Engineered Wood Flooring: 4 Factors That Affect Its Cost

Engineered Wood Flooring: 4 Factors That Affect Its Cost

There are many advantages of choosing engineered flooring for your home. At the best part? You get the look of hardwood at a more affordable price. But how much will it cost?

When you are calculating the cost for your engineered wood flooring, you need to consider various factors like the labour, product, and installation charges. Knowing these will help you understand what you need and where you can save.

 

Factors Affecting the Cost of Engineered Wood Flooring

There are many factors that affect the cost of engineered flooring.

1. Type of Hardwood

The type of hardwood you choose impacts the cost of engineered wood flooring. The higher it ranks on the Janka scale, the pricier it will be. Here are the Janka hardness ratings of many hardwoods.

Hardwoods like ipe, blackwood and Macassar ebony rates above 3000 on the Janka scale. So, engineered flooring made with these will be a tad more expensive than Brazilian cherry, mahogany, rosewood, eucalyptus, or tigerwood.

If you want something on the less expensive side, go for hickory, maple, cypress, oak, or ash. These hardwoods are lower on the scale but are still durable and beautiful. If you want to cut down your expenses even further, go for softwood engineered flooring made with pine, larch, spruce, cedar, or fir.

 

2. The Area of Installation

It goes without saying that the bigger the area of flooring the more expensive it will be. If you want to put the engineered flooring in a specific area (say, the living room) instead of the entire house, there will be a significant reduction in price. The cost can also be affected if you want to install engineered flooring in an innovative way, like on walls, elevators, or ceilings.

 

3. Work on Installation

How much work goes into installation will also affect your engineered wood flooring costs. If the existing flooring needs to be removed, it will cost you extra. It isn’t necessary to remove hard flooring like vinyl, ceramic, or concrete unless floor heights are not matching. Padding, carpeting, staples, and tack strips will need to be removed, meaning extra hours of work and hence additional cost. Also, if the flooring needs complex finishing in tight areas or more trimmings, the cost will go up. And if your subfloor needs extensive work like filling cracks or installing/levelling the subfloor, this will add to the cost of your floor installation.

 

4. Type of Labour Required

Some installations, like on accent walls and ceilings, require specialized labour which will cost you more, for obvious reasons. Trying to do this installation yourself will save you considerably, but doing it wrong can result in you having to discard everything and start over.

 

How to Save on Engineered Wood Flooring Costs

Unless you go with cheaper peel-and-stick alternatives, flooring can be expensive. But there are ways to save.

If you know how to install engineered flooring yourself, you can save a lot of money but will spend more time and effort. Installing a floor is hard work so it will be stressful too. But with snap-together flooring, it has become easier. If your subfloor doesn’t need too much work, you can install the floor yourself.

However, if you don’t know how to install it or aren’t willing to spend the time and effort on installation, hire a flooring expert. They can quote the best price for installation and let you know if a particular type of  softwood will work in certain rooms. Having an engineered softwood floor will also reduce your costs to a great extent. Talking to a professional will also clue you in on pricing info that will help you a lot in decision making and cost saving.

Engineered wood is extremely popular and a good alternative to solid hardwood flooring. They come in different types and can be used in various ways. Don’t let the cost of engineered wood flooring be the sole reason for selecting or rejecting this option. They have advantages and disadvantages but could be a great addition to your home.