Engineered flooring as the name suggests is engineered and pressed together with multiple layers of timber to achieve a super strong bonded board. The majority of engineered boards are composed of the top layer which can also be referred to as the lamella, made of real hardwood generally from European or American Oak, which is bonded to the bottom layer which is available in 3 ply or multi-ply depending on the overall thickness of the top lamella.

The top layer can be cut from the solid trunk either by rotary cutting whereby a slice of the timber is cut from all around the tree trunk to create a continuous veneer sheet, or alternatively a rough sawn cut which is how we produce our boards at Royal Oak Floors. The main difference between the two is that the rough sawn cut produces a stronger, higher quality lamella and ultimately a more attractive board.

Once the large board is made, this is then sanded and cut into the flooring planks with the tongue and groove created to make it an easy to install flooring solution. This is then followed by the staining and lacquer/oil process which can vary between manufacturers.

At Royal Oak Floors, our boards are made using the finest, sustainably sourced European Oak which are all FSC-certified. The logs are sent to our mills where they are rough sawn down to create the lamella’s in either 4mm or 6mm thicknesses which are then cold press bonded to the poplar plywood.