I always thought engineered hardwood was a cheap compromise until I installed it in my own basement

After 3 years of humidity swings with no buckling or gaps, I'm convinced the extra $1.50 per square foot over laminate was worth it for the real wood feel alone, has anyone else had a similar experience with a flooring material they initially dismissed?

3 comments

3 Comments

dixon.nathan1mo ago

Wow, wait, you put engineered hardwood in a basement? That's wild to me. I always thought that was a recipe for disaster with moisture and all that. But three years with no buckling? That's impressive, honestly. I had a client once whose laminate in her basement started peeling at the edges after one wet spring. Sounds like yours is holding up way better than that stuff does.

shah.barbara1mo ago

Must be something about my basement's vibe cause it totally should be warping by now. I half expect to wake up one morning and find the floorboards doing the wave like a crowd at a concert. Three years in and it's still flat as a pancake though. Maybe I just got lucky with the install or the humidity gods smiled on me that day.

james_butler7d ago

Nah I gotta push back on this one because engineered hardwood in a basement is just asking for trouble no matter how good your vibe is. @shah.barbara might have gotten lucky but that's more of an exception than the rule in my book. I've seen too many jobs where people insisted on it and a year later they're pulling up boards and finding mold underneath because the concrete slab was holding moisture. The humidity gods can be fickle and three years isn't really that long in the grand scheme of things. Wait until you get a really wet spring or a pipe leak and then you'll see what happens to that flat floor - it'll turn into a skate ramp real quick. I just don't think it's worth the gamble when there's better options for basements like luxury vinyl or tile that can actually handle the moisture.