laminate v engineered

[dreadnought]

hi all,i`ve been looking at flooring for my nb and am a little unsure of what to use,i`ve heard people say use laminate and then someone else will say you cant use it you have to use engineered flooring,the price difference is substantial , can anyone shed some light on this for me, will i be cursed forever if i use laminate, many thanks in advance

 

i will be laying the floor onto a suitable underlay,ie, fibreboard,or the equivalent

Edited July 10, 2016 by dreadnought

[bag 'o' bones]

hi all,i`ve been looking at flooring for my nb and am a little unsure of what to use,i`ve heard people say use laminate and then someone else will say you cant use it you have to use engineered flooring,the price difference is substantial , can anyone shed some light on this for me, will i be cursed forever if i use laminate, many thanks in advance

If your not going to use engineered you might as well go the whole hog and lay best quality vinyl flooring. That's what we used. Really have to look up close to see it fake. In any case too water around for laminate it always lifts at the edges.

Edited July 10, 2016 by bag 'o' bones

[ditchcrawler]

We have industrial carpet tiles

[magnetman]

What is it going to be laid on?

[W+T]

I laid cheap laminate in the bathroom in the house over 6 years ago, maybe even 9 years ago, and if it still good, no a lifted edge anywhere, i am surprised myself at that, it was a temp thing but `if it aint broke`

I the front room laid a much better quality laminate, had a fish tank drain over 50l of water over it and its knackered now.

[MtB]

I'd use neither of i were you.

 

Eventually, you will come to realise it is a BIG mistake to have a floor finish you can't easily lift when (not if) you need access to the bilges.

[magnetman]

I'd use neither of i were you.

 

Eventually, you will come to realise it is a BIG mistake to have a floor finish you can't easily lift when (not if) you need access to the bilges.

I disagree with that. I have laid (glued) teak finger parquet on top of 18mm ply throughout my boat. If at any stage I need to access below the floor I will drill 8mm holes and join them up with a jigsaw its not like you regularly need bilge access unless you are paranoid or have an unusually thin bottom.

 

Edited to resolve odd typo issue

Edited July 10, 2016 by magnetman

[Robbo]

hi all,i`ve been looking at flooring for my nb and am a little unsure of what to use,i`ve heard people say use laminate and then someone else will say you cant use it you have to use engineered flooring,the price difference is substantial , can anyone shed some light on this for me, will i be cursed forever if i use laminate, many thanks in advance

 

i will be laying the floor onto a suitable underlay,ie, fibreboard,or the equivalent

Well laminate is a fake top of your choosing, engineered wood is a real wood top. So do you want a real wood top or plastic?

[W+T]

I'd use neither of i were you.

 

Eventually, you will come to realise it is a BIG mistake to have a floor finish you can't easily lift when (not if) you need access to the bilges.

 

 

what about an inspection hatch, it is what i do and works fine.,

[magnetman]

Depending on what the substrate is I am interested that some people apparently say you can't use laminate.

 

I wouldn't dream of having laminate flooring personally but I don't see why not if you are happy with it? Can't see any particular difference over engineered wood.

 

What is it going to be laid on?

 

(Just noticed the op edited his post after several replies)

Well laminate is a fake top of your choosing, engineered wood is a real wood top. So do you want a real wood top or plastic?

Laminate is considerably less expensive apparently.

 

Personally I'd prefer to leave plain plywood or maybe painted plywood rather than add a laminate floor.

 

Anothertypo

Edited July 10, 2016 by magnetman

[Robbo]

Laminate is considerably less expensive apparently.

 

That's because it's not real, just an image. If you want the real thing then engineered wood is recommended.

[dreadnought]

hi all,i`ve been looking at flooring for my nb and am a little unsure of what to use,i`ve heard people say use laminate and then someone else will say you cant use it you have to use engineered flooring,the price difference is substantial , can anyone shed some light on this for me, will i be cursed forever if i use laminate, many thanks in advance

 

i will be laying the floor onto a suitable underlay,ie, fibreboard,or the equivalent

i`m airing towards carpet tiles now,why would you need access to the bilges apart from at the back of the boat (the lowest section)?

[magnetman]

That's because it's not real, just an image. If you want the real thing then engineered wood is recommended.

Yes. If asked to recommend flooring to go over ply in a boat I would recommend teak finger parquet on Lecol 5500 adhesive. Probably more work than engineered flooring but it is real solid blocks of wood

 

Edit to add picture

Edited July 10, 2016 by magnetman

[rgreg]

We have industrial carpet tiles

Likewise. These have served well for many years.

[W+T]

Likewise. These have served well for many years.

Why the industrial flooring. I am sure boats don't get as much use as commercial/industry does.

[ditchcrawler]

Why the industrial flooring. I am sure boats don't get as much use as commercial/industry does.

