Buyer's Guide

Hardwood, honestly.

Solid or engineered, oak or hickory, matte or wire-brushed. What the specs mean, what a Canadian winter does to a wood floor, and how to buy one you'll still love in twenty years.

Solid or engineered?

This is the first real decision, and it is not a quality decision. Both are real wood. The difference is what's underneath the surface, and that determines where the floor can go.

Solid is one piece of timber, typically 3/4" thick. Engineered is a top veneer of the same timber bonded to a cross-layered plywood or HDF core. The cross-layering is the whole point: it stops the plank from expanding and contracting the way a solid board does. That's why engineered can go over concrete, over radiant heat, and into a basement — and solid can't.

Solid hardwood Engineered hardwood
Construction One solid board, 3/4" typical Real wood veneer over a cross-layered core
Refinishes 4–6 over its life 0–3, depending entirely on veneer thickness
Below grade (basement) No. Never. Yes, with a proper moisture barrier
Over concrete Only over a built-up plywood subfloor Yes — glue down or float
Radiant heat Not recommended Yes, if the product is rated for it
Wide planks (7"+) Risky — more movement, more gapping This is what engineered is for
Best for Main floors of older homes with plywood subfloors, where you plan to refinish repeatedly. Almost everything else — and every wide-plank look.
Engineered is not the budget version of solid. A thick-veneer European white oak engineered plank costs more than most solid oak — and performs better in a modern home. Buy for the room, not for the reputation.

The veneer thickness is the number that matters

On engineered hardwood, the top wear layer is real timber measured in millimetres. It's the single spec that separates a floor you can sand and revive from a floor you'll one day throw away. Two planks can look identical in the box and have wildly different lifespans.

Veneer Refinishes What it means
0.6 mm None Paper-thin. Screen-and-recoat only. Entry-level, and it shows.
2 mm 1 light Acceptable for bedrooms and low-traffic rooms.
3–4 mm 1–2 The sweet spot. Whole-home engineered. Enough wood to sand back after a decade of family life.
6 mm + 2–3 Premium. Effectively a lifetime floor with the stability of engineered.
Solid 3/4" 4–6 Sand down to the tongue and it's finished. Which takes about a century.
Watch for this: a listing that trumpets "18mm engineered hardwood" is quoting total thickness — core included. That tells you nothing on its own. Ask for the veneer. If the seller can't tell you, that's your answer.

Species, and what Janka actually tells you

The Janka scale measures how much force it takes to embed a steel ball into a board. Higher means harder to dent. It does not mean harder to scratch — that's the finish's job — and it says nothing about how well a species hides the damage it does take.

Species Janka Character
Hickory 1820 The toughest common species. Dramatic colour variation — you either love it or you don't.
Hard maple 1450 Hard, but a tight, uniform grain that hides nothing. Shows every scratch. Stains unevenly.
White oak 1360 The default, for good reason. Hard enough, takes stain beautifully, grain hides wear. Closed grain resists water better than red oak.
Ash 1320 Bold, open grain. Light and contemporary.
Red oak 1290 The Canadian classic. Warm pink undertone. Forgiving, affordable, everywhere.
Birch 1260 Smooth and even. A softer, cheaper stand-in for maple.
Walnut 1010 The most beautiful floor on this list, and the softest. It will dent. Some people call that patina.
Pine / fir 690 Softwood. Character floors and heritage restorations only.
The trap: people buy hard maple because the Janka number is high, then hate it. A busy oak grain conceals a scratch that a smooth maple broadcasts across the room. Grain pattern hides more damage than hardness prevents.

Finish and texture

UV-cured urethane + aluminum oxide
The factory standard. Extremely hard, very low maintenance, warranted for years. Damage means a board swap or a full sand — you can't spot-repair it.
Hardwax oil
Penetrates rather than coats. Looks and feels like raw wood. Scratches can be spot-repaired with a rub of oil — but it needs re-oiling every few years.
Wire-brushed
Soft grain is scrubbed away to leave texture. Hides scratches, dust and dog hair better than anything else. The single best choice for a busy house.
Smooth / hand-scraped
Smooth is clean and formal, and shows everything. Hand-scraped — like our NAF Timberwolf — is rustic and hides plenty, but the look dates faster.
Sheen, in one line
Matte hides. Gloss reveals. High-gloss floors look spectacular for about six weeks and then show every footprint. Matte and satin are what nearly everyone actually wants.

Four ways it goes down

Nail / staple down

Fastened through the tongue into a wood subfloor. The traditional method for solid, and the most solid-feeling result.

Needs: a plywood or OSB subfloor. Not possible over concrete.
Glue down

Bonded across the whole plank. The quietest underfoot, and the standard for engineered over concrete.

Needs: flat, dry slab. Moisture testing is mandatory, not optional.
Floating click

Engineered planks lock together and rest on an underlay — our Green Touch range is click-lock. Fast, and the easiest to lift later.

Needs: a flat subfloor and expansion gaps. Sounds slightly hollower than glue.
Site-finished

Raw wood installed, then sanded and finished in place. A seamless floor with no bevels, and any colour you want.

