Engineered board is a real wood wear layer bonded to a plywood or HDF core. It is not laminate, and it is not a compromise — for a lot of situations, particularly over concrete or underfloor heating, it is the correct choice and solid wood is the wrong one.
Engineered or solid?
Choose engineered if you have underfloor heating, a concrete or screed subfloor, a basement or ground floor with any moisture risk, or wide boards where movement would be a problem. The cross-bonded core is dimensionally stable, so it does not cup and gap the way solid timber does with seasonal humidity.
Choose solid if you are on suspended timber joists upstairs, want a floor that can be sanded many times over generations, and have no underfloor heating.
The wear layer is the number that matters
Ignore the total board thickness in the sales blurb — what matters is the wear layer, the real wood on top. At 4mm or more you can sand it two or three times over its life. At 2–3mm you might get one careful sanding. Below 2mm it can never be sanded, which means any damage is permanent and the floor is disposable. We check this before quoting, and we will tell you if a floor you have already bought cannot be refinished later.
How we fit it
- Moisture testing of screed and timber before anything is ordered. Laying over a damp subfloor is the most expensive mistake in this trade.
- Acclimatisation in the room, usually five to seven days.
- Levelling — latex screed or ply overlay as needed. Engineered board hides nothing.
- Fixing — glued down over underfloor heating for best heat transfer, or floated on acoustic underlay where sound matters.
- Expansion gaps at every perimeter and threshold, hidden under beading or scotia.
What it costs
Guide rates are £25–£32 per m² for standard boards and £32–£42 per m² for parquet, with a £550 minimum project cost. We are not VAT registered, so nothing is added on top. See the prices page for worked examples.
Get a price
Send a photo of your floor to info@epic-floors.com or call 07344 467352. Free survey and a fixed written quote before any work starts. Open Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm, across London and Kent.
Our work
Recent work
Free survey
We look at the floor, measure board thickness and tell you honestly whether the work is worth doing.
Fixed written quote
No day rates and no surprises. £550 minimum project cost, and we are not VAT registered.
Get a free quote
Tell us about your floor and we will come back to you with a price. A photo gets you a far more accurate answer.