Engineered hardwood

I’m finally ready to wrap up finishing my basement, flooring time.
I’m planning on click & lock engineered hardwood.

I have a few questions…

1. I like the wide planks (7″) is there a concern with cupping on the wider boards?

2. I have in floor heat, how much will it be limited, if at all.

3. Better options that don’t break the bank. I’ll need about 1000 sq ft. I like the “wood” looking tile but I’m not about to lay that much and labor would be pretty spendy.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

I think a lot of the plank tile is snap connect together just like laminate/eng hardwood.

My buddy just did his house with laminate wood with a distressed look. I really like it. What I don’t like is the installer made all the lines the same. I like the mismatch look better. They sure make some nice stuff with a great look

Get what you pay for with engineered flooring. Stay away from the cheap crap.

https://boen.com/en-US/

Have installed Boen many times, very nice products. Not the strongest finish but all my customers have been happy with them.

This is assuming your basement conditions are within spec for a wood product. Cupping, shrinking, cracking, etc etc are usually all results of water one way or another.

Feel free to pm me your number for a phone call. Wood floors is kinda my thing.

Thanks Nick, I was hoping you’d join in!
Its dry, newer construction, six years.

I’ll be in touch.

I don’t install laminate floor often, but when I do…well, I call Mr. Beads and have him do it.

Grouse

I would look at a LVP.
Very durable. A water incident is not a disaster & a decent product for the radiant of in floor.

The_Bladepuller wrote:

I would look at a LVP.
Very durable. A water incident is not a disaster & a decent product for the radiant of in floor.

This is clearly the latest best thing since sliced bread. The stuff looks real and wears like iron. Before I retired from the University, it was going into all the new buildings and you can imagine how much traffic it will get.

The_Bladepuller wrote:

I would look at a LVP.
Very durable. A water incident is not a disaster & a decent product for the radiant of in floor.

I would 2nd this, putting this in some of our new houses. Good for basement where possible water could occur. Looks great.

Is this a floating floor?

robby wrote:

Is this a floating floor?

yep.

Have done my last 2 homes with this, very easy. Remove all baseboards/casings 1st, then replace.

The_Bladepuller wrote:

I would look at a LVP.
Very durable. A water incident is not a disaster & a decent product for the radiant of in floor.

x2, very good advice.

I just put some LVP in my basement and am very happy with it. It looks great and has a softer feel to it than the hardwood floors I put in upstairs. If you don’t want to do the work yourself make sure to get a hold of Nick (Mr. Beads). He does some nice work and is a great guy.

I would not remove all the casing and baseboards. Too much work and material when there is a better way. Most floor installers have a jamb saw that is adjustable for the thickness of the flooring material. They may be a rental item. If not use an oscillating tool and make your own thickness gauge to rest the blade against. Where you are up against base, just add 3/4 X 3/4 shoe because you need to use shoe at any cabinets anyway.