Needs: you out of the house for several days. Costs more. Looks unmatched.
Acclimation is not a formality. Wood must sit in the room, unboxed, at normal living temperature and humidity — typically 3 to 5 days, longer for solid and for wide planks. Installing a cold, dry pallet of wood straight off a winter truck is how you get gaps in March and buckling in July.

The Ontario problem: humidity

Wood is hygroscopic. It takes on moisture in a humid July and gives it up in a bone-dry January, and it changes size doing so. Nearly every hardwood complaint we see — gapping, cupping, squeaks, peaking — traces back to indoor humidity, not to the floor.

35–55%
Target relative humidity, year-round
Keep it in this band and a hardwood floor behaves. Drift outside it and the wood does what wood does.
Winter
Forced-air heat is the enemy
A Kitchener winter with the furnace running can drop a house below 20% RH. The wood shrinks and thin gaps open between boards. A whole-home humidifier is cheaper than a floor.
Summer
Humidity swells the boards
Winter's gaps close up again — that part is normal, and seasonal movement is not a defect. A dehumidifier in a damp basement stops it becoming one.
Practical version: wide planks move more than narrow ones. Solid moves more than engineered. If you want 7" wide boards in a house with forced-air heat and no humidifier, choose engineered — or install the humidifier first.

Where hardwood belongs

Living & dining
Where hardwood earns its price.
Kitchens
Fine — if you wipe spills promptly.
Stairs & halls
Matching treads and nosings available.
Offices & showrooms
Commercial-rated engineered only.
Where it doesn't
Full bathrooms and laundry rooms. Standing water and wood are a losing combination, whatever the finish claims. Use tile or LVP.
Basements — for solid. Below grade means slab moisture. Engineered with a vapour barrier only, and test the slab first.
Entryways in a salt-belt winter. Road salt and grit destroy a finish. A serious mat, and a shoes-off rule, or accept the wear.
Homes with large dogs, if you insist on walnut. Nails dent soft species. Choose oak or hickory, wire-brushed, and the floor will forgive far more.

Reading a spec sheet

Veneer / wear layer The real-wood top layer on engineered, in mm. Aim for 3 mm or more if you ever want to refinish.
Overall thickness Veneer plus core — the "18mm" in a product name. Affects height at transitions and doorways, not durability.
Core Multi-ply plywood (most stable, best screw hold) or HDF (harder, denser, less forgiving of moisture).
Janka rating Dent resistance of the species. Useful, but secondary to grain and finish.
Grade Select (clean, uniform), Character / Natural (knots and colour variation), Rustic (heavy character). A grading term, not a quality term.
Cut Plain-sawn (classic cathedral grain, most movement), rift & quarter-sawn (straight linear grain, most stable, costs more).
Coverage per box (sq ft) Divide your area by this, add 10% waste, round up to whole boxes. Never mix dye lots.
Warranty Covers finish wear-through and manufacturing defects. It does not cover dents, water damage, or damage caused by indoor humidity outside the specified range.

Keeping it looking new

✓  Sweep or vacuum with a hard-floor head. Grit under a shoe is sandpaper.
✓  Clean with a barely-damp mop and a hardwood-specific cleaner. Water is the enemy, not the tool.
✓  Felt pads under every leg, replaced yearly. Mats at every exterior door.
✓  Hold the house between 35% and 55% relative humidity, all year.
✗  No steam mops. Ever. Forcing hot vapour into a wood floor is a warranty claim you'll lose.
✗  No vinegar, no oil soap, no wax on a urethane finish. It dulls the sheen and fouls a future recoat.

Common questions

Is engineered hardwood "real" hardwood?
Yes. The surface you walk on and see is solid timber of the named species. What's changed is the core beneath it, which is engineered for stability. It sands, stains and ages like wood, because it is wood.
Can I put hardwood in my basement?
Engineered, yes — over a tested slab with a vapour barrier. Solid, no, under any circumstances. If the basement has ever taken on water, use LVP instead and sleep at night.
Small gaps have opened between my boards. Is my floor defective?
Almost certainly not. Thin gaps in deep winter that close again by summer are normal seasonal movement in a dry house. Gaps that stay open year-round, or boards that cup or lift, are a different conversation — call us.
Hardwood or LVP?
Hardwood if you want a floor that can be refinished, that gets better with age, and that a buyer will pay for. LVP if the room has water in it, sits below grade, or takes punishment you don't want to think about. Most homes we quote end up with both — hardwood upstairs, LVP in the basement and the mudroom.
How long does an install take?
Budget several days for acclimation before anyone picks up a nail gun. A typical main floor is then two to four days to install. Site-finished floors add several days for sanding, staining and coats — and the house has to be empty of foot traffic while it cures.
How much do I need?
Length × width in feet = square footage. Add 10% for waste — more for diagonal layouts, herringbone, or a floor with lots of angles. Divide by the box coverage and round up. We'll do the takeoff for you on a quote, including stairs, transitions and trim.

Come stand on it before you buy it

Wood is one of the few things a photo can't sell honestly. Order samples, or visit the showroom and see a dozen species under real light. Then we'll measure and quote supply-and-install.

Get a quoteBrowse hardwood
Showroom in Kitchener-Waterloo  •  Delivery and installation across Ontario
← All flooring guides
Compare vinyl plank, hardwood, laminate, carpet and tile side by side