Engineered timber is flooring made from real timber, but built in layers rather than cut as one solid plank. A top layer of genuine hardwood veneer sits on a base of plywood or high-density fibreboard, and the two are bonded together under heat and pressure. From above, it looks exactly like solid timber, because the surface you walk on and see every day is solid timber. What's different is what's underneath.
Why build a floorboard in layers?
Solid timber expands and contracts as the weather changes, because wood absorbs and releases moisture from the air around it. A single thick plank can move quite a lot, which is why solid floors need gaps at the edges of a room and can behave unpredictably in humid coastal areas or homes with underfloor heating. So with engineered timber each inner layer of plywood or fiberboard is placed in the opposite direction to the layer next to it. This grid-like setup blocks the natural urge of wood to expand and contract across the grain. The result is a board that stays flatter and more stable across a wider range of conditions, without giving up the look or feel of real wood on top.
How it differs from laminate and hybrid flooring
This is where people often get confused, because from a few metres away the three can look similar in a shop. Laminate flooring has no real timber in it at all — the surface is a printed image of wood grain, protected by a hard-wearing layer, sitting on a fibreboard core, as we cover in 'what makes laminate flooring, laminate flooring?' Hybrid flooring swaps that fibreboard core for a rigid, waterproof core and is generally aimed at wet areas and heavy family use, which we've explained a bit more in 'what is hybrid vinyl flooring?' Engineered timber sits between solid timber and these two options: it has a genuine timber surface, so it can be sanded back lightly and refinished a time or two over its life, something you can't do with a printed laminate or vinyl surface. If you'd like to see how it stacks up against solid boards specifically, we've gone into more detail in 'the specs of solid timber floors'.
What the surface layer actually looks like
The timber veneer on top can be anywhere from about half a millimetre to six millimetres thick, depending on the product, and this has a direct effect on how the floor performs over time. A thicker veneer costs more but gives you more scope to sand and refinish down the track. Boards also come prefinished — sanded, stained and sealed in the factory before they ever reach your home — or raw, ready to be sanded and coated on site once they're laid. Each approach has a different feel to live with day to day, and we've covered both properly in 'prying into prefinished engineered timber floors' and 'beneath the surface of raw engineered timber'.
Where it works well
Because engineered boards are more dimensionally stable than solid timber, they cope better with the kind of conditions many Australian homes throw at a floor: living areas with big glass doors that heat up in summer, homes with hydronic or electric underfloor heating, and coastal properties where humidity swings from one season to the next. It's a sound choice for most living spaces, hallways and bedrooms. Bathrooms and laundries are still best left to genuinely waterproof options, since any timber surface, however well built, can be damaged by standing water over time.
Cost and what to expect
Engineered timber generally sits above laminate and hybrid flooring on price and below premium solid timber, though the range is wide. Where any particular product lands depends on the timber species, board width, veneer thickness and finish.
If you're weighing up engineered timber against other options for a particular room, have a browse of our engineered timber flooring range or get in touch with us here - we're happy to talk through what will actually suit your home.