Engineered Hardwood Floors 10 Years Later

Giving you all the details of how my engineered wood flooring has helped up over the last 10 years.

This year marks the 10th year I’ve been in this house, I can’t believe it. I went through an extensive renovation and one of the things I made sure was that I had flooring that would stand the test of time. I’m sharing all the details of how my flooring has held up over the past decade.

Engineered Hardwood

This is name and type of engineered hardwood I have in my home: :  Dansk Hardwood Monterey Wire Brushed in Weathered Saddle (Oak).

Each board has tongue and groove to slip into each board together and the floor was levelled out first – very important first step.

Pros and cons

First Impressions Versus Now

What I love about this flooring is that in the past 10 years, it looks almost exactly how it looked when installed except for a few areas, which I will address. Also, let me quickly address pros and cons of this flooring.

PRO: It looks like real hardwood. With so many laminate flooring options out there, I really do love having real hardwood floors. This is the best option if you are like me in that regard. There is real wood on top of the board and can be sanded once in its lifetime (generally this is the case but you would have to check on your specific engineered hardwood).

PRO: It hides dirt really well. I made sure not to vacuum before I took photos. My house is normally not super dirty but I do have a white long haired Ragdoll cat and two teenage kids. So you can see that it really does look great overall.

PRO: Some may not like this but I do – it always has a bit of a ‘clean’ like sheen to it.

CON: It can dent quite easily. I’ve dropped an iron, plates, bowls, you name it and only when there’s a sharp pointy end will it normally dent the wood but sometimes it will dent with a dull object too. I think it depends on the impact. And it hurts me every time it happens.

I’ve used different flooring markers and putties over the years to patch them up but it’s never the same.

CON: Hard working areas will wear out. There are two areas that have taken a beaten and it shows. Under the dishwasher and in front of the stove.

A lot of cooking and slopping of water around the dishwasher has happened in this year for the past 10 years. Things get messy, things get spilled, grease splatters.

In the photos below, you can see in front of the stove lighter flecks of color and that’s the top of the finish that has come off.

In front of the dishwasher, you can see the same thing has happened and we have had some leakage here before so considering the near-flood, the floors have helped up insanely good.

You can see a bit of red markings where I’ve tried to ‘fix’ the flooring with floor markers.

This corner of the kitchen is under the garbage cabinet, in between the sink and the stove. I’ve dropped knives here and you can see the marks left behind.

Durability

Overall, the durability has been fantastic. Next time, I might not put it in the kitchen but then again, it’s not that bad after a decade. And I do have a box of boards in the basement that can replace these worn boards too.

Maintenance

I vacuum the floors once a week and maybe every two months I would lightly mop them (okay if I’m honest, I didn’t mop them for an entire year while writing my book and they still looked good!). There is no major maintenance for them. I’ve painted numerous pieces of furniture on these floors (with a dropcloth) but when spills happened, it was easy to wipe up.

Cost Versus Value

Engineered hardwood flooring is not cheap. More than laminate but not more than real hardwood floors. But for how beautiful they still look, I would definitely choose them again. They will look good for another 10 years for sure.

The sheen looks great, the overall look of them is amazing, and the color I do not regret. I would definitely get them over again in another house.

I hope this has helped if you are considering engineered hardwood floors! Let me know in the comments below.

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