The big three options for hard floors all have a place. Picking between them comes down to traffic, budget, and how willing you are to redo it in ten years.
Laminate
Cheapest of the three. Modern AC4-rated laminates are genuinely good — water-resistant cores, decent visuals. Where they fall over: the surface is photographic, so once it scratches deeply it can’t be sanded back. Plan for a 10-15 year life in a busy household.
Engineered
Real wood top layer (usually 3-6mm) over a plywood core. Looks and feels like solid wood, but moves less with humidity. Can be sanded back once or twice. Our default recommendation for living rooms and bedrooms.
Solid wood
The real thing. Sands back as many times as you want it to, lasts effectively forever, develops the kind of patina you can’t fake. Costs more, moves more with central heating cycles, and absolutely needs a flat sub-floor or it will cup over time.
What we’d put down in our own house: engineered for living spaces, LVT in bathrooms and utilities, solid only when the budget and prep work justify it.
