Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Hardwood flooring selection

Hi all,
I am trying to select a hardwood flooring for my new home (currently under construction by me). The house has between-the-joists radiant heat.

I'd really like to put in solid 3/4" Maple but I'm afraid of the effect of the heat on solid wood flooring. So I'm considering an engineered flooring.

So my questions are:

1) is a solid maple flooring really out of the question?
2) if engineered flooring is the only solution, then is it true that engineered flooring only comes in short lengths? What I've seen is that 48" is the max length. I was stunned. I would consider 48" to be the minimum length and wouldn't want too many of those shorts in a floor.
3) any other comments or suggestions?

I'm trying to build the dream house for my wife and myself. It's not huge, about 2800 sqft of living space, but everything in the house is high quality. I've always felt that the flooring can make-or-break the house so I want to put in something that will knock-your-socks-off. The reason for selecting maple is that I prefer the very light color of a natural finished maple.

Thanks
Ken

moving this thread to the flooring forum!

Regarding engineered floor lengths, Owens, Kahrs and internetlumber.com (with links on this site) have lengths up to the 7.5-8.0 foot range. The samples I have from internetlumber.com look fantastic. Good luck.

Dream Home?? Then why not go with the best? Engineered wood is a poor substitute for the real thing. It's designed for a less expensive finish than the real thing - and lasts nowhere near as long - looks nowhere as good - and feels nowhere near as solid.

To me - Engineered is the poor man's linoleum.... meant to look like the real thing.... but is a poor substitute..

If engineered flooring is a "poor man's" subtitiute how come it seems to be more expensive?

I'm not debating, I'm asking a real question. From everything I've seen, engineered is more expensive than solid 3/4" flooring.

I'm largely a traditionalist, so I am naturally drawn to solid hardwood flooring. The ONLY reason I am considering engineered is because of all the bad stories I've heard about how solid flooring reacts with radiant heat. I understand that I could use the narrow strip oak flooring but I simply don't want oak flooring. I want Maple. I want it to be wider, hopefully 4" or more. I don't want shorts. To me 8" boards should have been put into the recycle pile, not sold for $8/bdft as flooring.

So, given that I'm looking for a) maple, b) 4" wide or more, c) lengths of 4 ft minimum, and d) a product that will remain stable over radiant floor heating, then what are my choices?

I'm all ears,
Thanks
Ken

Just as there are options in flooring, there are options in radiant heat. You may use a water temperature much cooler than old-fashioned radiant, with greater length of tubing. The tube may be embedded in concrete, hanging beneath a ply subfloor, or some other configuration that does not deliver a heap of heat to one spot.

Plan to have the subfloor in place and heat on for a while before the flooring goes down. Plan to stack the flooring in the same room, for at least a week.

Quartersawn boards cost more look better and change very little in width as moisture fluctuates.

Engineered is more expensive (raw) than solid wood (raw). Keep in mind - the labor to lay it, sand it, stain it, seal it - runs the price/sq.ft. up considerably. On the other hand, when it's time to refinish the floor, all you have to do with real wood is resand/seal... with engineered, you start over and buy more.

hey ken
great question
im a floor guy so i hope i can help you with your decision
solid hardwood is in my opinion always the way to go if the conditions allow it
with solid wood products the is many benifits
like : the option to refinish (usually years down the line )
if you dont plan on staying in the house for at least ten years than this is not a major plus
solid wood 3/4" will have a much more solid feel to it unlike eng. and will not expand as much as eng.
think of eng. to be like plywood (it expands on all sides)
where as solid wood oly expands one way (after install)toward the tonge (its done growing so it wont gain any in length and because of the milling it only expands one way
which makes going around stairwells and fireplaces much nicer (start off them and you can keep the wood 100% tight
and it tends to look nicer ) since you are building it would be a good idea to install your floor before any finish work is done on your fireplace (if you have one)
studies show that with hardwood flooring that we only really need approx 1/8" of hardwood the rest can be more available wood like spruce,poplar,fir (that is the reason for engineered flooring , it allows us to save on certain resourses like maple/oak/cherry ect.
solid hardwood is a little easier to install (because of the durability it gives before the install) however after installation they are supposed to be very comparable as for durability
as for board length yes you are right engineered is limited to usually 3 or 4 different sizes (18"-54")
but inexpensive hardwoods are quite similar in that sense
as they are from over seas (china) and tend to vary in width a little as well (eg. 3 3/16"-3 5/16") wich make for a harder install
if you would like a good quality floor with a really durable finish i would recomend the brand "superior hardwood" it is a canadian mill(herwynen saw mill) usually priced between $5-7/sqft ( you can find it online) but must purchase through a store
where are you building (mabe i could get you a deal some where)
let me know (daveplatt@hotmail.com)

if you have any questions let me know(no strings attatched)
just want you to get what works best for your situation

keep in mind that installing any type of flooring in a new home requires alot of protection (frome the other trades)
immediatly after install cover the floor with the boxes and paper and or 1/8" masonite
it may seem like over kill but one scratch in the wrong spot and you would have wished you covered it

hey again just read your add again and
noticed that you want wider widths
that is one of the benifits to engineered
it comes as wide as 9"
and is stable unlike solid wood
i would shy away from anything over 5"
check with the manufacture about the radiant heat thing
but as long as you controll the humidity between 45-65%
at all times (that is a must for any wood floor )
than you should be ok