Home / Engineered vs Solid Wood Flooring
The real difference between engineered and solid oak — and how to choose.
Both are real wood with a real oak surface. The difference is in the construction beneath, and it matters for where and how the floor can be used.
A real oak wear layer is bonded to a stable ply or hardwood core. This resists the movement that affects solid timber, making engineered oak the best choice for underfloor heating and larger open-plan rooms. It can still be sanded and re-oiled.
A single piece of oak through the full board. It can be sanded many times over decades, but moves more with humidity, so it is best on stable, non-heated subfloors and upper floors.
For most modern Cambridge homes — especially with underfloor heating or open-plan layouts — we recommend engineered oak. Where conditions suit and longevity is the priority, solid oak remains a fine traditional choice.
Supply and fitting across Cambridge and surrounding areas:
Yes — it has a genuine oak top layer over a stable core. The surface is solid oak.
Yes, provided the wear layer is thick enough. We check this before any sanding.
Engineered oak, because it is far more stable than solid timber under heat.
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The short version: solid wood is a single piece of timber through its thickness, while engineered wood is a real-oak wear layer bonded to a stable, cross-layered core. Both give you a genuine oak surface; they behave very differently underfoot and over time.
Solid wood can be sanded many times and has a certain traditional appeal, but it moves with humidity and is poorly suited to underfloor heating and wide boards. Engineered oak stays flat across wide planks, copes with underfloor heating and damp British weather, and still offers a real oak surface that can be refinished — which is why it is what we fit in the great majority of Cambridge homes.
For a heated floor, a wide board, a kitchen extension or a modern open-plan space, engineered oak is almost always the better choice. Solid wood still has a place in some period restorations and upper floors with stable conditions. Explore the boards themselves in our engineered planks collection, or read about getting the look right in our finishes guide.
Yes — the surface you see and walk on is a genuine layer of solid oak. The difference is the stable, layered core beneath it, which is what keeps the board flat.
It can be sanded, usually once or twice depending on the thickness of the oak wear layer — fewer times than a thick solid board, but enough to refresh the floor over its life.