The durability of a hardwood floor can be assessed through differing criteria, including how capable it is of withstanding wear, scratches, and dings on its surface, as well as how well it holds up to moisture and changes in humidity.
As a formerly living entity, wood is not inert. It is prone to expansion and contraction, and one species of wood has different qualities than the next. As such, durability is a nuanced subject.
With regard to surface wear and resistance to topical damage, solid hardwood and engineered hardwood (which, remember, is topped by solid hardwood) are identical in their durability. More critical is the species you choose, with some being harder and some softer.
The lifespan of the two products does differ, however, due to variations in how many refinishings they can withstand. Refinishing flooring entails removing the surface damage by sanding off between .75 and 1 mm, followed by the reapplication of a protective finish.
Solid hardwood offers the capacity for approximately ten sandings and refinishings before beginning to expose the tongue and groove. Engineered hardwoods, on the other hand, are limited by the thickness (or thin-ness) of the wear layer, allowing just a couple of refinishings before beginning to expose the core veneer layers.
Vermont Plank Flooring offsets this limitation to a great extent by utilizing a 5mm wear layer, among the thickest in the industry, allowing between four and six sandings and a 60-120-year lifespan (based on refinishing the floors every 15-20 years, on average). Solid hardwoods can last 100-to-several hundred years.
