. Laminated floor is often used in room with natural ventilation system.
Structure of engineered wood flooring and laminated flooring:
Engineered wood flooring is divided into multilayer engineered wood flooring and three layers solid wood flooring. Three layers engineered wood flooring is made by crosswise laminating three layers of wood structure. The top layer is rare and high quality hardwood like Xylosma, birch, fraxinus mandshurica, teak. The core layer is made of wood lath, such as pine wood, poplar. The bottom layer is rotary cut veneer made of poplar, birch and pine wood. Panels of three layers wood structure is laminated by glue. Multilayer engineered wood flooring has multiple plywood as substrate and has hardwood sheet veneering panel or veneer as top panel. As the top layer wood species is different, multilayer engineered wood flooring is often named after top layer wood species, such as birch engineered wood flooring.
Laminated flooring is consisting of wearing layer, décor layer, substrate layer and bottom layer. Wearing layer is mainly made by aluminium oxide. It is featured with excellent wear resistance and hardness. Some laminated flooring made by melamine cannot satisfy normative requirement. Décor layer is a layer of paper impregnated by melamine resin and wood grain of rare tree is printed on it. The third layer is medium density or high density laminated board, which is featured with damp proof and flame retardant property after high temperature and high pressure treatment. The basic material for substrate layer is wood fiber. The bottom layer is also called equilibrium layer. It is made of kraft paper, featured with strength and thickness. It has the function of damp proof and anti-deformation property after impregnate by resin.
Performance of engineered wood flooring and laminated flooring
Decoration effect:
The surface layer of engineered wood flooring uses rare natural wood, therefore it has unique color and pattern. Besides, novel design and staining technique add score to the decoration effect of engineered wood flooring.
The decor layer of laminated flooring is a layer of impregnated paper. The pattern on the paper can be printed by computer – various wood grain of rare tree; stone pattern and unique pattern that do not exist in nature. There is more choice on pattern of laminated flooring.
Wear resistance:
For making the wood grain more vivid, engineered wood flooring usually has paint as its surface layer, not professional wear resistant paper. So the wear resistance of engineered wood flooring is poor.
Excellent wear resistance is the prominent performance of laminated wood flooring.
Waterproof performance:
The key for protecting engineered wood flooring from water is dry the water on it and open window to provide good ventilation. These methods are not recommended: dry with electric furnace, exposure under sunlight – although they can absorb the water on flooring in short time, crack may appear.
The way to protect laminated flooring from water is the same as engineered wood flooring – dry the water timely and provide good ventilation condition; dismantle the soaked flooring when necessary to dry it. Dealing the problem timely can prolong its service life effectively.
Stability
The substrate of engineered wood flooring is composed by multilayer veneers. The wood fiber criss-cross into reticular overlying composition, which make the internal stress of laminate combine with each other – make sure the smoothness and stability of flooring.
The substrate of laminated flooring breaks up the structure of wood, destroy the feature of wet swelling and dry shrinkage for wood, so laminated flooring has good stability. It is often used in room with natural ventilation system.
Practicability:
The practicability of engineered wood flooring lies in convenient to clean, install, bright color, luster and grain. Environmental protection performance is also one of the merits of engineered wood flooring – using adhesive with low formaldehyde emission. Good touch is another merit of engineered wood flooring. The price of engineered wood flooring is lower than solid wood flooring and higher than laminated flooring.
Wear resistance is no doubt the most attractive point for laminated flooring. Impact resistance, antistatic, antifouling, resistant to sunlight, resistant to cigar burning, convenient to install and maintain are the merits of laminated flooring. As the substrate of laminated flooring is various and it has poor touch, the environmental protection performance of laminated flooring is poorer than engineered wood flooring.
