How the two boards are actually built
Solid wood is one piece of timber all the way through, usually 18–20mm. Engineered wood is a real oak wear layer (typically 3–6mm) bonded to a cross-ply or HDF core. That core is the whole argument: cross-bonded plies pull against each other so the board barely moves with humidity, while a solid plank expands and contracts across its width every season.
Underfloor heating decides it for most people
If you have wet underfloor heating, engineered is the answer and solid is not. Solid timber over a heated screed cups, gaps and, on wide planks, can delaminate a finish. We will not quote solid over wet UFH — if a survey shows heating in the screed, the quote comes back as engineered.
Re-sanding life
A solid board can be re-sanded several times across its life, which is why original Victorian pine is still in service after a century. A 6mm-wear-layer engineered board takes one, sometimes two, careful re-sands. If the floor is going into a house you intend to keep for decades and there's no UFH, that longevity argument favours solid.
- Solid oak: 20–40 years with one or two re-sands across its life
- Engineered oak: 20–30 years with a re-sand around year 12–15
- Wear-layer thickness matters more than total board thickness
Subfloor and fitting method
Solid is normally secret-nailed to ply, which means building a ply deck if you're on screed — extra height and extra cost. Engineered can be fully glued to screed, floated on acoustic underlay, or nailed. On flats with acoustic requirements or on a low door threshold, that flexibility often settles the decision before price does.
Fitted cost
Our supplied-and-fitted pricing starts at £59/m² for engineered oak and £72/m² for solid wood, before subfloor works. Solid also tends to carry more prep cost because of the ply deck. On a like-for-like room, engineered is usually the cheaper finished floor even when the board itself isn't much cheaper.