Solid floors are all wood, regardless of width or length, they are one piece of wood from top to bottom Solid flooring gives you a great opportunity for customization. Your choice of species, stains and finishes all contribute to the personalization of a solid floor. This is an excellent choice in most areas of a home on the ground level or above.

Engineered flooring is a hardwood wear layer overtop of a base of plywood. The plywood is used for dimensional stability (again - movement) although, it can be a little bit more expensive. The plywood base acts as a stabilizer for the wear layer, so that the floor will move less. Also, the engineered can be nailed OR glued, which does allow it to be used overtop of radiant (in floor) heating systems without problems.

Laminate is a base of MDF - Medium Density Fiberboard (mashed up wood - sort of) with a computer-generated image (picture) of wood flooring on top. Now, the nice aspect to laminate is that it can be used anywhere, and everywhere - most of them are guaranteed against water, and many other dangers that affect wood. It is usually inexpensive (though, of course it does range), and is bought in planks, typically 7" x 36" approx. It is floated over a foam or cork underlayment, which allows the floor to move easily. The floors are 'floated' which means that they are not attached to the sub floor, just to each other (some with glue, others with a tension system that holds them together).

PARQUET is made up of strips of wood assembled in a square or in a rectangle called a 'mosaic'. Parquet is quite inexpensive and must be glued directly to the sub floor using a special adhesive. It is available in both a pre finished and a sand-on-site style. Parquet was really popular in the 70's, but not much in use today. Since they are typically only 3/8" in thickness, they cannot be refinished more than 2-3 times.