The use of plywood as flooring has been gaining notoriety as a cheaper alternative to traditional woods such as oak. Plywood offers a surprising list of benefits to more expensive woods, although it also has some drawbacks too. Read on to find out a bit more about the use of plywood as flooring.
What is plywood?
Of course there is no plywood tree, and this kind of wood is manufactured in a factory in the same way as MDF or chipboard. Ply consists of thin layers of veneered wood that are built up to make strong sheets of material. Traditionally, you are most likely to encounter plywood in places such as internal vehicle panelling, shed shelving, roofing and furniture. It is also used as sheet flooring in workshops, factories and other places where flooring needs to be durable but attractiveness is not important. Ply is durable and has a high resistance to cracking, breaking, shortage and twisting.
The advantages of plywood as home flooring
First off, it’s significantly cheaper than hardwood flooring. This means it possible to use it on more floors in your home, rather than feeling restricted to just one room. Its high durability also makes it ideal fom areas that get a lot of traffic such as hallways. As it doesn’t expand with the change of season, there’s no need to leave gaps, giving you a neater, less draughty finish.
Disadvantages of using plywood as flooring
To begin, plywood comes as a sheet, which means it needs to be cut down to planks and the edges chamfered, making it labour intensive, but cheap if you can do this yourself. The main disadvantage of course, is that however much wood stain or varnish you throw at it, it simply won’t look as beautiful as some real hardwood or even Wood Flooring such as the oak or ash options available irwintiles.ie/. Choosing whether to use plywood as a flooring option comes down, therefore, to a few serious considerations. It’s great for those with good DIY skills who are time rich but have a small budget. It’s also ideal for high use rooms where people are likely to trample through constantly or in rooms that are already draughty. Those who want low-cost, professional, beautiful wood flooring that makes a statement are best off going for engineered wooden flooring.
