Engineered Flooring

The top layer is what you see and is represented by the species of hardwood flooring, like
Oak, Maple, Walnut etc. The middle and back layers comprise various species of wood chosen for dimensional stability, so that the entire sandwich becomes stable and more resistant to moisture, humidity or arid conditions. There are typically 5-7 plys in engineered hardwood floors, but can be as low as 3 or greater than 10. The National Wood Flooring Association describes engineered woods floors as:

"Engineered wood floors are real wood floors that are manufactured using three to nine layers of different wood veneers. The sub layers can be of the same species, or of different species. The grain of each layer runs in different directions, which makes it very stable. This means that the wood will expand and contract less than solid wood flooring during fluctuations in humidity and temperatures. The top layer of engineered wood flooring consists of high-quality wood. While this type of flooring can be sanded and finished, it cannot be done as many times as solid wood flooring. Engineered wood flooring can be installed above, on or below grade."