Engineered or solid wood floors in a New York apartment

For most New York apartments, engineered. In townhouses and houses with wood subfloors, either can work, and the choice turns on board width, floor height and how you feel about small gaps in winter.

How the two are built

A solid board is one piece of oak, usually 3/4 inch thick. An engineered board has an oak top layer, the wear layer, bonded to a core of cross-laid layers that resists swelling and shrinking. The surface you see and walk on is the same oak in both. Every floor in our library is engineered, 3/4 inch overall with a 5 mm oak wear layer.

Concrete decides most apartment jobs

Most apartment floors are concrete. Engineered boards glue directly to a flat, dry slab. Solid boards need a plywood subfloor fastened over the slab first, which raises the floor at doors, bathroom saddles and the kitchen and adds time to the job. A slab also carries moisture, which an engineered floor on the right adhesive handles better than solid wood.

Sound rules in co-ops and condos

Most co-op and condo boards require an acoustic underlayment or a tested sound rating before they approve a new floor. A glue-down engineered floor over an approved underlayment is an assembly boards see often and accept. A nailed solid floor needs plywood and an underlayment, which adds height and cost. Check your alteration agreement before choosing; it may settle the question for you.

Winter heat and wide boards

Steam heat dries New York apartments in winter, and wood shrinks as it dries. Wide solid boards show it most: small seasonal gaps in wide solid oak are normal and close again in spring. Engineered boards move far less, which is why we recommend engineered for wide planks in apartments. Our library floors run to 14 inches wide.

Radiant heat

Engineered floors approved for radiant heat work well over it when the heating stays within the manufacturer's limits. We rarely recommend solid oak over radiant heat, because repeated heating and cooling opens gaps and can make wide boards cup, curling up at the edges.

Sanding and lifespan

The usual worry is that engineered floors cannot be refinished. That depends on the wear layer. A 5 mm oak wear layer, like ours, can be sanded and refinished several times; a 1 or 2 mm layer, common on cheaper engineered floors, may allow one light sanding or none. Check the wear layer on any quote you compare; our post on reading a flooring quote shows where it should appear.

When solid still makes sense

Solid oak is the better choice when you are matching an existing solid floor, when a townhouse already has wood joists and a plywood subfloor, or when you want the most sanding life over several decades.

Before you decide

Bring your alteration agreement and a photo of the subfloor, or of a spot where the old floor is lifted, to our showroom in the D&D Building. We will tell you which construction suits the building and show you both in the width you want.