Prefinished Engineered Exotic Flooring
Although once limited to rotary peeled hardwood and domestic species, engineered flooring has expanded in quality and quantity over time to include prefinished exotic flooring. Nearly all exotic species can be found as prefinished engineered flooring. South American species, such as Brazilian cherry, Santos mahogany, and tigerwood, and those from other parts of the world are all easily available and installed as prefinished engineered exotic flooring.
Engineered flooring is made to expand and contract less, allowing it to be added to any floor of the home. This way, you can add prefinished engineered Brazilian cherry floors to your basement and to all floors above. Engineered hardwood consists of three to nine veneers, or layers, of hardwood glued together, and the grain on each faces a different direction. The top layer is high-quality, exotic hardwood, and those below are of the same or a different species. The top layer, also referred to as a "wear layer," can be sanded as many times as solid hardwood.
Prefinished engineered exotic flooring is 5/16ths to 9/16ths of an inch thick, with 0.6mm to 3.5mm of that amount being the wear layer. The number of veneers is generally not an issue, unless the hardwood is going over radiant in floor heat. In this case, more veneers give the hardwood better stability.
Prefinished flooring has become common among manufacturers over the past 10 years and includes domestic and exotic species and solid and engineered hardwood. BR 111 has a large selection of prefinished engineered exotic hardwood. Prefinished engineered exotic flooring is finished in the factory and needs no sanding or finishing during installation. In fact, you can walk and place furniture on a prefinished engineered exotic floor right after installation.
Although installation for prefinished is similar to that for unfinished flooring, a few precautions need to be taken. Particularly for locking prefinished engineered flooring, never drag pieces into place, especially with a tool. The filler, added to gaps after installation, needs to work with the finish, and although manufacturers have their own fillers for prefinished floors, make sure it can be used with a water-based or acrylic finish.
Installing prefinished engineered exotic flooring is the most economical approach for adding high-quality and unusual hardwood to your home. No matter if you want Brazilian cherry, tigerwood, or another species, you can add the prefinished engineered exotic hardwood to all floors of your home and place it over any type of subfloor, and finishing and sanding are not needed.
