Do You Need Plastic Between Engineered Hardwood Floors

Underlayments for hardwood floors provide multiple benefits depending on the material that you choose.

Do you need plastic between engineered hardwood floors.

They offer soundproofing insulation a moisture barrier and added comfort while also helping to level out the subfloor. Engineered hardwood toughness challenge engineered hardwood can be refinished two or three times over its lifespan. Once you start the process of acclimation to your engineered hardwood flooring you need to know when it has acclimated and is ready for installation. Laminate flooring and engineered wood flooring are two obvious choices if you want a flooring that looks like solid hardwood but at a more affordable price.

The felt paper is a good option for hardwood but since you re nailing the hardwood down you do not need a foam underlayment. Hi ryan thanks for the question. I love engineered hardwood but as with everything else you need to do your homework. How long will an engineered wood floor last.

Besides all the other benefits underlay helps support a floating floor. Some floor installers would say that 2 3 days is enough for the wood floors to acclimate fully. Although laminate may win the laminate vs. If you use one it is no harm but you don t really need it.

If you re installing laminate or engineered flooring that snaps together and floats over the subfloor without nails you need underlayment even more. You only need to worry about the moisture barrier when it comes to a concrete subfloor so you do not need one in this case. Expansion breaks allow heavy floating floors collective and seasonal expansion thereby reducing the occurrence of buckling of the floor. Plastic foam felt cork and rubber are common choices.

For floating installs you can either float the cork underlayment or you can tack it down to the subfloor. And then simply install the floating floor on top. Both floor coverings were developed as economical and versatile alternatives to that mainstay of flooring material solid hardwood flooring. Engineered hardwood flooring runs 3 to 10 per square foot.

Engineered hardwood also provides a better value point if you should decide to sell your house. Without this support the boards can buckle when you walk on them and the seams may separate. Engineered flooring is typically between 3 8 to 3 4 thick whereas solid hardwood is 1 2 to 3 4 thick. Depending on the thickness of the veneer that tops the flooring the quality of flooring used and how well you maintain your floors engineered hardwood can last a lifetime.