Engineered or solid? French forest floors

[Teapot101]

Exactly that really. We want to lay new oak flooring onto old boards. 1 shop says engineered is best the next says they prefer solid. There doesn't seem to be a price difference. Any ideas?
Also has anyone heard of French forest floors? They seem a good bit cheaper than the rest, just worried there's a reason.

[PigletJohn]

I have seen some French flooring that is pine coloured to look like oak. I have no idea if that's the stuff you are looking at.

I prefer solid. Engineered is just a fancy plywood, with a nice top layer, scraps in the middle, and a low-cost bottom layer.

[RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog]

I've no experience of French forest floors, but at our last house we needed to lay 66 metre square of replacement flooring across three reception rooms and spoke to several local companies who all recommended engineered oak.

This was primarily due to the fact that our house was old and prone to damp (200 year old Georgian stone village house) and that the engineered oak would cope best in these conditions.

We ended up with Harlech Oak in Cognac from Kenton/Woodpecker flooring (cost ??2700) which was more expensive than some solid oak we looked at, but with a pretty good thickness of wood as the top layer and could be stripped and refinished several times if necessary......

Have since sold that house, but we were very pleased with the result and everyone thought it was solid oak.

Not sure if your house is old or more recently built OP, but if ours had been newer we would have most likely gone with the solid oak.

[RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog]

Sorry, don't know what the bloody iPad did with the pound sign there

[NetballHoop]

We put engineered onto old floor boards and solid onto solid floor at our house. Our builders claimed that engineered was better if there was any movement underneath.

Both have held up well for 10 years so far.

[Ta1kinPeace]

I have bamboo that straddles the joins between concrete and wooden floors : its just glued down
and coping fine after 7 years of total abuse

[Millymollymama]

Hardly anyone uses solid oak these days. It just uses up too many trees. It is not so good for underfloor heating either nor comes in the range of finishes and plank widths that the engineered does. If you get the greatest thickness of wood for the engineered it will outlast you! We have used Kahrs and it is superb. A wide plank with a matt limed finish. I have solid too in a 3 strip in my barn. Engineered often comes with an easy to use click together fixing system so is easier to lay than solid. Any of it will need to be laid on a level floor so consult a flooring company before you order. Ours is on top of a concrete screed. Not sure how level old floor boards will be due to knots and wear and tear.

[Teapot101]

Hmmm. Our house is old but dry. No underfloor heating. The solid I'm looking at does have a groove so looks easy to lay. I'm wondering if there is alot of difference at the end of the day (if I don't have the damp factors or underfloor heating to think about)

[Ta1kinPeace]

The thing with engineered (and bamboo) is that the layers are across each other so there is less risk of any movement
eg when DD and 50 friends spilt rather a lot of booze during a party : steamer and mop later, all good.
actual planks might not have liked it so much.

Bamboo grows to harvesting size in 3 years which is why I like it.