Choosing new engineered wood flooring for your home or property? You’ve probably already noticed that there are a huge range of different thicknesses available from 10mm right through to 22mm. So which is the right one for you? Our engineered wood flooring thickness guide will help you get the right thickness for your room, requirements and budget.
Available Flooring Thicknesses
Flooring 365 offer the full range of different flooring thicknesses that are available for engineered wood. This covers the very thinnest flooring, 10 mm, medium thicknesses such as 14 mm, and the very the thickest, 22 mm - and everything in between! Having such a wide range allows us to provide our customers not just with the flooring that meets their requirements the closest, but is the perfect match for their needs.
How To Choose the Right Engineered Flooring Thickness
When you’re choosing the thickness of your engineered wood flooring, there are a number of considerations that will help you to choose the right thickness of floor.
Previous Flooring
If you’re getting a new engineered wood floor to replace an old solid wood or engineered wood floor, then an important consideration is the thickness of the old floor. The door heights and skirting boards will have been placed according to the thickness of the previous floor. Changing the thickness drastically could lead to moving the skirting boards, having gaps or altering the door heights.
Resanding the top layer
Different thicknesses of engineered wood flooring have different thicknesses of veneer. The veneer is the top layer of the floor, made from real wood. These vary in thickness from just a couple of mm to 6mm. The thickness of the veneer impacts the number of times the floor can be resanded and refinished in the future.
While new engineered wood floors won’t need resanding for at least a decade - usually more - eventually sanding and refinishing the top layer allows you to bring the floor a new lease of life. A 4mm veneer can be sanded up to four times.
Traffic
Predicting the levels of traffic your room is likely to receive can be really helpful in helping you to achieve the correct floor thickness. High foot traffic means the floor will wear down quicker and therefore it requires a thicker veneer to protect it. We would also recommend that you choose a highly protective finish that’s designed for high levels of foot traffic, such as a lacquer.
Sub Floor
To choose the right engineered wood flooring thickness, you should ascertain how level your subfloor is. It can be hard to do this while an old floor is still in place, but it’s really helpful for getting the thickness right.
If your subfloor is uneven, a thicker engineered wood floor will help to minimise the impact this has on the final finish.
If you’re laying your floor over joists, you will need a thicker floor to provide the stability needed. We recommend at least 18mm and be sure to select a floor with tongue and groove fittings rather than click lok.
Sound Insulation
If you’re in an apartment or laying a new floor in an upper-storey room, it can be helpful to consider sound insulation. The sound of footsteps and voices can be heard much more clearly with a thinner floor. Additional thickness minimises the transference of sound, keeping your downstairs neighbours happy and increasing your own privacy.
Heat Insulation
In a similar way to above, a thicker floor provides additional protection against heat transference. Thick engineered wood flooring helps to keep the heat in your home, minimising cold rising up from beneath the floor.
Underfloor Heating
While a thicker floor provides better heat insulation, if you use an underfloor heating system, this is suddenly more of a hindrance than a help! Engineered wood flooring, unlike solid wood, if the perfect companion to underfloor heating systems as it doesn’t warp with changing heat conditions. However, if your floor is too thick, it will insulate your room too well and prevent the heat from your underfloor heating from entering the room.
We recommend a maximum thickness of 15mm for engineered wood flooring that’s being used in a room with underfloor heating.
Budget
A final thing to consider is your budget. Thicker floors are usually more expensive than thinner floors as they are created using more material. However, Flooring 365 have a sale on engineered wood flooring that runs all year, in which we clear old stock. This means you can get the highest quality flooring, including thicker floors, for the lowest prices. It means no matter your budget, you can get the floor you want.
Engineered Wood Flooring Thickness Guide
If you have any further questions about engineered wood flooring thickness, then get in touch with Flooring 365. We’re experts on both solid and engineered wood and have helped countless people get their perfect floor!