Best Engineered Hardwood Floor For Scratch Resistance

Hardwood floors are a beautiful, durable, and valuable addition to any home. The natural warmth, color variation, and unique grain patterns make each floor truly one of a kind. However, it can also be vulnerable to damage from impacts and scratches caused by our furry pals. However, there’s the whole humidity issue – too much moisture is problematic while too little can cause cracking. 

Engineered hardwood flooring offers solutions to these problems. 

The engineered wood product is made up of several layers of wood and plywood, with the top layer being a hardwood veneer. That makes engineered hardwood more stable than other flooring alternatives when it comes to expansion and contraction due to environmental conditions.

Let’s look at three ways you can make your engineered hardwood scratch-resistant from Rugworks, Rohnert Park flooring experts.

Choose Factory-finished Engineered Hardwood

Most hardwoods are finished on-site after they’ve been installed in your home, but choosing factory-finished wood can help you protect against damage caused by dogs and cats.

Hardwoods come in two types: unfinished or factory-finished. Unfinished woods are coated with a protective sealant (usually polyurethane) after their installation in your home. Conversely, prefinished hardwood uses aluminum oxide as an additive in its wear layer. This material forms a tough layer of protection around the floor that repels moisture, stains, and scratches caused by pets or children. Unlike site-applied finishes that can be scratched off by claws or otherwise damaged over time, factory-finished floors are more resilient, extremely scratch-resistant, and last longer overall.

Select Hardwood Flooring With An HDF Core

Engineered wood floors are constructed using multiple layers of natural wood with a top layer of solid hardwood veneer glued onto the core.

The core, or middle layer of the floor, is the most crucial factor in determining how scratch-resistant it will be. If you want added protection from scratching, select engineered hardwood with HDF – or high-density fiberboard – instead of plywood as the core material. HDF is heavier, stronger, and denser than plywood, so it resists scratching better and makes your floors sturdier than plywood does. In addition, HDF cores are also more dimensionally stable than plywood cores, which means they won’t shrink or swell as much due to humidity variations. That also means they are less likely to buckle or warp.

Opt for UV-cured Finishes

There are various finishes available for engineered hardwood floors. These finishes provide added durability by penetrating the wood to seal and protect it from moisture damage, staining, and other issues.

If you want scratch-resistant engineered hardwood flooring, look for a finish that has been cured with ultraviolet (UV) light, which penetrates deeper and provides better protection. 

UV-cured finishes are more durable, extremely scratch-resistant, and repel dirt or water better than other finishes. That’s because this finish is applied in liquid form and then cured using ultraviolet light, as opposed to traditional finishes, which dry after being applied with a roller or brush. Whether you need hardwood with prominent graining or are looking for prefinished hardwood flooring options in Rohnert Park, Rugworks can handle all your engineered hardwood needs! To talk to our expert, call (707) 584-7847.