Engineered hardwood moves less, so it survives a Toronto winter
Engineered hardwood is a real wood wear layer over a cross-laminated core. Because the layers run in opposing directions, the board barely moves across its width when indoor humidity drops through the heating season. Solid wood in the same room shrinks and gaps. That stability is what makes engineered the right call over a concrete slab, over radiant heat, and in any condo where the floor sits on concrete with an acoustic underlay under it. The trade-off is the wear layer: a thicker one can be sanded and refinished later, a thin veneer cannot.
