Why Would You Want Unfinished Engineered Wood Flooring?

I’m “floored” as to why a person would want unfinished engineered wood flooring.  It’s difficult to find, and it’s not exactly cheap.

After all, engineered wood flooring is all about expediency and convenience, right?  And engineered wood flooring comes in a myriad of finishes, so it’s not exactly like design options are limited.

But hey, let’s examine the issue a little.  There appear to be a limited few reasons why you might want unfinished engineered wood flooring:

  • You want the structural properties of engineered wood flooring.  Because of its plywood core, engineered flooring does perform well against humidity and other forms of moisture, though never well against actual standing water.
  • …Yet you want a type of finish not found in the approximately 13,000 different types of pre-finished engineered flooring already out there.  For example, you might be trying to match some existing flooring.

http://www.finishingstore.com/images/large/flooring/engineered/owens/owenshickory.jpg
Owens Plankfloor is about the only kind of unfinished engineered flooring I have found of any repute.  Species include red oak, white oak, hickory, hard maple, walnut, American cherry, and all the usual suspects.

This is not cheap flooring, by any means.  The lowest prices, your garden-variety white oak, runs about $5.00 per square foot; Brazilian cherry runs close to $7.00 per square foot.

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