Turn Your Dreams into Reality with Water Resistant Engineered Hardwood

Have you always dreamed of having real hardwood flooring? But you thought that dream was simply out of reach because of the wear from your kids, pets, or both? After all, is there such a thing as scratch AND water-resistant wood flooring other than ceramic, porcelain, laminate, or some other non-wood floor? Well, guess what? Now, you can have those hardwood floors. That’s because flooring brands like Hearthwood® flooring have introduced innovative technologies like WetWorx™ that can make your dreams a reality – water resistant engineered hardwood that’s scratch resistant.

Engineered Hardwood Makes a Big Difference

Engineered hardwood floors offer more substantial durability when looking for scratch and water-resistant wood flooring. First, most engineered hardwoods come with an aluminum oxide polyurethane finish.

Second, engineered hardwood features a multi-layer core. That core incorporates three or more layers of fiberboard that add dimensional stability to make them infinitely less susceptible to shrinking, swelling, and warping.

Third, you can enhance the scratch and water resistance by selecting a hardwood with a high Janka hardness rating. For example, hickory, maple, or white oak carry a higher Janka rating than pine, cherry, or black walnut.

In conjunction with the wood’s hardness, you can also select engineered hardwood floors with more dramatic grain patterns as they often mask minor blemishes. In addition, wood flooring with a lower sheen do the same thing.

Water Resistant Engineered Hardwood Reduces Absorption

Let’s face it. Many people steer clear of installing wood flooring in a laundry room, basement, or perhaps even a kitchen. The risk of water damage is too significant for many.

Why? Well, hardwood floors absorb water, and that causes them to expand. Eventually, it leads to warping, where the side of your wood floors swell and get higher than the center of the boards. So, you’re left with an uneven surface.

Hearthwood’s WetWorx can prevent wicking to provide water resistant wood flooring. It inhibits water absorption into wood 250% better than competitive hardwoods. In tests, on floors treated with WetWorx technology, spills from red wine, coffee, apple juice, and water were cleaned-up with no visible effects. In similar tests, competitive floors readily absorbed those liquids.

Even if the water appears only on the floor’s surface, it may mask the issue. For example, water penetrates your wood floors through the cracks between the planks. If it does, the plywood sublayer can absorb the water as well. That can spell trouble in the form of cupping, not to mention mold growth can start within 48-72 hours after your floors get wet.

In general, water-resistant engineered hardwood floors help prevent these issues. That’s not to say they eliminate water damage altogether. But they do put a barrier in place to protect against damage. However, you still need to remove excess water or run the risk of damage. To that point, Hearthwood Flooring with WetWorx technology is even wet mop approved.

Dogs on Real Hardwood Floors Add to the Concerns

If water concerns aren’t enough, you have to worry about kids and pets, as their foot traffic causes additional trouble for many hardwoods. After all, nobody wants to see their new, wood flooring marred by scratches and gouges. But once again, engineered hardwood flooring manufacturers have come to the rescue with some unique products.

Aluminum oxide, for instance, provides a long-lasting defense against scratches. Better still, it’s a natural mineral, so you don’t have to worry about health impacts. If you elect to purchase pre-finished wood flooring, it’s typically treated with multiple layers of aluminum oxide polyurethane.

Other Benefits of Engineered Hardwood

Scratch and water resistance aside, engineered hardwood floors offer several other compelling benefits:

1. Engineered hardwood fits more tightly than solid hardwood due to expansion and contraction reductions when exposed to humidity.
2. By selecting an engineered wood floor using high-density fiberboard (HDF) versus medium-density fiberboard (MDF), you can increase your floor’s performance even more.
3. Engineered hardwood flooring costs less than its solid wood counterpart. In some instances, you might spend one-third less than purchasing solid hardwood.

You get these added features and still get a floor that looks precisely like real hardwood flooring. And you’ll enjoy scratch and water-resistant wood flooring to boot. A dream come true! Throw some carefully targeted area rugs for high-traffic areas and gain even more substantial resistance to wear.

And oh yeah, one last thought. Owing to its water and scratch resistance, especially the former, you can install engineered hardwood flooring in locations where you wouldn’t typically think you could install hardwood. So go ahead and get that real hardwood floor you always wanted for your kitchen or laundry room.

Shop Our Line of Water-Resistant Engineered Hardwood

Hearthwood maintains its distinction in manufacturing engineered hardwood flooring in the United States. A distinction that goes back 70 plus years in Nashville, TN. We’re also committed to manufacturing real wood flooring rooted in sustainability.

You can trust that our engineered hardwood collections give you the scratch and water-resistant flooring you desire. Plus, you can select from white oak, hickory, and maple species in wider-width planks with brushed or hand-sculpted textures.

Equally important, our engineered hardwoods meet rigorous indoor air quality standards that have earned us an Indoor Advantage Gold Certification. Moreover, we ensure every manufactured plank is third-party verified for EPA TSCA Title VI and Carb Compliance.

Shop for our water resistant engineered hardwood today at a retailer close to you. Or visit our site and get two free samples from our real wood flooring collection. We have additional resources to help keep your floors looking greater after installation.