Because they were cheep, ex some sort of exhibition.

The galley is done with Flotex tiles

[Rendelf]

At the risk of being a bamboo fanboy.....

 

Bamboo!! Ecological, waterresistant, hard wearing, and fairly cheap. For NBs, you can buy small amounts that house-owners have spare for very cheap.

 

Some flooring tiles require adhesive, which means you can't use underlay, which leaves your floor uninsulated. Not necessarily a problem, but IMO worth using a 'floating' floor, so that you can also have warm underlay, plus easy removal if you need to get underneath if you use the 'click and lock' type. I've used T&G on our boat, so cut regular hatches.

[MtB]

 

 

what about an inspection hatch, it is what i do and works fine.,

 

 

Well my boat is 68ft long and I now have two inspection hatches cut though the 3/4" solid mahogany polished floor laid throughout the boat forward of the engine room.

 

Both cut as investigations into an odd and intermittent list in the boat. A perfect explanation would have been a few hundred litres of water sloshing about in the sealed up bilge, so I took a saw to the lovely mahogany. Not a decision taken lightly.

 

Turned out the bilge is dry but my mind is now at rest.

[Robbo]

Yes. If asked to recommend flooring to go over ply in a boat I would recommend teak finger parquet on Lecol 5500 adhesive. Probably more work than engineered flooring but it is real solid blocks of wood

 

Engineered wood is recommended over solid wood in areas where moisture may occur, it won't expand as much. Solid wood is good for heavy footfall areas as you'll have more wood to re-sand over time.

[magnetman]

I've put 3/8 thick finger parquet everywhere (onto a 18mm shuttering ply floor) including kitchen and bathroom and its been no trouble at all.

 

I know that planked wood flooring can be a problem with moisture but the parquet is ok as long as it is stuck down well (lecol 5500)

 

I have a small amount of t&g oak flooring beside the bath which doesn't seem to be a problem either. I think the base under it makes the biggest difference. My floors are not insulated so they do get cold but that's no massive hardship imo

Obviously some people don't like the rough finish of reclaimed parquet (not entirely flat floor) but that's a matter of taste as with everything.

 

 

I haven't installed a floor from a bare steel shell so I don't know but I assume one would always lay a decent plywood base to put the actual flooring on otherwise its going to creak too much

Edited July 11, 2016 by magnetman

[MtB]

 

Engineered wood is recommended over solid wood in areas where moisture may occur, it won't expand as much. Solid wood is good for heavy footfall areas as you'll have more wood to re-sand over time.

 

 

What is 'engineered wood' anyway? I thought it was the name used for accurately machined solid timber, nothing more.

[Robbo]

 

 

What is 'engineered wood' anyway? I thought it was the name used for accurately machined solid timber, nothing more.

It's a number of layers where the grain goes cris cross so they work against each other so is stronger than the equivalent solid piece of wood (like for beams) and it's more stable with differences in moisture/dry/temperature levels.

[bag 'o' bones]

As I understand it there are three basic versions of flooring, solid wood, engineered wood as Robbo has described, the top layer being a thin veneer of expensive wood, and printed mdf laminate.

 

Some people would describe engineered as being inferior to solid but some types of wood don't work very well as a solid piece so engineered allows the use of a wider range of wood types that ordinarily wouldn't be available.

 

As for printed MDF, from experience it doesn't last very long in a house let alone a boat - even the so called water resistant stuff - particularly near the door where it gets wet more often.

[Robbo]

As I understand it there are three basic versions of flooring, solid wood, engineered wood as Robbo has described, the top layer being a thin veneer of expensive wood, and printed mdf laminate.

 

There's varying different quality of engineered wood flooring, so look for ones with a thicker top wood and multiple layers.

[Detling]

"I will be laying the floor onto a suitable underlay,ie, fibreboard,or the equivalent"

 

Hmm is this water tolerant.

 

The floor of the boat has permanent moist air underneath due to condensation in the cold between the baseplate and the floor. It will also at some point become the receiver of litres of fluid, be that water or beer/wine. this will take ages to dry out especially in the cooler corners. All this moisture guarantee's expansion/contraction cycles and any form of laminate is not very good with them as eventually the edges curl at the joints due to pressure when expanded and then gape when dry. Tongue and groove engineered wood will not show this effect as much and neither will solid hardwood (hard as in physically hard and not just from a deciduous tree). Marine tradition has Teak as the best, but you do want some money left to buy the boat, Oak is common and sustainable, Iroko is also good, I have no idea about Bamboo but the east-west boats used it and they seem to be good after 8-10 years, at least on the one I have been on recently.

 

Plywood sheets with a decent finish (not the cheapest grade which often has splits and gaps) with a decent wood or a good vinyl like Karndean should last you years and years.