Hi,
We fell in love with hardwood floors years ago when we learned how durable they were. We had 3 dogs running and sliding across the floors. plus cats, and of course, with animals comes the occasional "oops". The real red oak floor we had was easy to clean and looked good even with all the animals, and about every 3 - 4 years we had it screen & recoated. But, we now live in a 2-story home with in-floor radiant heat. The 1st floor is on a concrete slab and the 2nd floor is on wood i-joists, 3/4" OSB T&G decking, covered in 2" of gypcrete. Because of this, we are now limited to an engineered wood floor. When we built this house 9 years ago we went with ceramic tile in most of the house due to budget constraints. The only rooms without ceramic tile are the 3 bedrooms that have a laminate floor and the theater room that has carpet. With the exception of the theater room, we wish to now spend the $ to lay down a wood floor.

However, the stories we get told about engineered flooring do not make sense to us. We are told engineered floors cannot be screened & recoated because the wood is too thin. But, we understand screen & recoating does not involve ever touching the wood. Of course, a professional needs to do screenign & recoating and needs to be careful, as if during the r&s he did get down to the wood finish and it was thin enough he could go through in that area. So, we understand that but we do not understand the comments from people stating emphatically that engineered floors cannot be r&s.

Also, on the few folks that have said r&s can be done onan engineered floor, they say it can only be done 2 - 3 times. But, again, why is there a limitaton? Does the floor keep count of how may times it has been r&s'd?

Can any of you give us the definitive answer on this?

We are looking for a white or red oak, or hickory, floor to go with the solid 6", classic "D" cedar logs our 2nd story is built with, & the pine T&G we are covering the sheetrock walls with. We like the oak & hickory as it has been around for decades as flooring, vs. bamboo, cork, etc, and it should be easily matched as we will probably only do about 600 - 1,000 sq ft at a time, until we have the entire 2,800 sq ft off the 2nd story done.

Also, do we need to remove the ceramic tile?

And, the existing laminate floor?

We know about the finished floor only being as solid as the subfloor but..the ceramic and laminate are solid..meaning no loose tiles, broken grout lines, no loose laminate stips, etc.. If we are abe to lay the engineered floor on top shoudl we covver the entire floor 1st with 1/4" plywood to ensure the surface (ceramic tile & laminate) is as level as we think it is?

We do like the handscraped appearance, and we do not like the glossy look..not at all. This is a large "cabin", and it shoudl look like one, so where we think it does not..too much sheetrock..we are correcting that issue with the pine T&G and with a John Boos Black Walnut kitchen counter. The floor will help the appearance tremendously. The floor we looked at locally..I forget the brand & model..was about $5.50 on sale, plus another $3 (I think) to install it. But, I like to learn as much as I can before I buy....so I am somewhat knowledgeable about my purchase.

Thanks.

You have a complicated job there.

If ever you need a screen and recoat try and find somone that has a Clarke FA-8 http://www.clarkeus.com/~/media/Product ... -FA-8.ashx , thats what it's made for. Apparently you can rent them now as well.

You can screen and reocat a floor a million times because like you said, your not hitting the wood, just the finish. But for a total sand and finish it is about three times, however...there's engineered 3/4 3 ply out there that has just as much meat on it than any 3/4 solid floor.

You can go straight over ceramic tile and either glue it or float the engineered. In the other rooms with laminate and carpet, demo that and then build up the floor with plywood to the level of the tile. Easy smeasy.

Thanks for the info.

I found a 3/4", 3-ply, engineered floor on-line just now but they also had a 7-layer floor, although it was only 1/2".

Can you explain the difference between a 3 and 7 ply? Am I correct in believing it is the # of layers of wood veneer? Is a 3-ply the same as a 3-layer?

And, also that the finish..say 9 coatings is what goes on top of the 3 or 7 layers?

Is the thicker 3/4" wood more stable than the 5/8" or 1/2"? It appears the more plys = less thickness, as the 3-plys look to be 3/4" but the 7-plys appear to be 1/2" or 9/16"...Is there any correlation of performance to thickness to # of plys?

I think the 3-ply, 3/4" floor I just read about is the way to go: the description actually addresses the refinish capability ".... allowing the ability of being refinished professionally several times ..." whereas the 7-ply did not address this issues.

Thanks again.

Yes, ply's are the number of veneer layer's. You can have a 3 ply thats 3/8ths of an inch or a 3 ply thats 3/4 of an inch.

As far as coats of finish go I think it depends on the thickness of the coat not the number of layers.