Should I use 5/16" or 3/4" hardwood floors?
Question:I am remodeling my house with brand new hardwood floors. Originally I was going to put in 3/4" pre-finished hardwood floors. However, the folks at the flooring store were definitely pushing me toward the Bruce 5/16" products. Their reasoning was better quality and a 25 year product warranty.
Intuitively, I would think the 3/4" product would be better quality, but it only had a 10-year warranty.
Is there any meaningful difference between the 5/16" product and the 3/4" product?
Answers:
Since I don't know what products are in question I can't give a perfect answer. 5/16" hardwood can be engineered or solid.
3/4" is always solid. The advantage of 3/4" solid hardwood is it's ability to be sanded many times. A 5/16", even a solid, can be sanded only once. However, the factory finish on the newer thinner hardwoods is acrylic impregnated making it harder and far superior to traditional finishes. This is probably the reason for the 25 year warranty. It is a wear/stain/fade warranty for the finish, not the board.
One floor will look as good as the other, so you need to decide if you want the option of refinishing, or a harder more scratch resistant floor.
5/16!
Are you talking about a engineered flooring or a solid wood flooring? it comes down to how many sandings the floor can take.. ie refinishing.. The thicker the better...
actually no one is really completely right...where im from there is a brand called logic flooring that is a solid hardwood that comes in thicknesses of 5/16, 1/2 and 5/8 and the only difference of course is amount of times they can be resanded and the thinner the board, the shorter the nails used will be, also your flooring nailer will need a special adjustment plate added to the bottom of it to accomodate the thinner woods.
also, there is a brand called evolutions that is an engineered hardwood that is a full 3/4 thick. now 90% of engineered floors are either floating (not attatched to anything), glue together or glue down. these types are not resandable because they are not completely fixed to anything, so getting a smooth sanding is extremely difficult. you can however get nailed down engineered floors that can be refnished.
you should check because the majority of good 3/4 products should have at least a 25 year warranty on the finish and most of the thin products i have seen have no warranty at all (some might be up to 7 years)
hope this helps
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