Solid Wood or Engineered Wood: Which Should You Fit?
How solid and engineered wood differ on stability, subfloor, underfloor heating, refinishing, cost and lifespan, and which suits a Kent home better.
Both are real wood on the surface. The difference is what sits beneath it. A solid board is one piece of timber all the way through, so it moves with humidity across its whole thickness. An engineered board has a real wood wear layer bonded to a cross-bonded plywood core, which resists that movement.
In modern British homes with central heating, and particularly with underfloor heating, that stability is usually the deciding factor.
The comparison that matters
| Factor | Solid wood | Engineered wood |
|---|---|---|
| Stability with humidity | Moves noticeably, gaps and cups | Far more stable |
| Underfloor heating | Not recommended | Suitable within temperature limits |
| Subfloor tolerance | Timber joists or battens only | Timber or prepared concrete |
| Maximum practical width | Around 150mm before movement shows | Up to 260mm plank widths available |
| Refinishing | Many times over decades | Depends on top layer, one to three times |
| Installed cost | £85 to £160 per m2 | £55 to £150 per m2 |
| Lifespan | 40 years and beyond if maintained | 20 to 40 years |
Where solid wood is still the right answer
A period property with suspended timber joists, good ventilation beneath and no underfloor heating is the natural home for a solid board. So is a room where you genuinely intend to sand and refinish it several times over decades, because a 20mm solid oak board has far more life in it than any engineered equivalent.
Narrow boards, around 120 to 150mm, are the safest choice in solid, because the wider the board the more absolute movement you get across its width.
Where engineered wood wins clearly
- Over underfloor heating, where solid wood is effectively ruled out
- On a concrete ground floor, where engineered can be glued directly to a prepared slab
- In kitchens and open-plan areas with humidity swings
- Where a wide plank look is wanted without the movement risk
- In flats, where glue-down engineered on an acoustic layer meets lease requirements more easily
Fitting methods and what they cost
Solid wood is secret nailed or screwed to joists or battens, or glued to a plywood overlay. It cannot be floated. Engineered wood can be floated over an underlay, glued down or secret nailed, which gives more options and often a lower labour cost.
Glue down is the best method over underfloor heating and in large open areas, because it removes the hollow feel of a floating floor and stops the whole floor moving as a single sheet.
Acclimatisation is not optional for either
Both need to sit in the room where they will be fitted, in their packs, for several days before fitting, so the timber reaches the moisture content of the house. Skipping this is the most common cause of gapping in the first winter.
The room also needs to be at normal living temperature during acclimatisation. Acclimatising boards in an unheated house in January tells you nothing about how they will behave once the heating is on.
Which we recommend most often in Kent
For most of the homes we quote across Medway, Maidstone and Canterbury, a good engineered board with a 3mm or 4mm top layer is the better buy. It handles our variable humidity, works on both timber and concrete, can be sanded once or twice, and costs less to fit.
We recommend solid wood where a customer is restoring a period property, has a suitable ventilated timber floor structure and wants a floor that will be refinished repeatedly rather than replaced.
Resale, valuation and how buyers see a wood floor
Estate agents in Kent will tell you a real wood floor helps a sale, and in practice buyers rarely distinguish between solid and engineered once it is fitted. What they notice is condition: gapping, cupping, worn traffic lanes and a hollow sound underfoot.
That points towards whichever option is most likely to still look good in ten years in your particular house. In a well ventilated period property with timber joists, that may genuinely be solid oak. In a modern house with heating running hard all winter, or anywhere with underfloor heating, it is engineered every time.
Spending the difference on a thicker top layer rather than on solid construction is usually the better call, because it buys you refinishing capacity without buying movement.
Frequently asked questions
- Is engineered wood real wood?
- Yes. The surface is a genuine timber wear layer, usually oak, bonded to a plywood core. Only laminate uses a printed image.
- Can solid wood go on a concrete floor?
- Only over a battened or plywood subfloor with a damp proof membrane. It cannot be glued directly to a slab reliably.
- Which is better value over 20 years?
- For most homes, engineered wood, because it costs less installed and rarely needs the extra refinishing capacity that solid wood offers.
- Do they look different once fitted?
- No. A quality engineered board with a 3mm oak layer is indistinguishable from solid oak once laid and finished.
Keep reading
Cleaning, humidity control, oiled against lacquered finishes and how many times an engineered wood floor can actually be sanded back.
Laminate looks like wood but isn't — compare it against real engineered wood on feel, longevity and value.
Choosing between LVT and engineered wood? Compare looks, water tolerance, refinishing and lifespan before you buy.
See how we survey, prepare and fit engineered wood across Kent.
Talk it through with a fitter, not a call centre
Book a free measure from our Gillingham warehouse and we will bring samples of the options discussed here, check the subfloor and leave you with a written quote you can hold us to.