Dover Engineered Hardwood starts at $8.99 per square foot installed in Fort Myers — a warm caramel oak floor from LW Flooring’s Uptown Avenue collection. The wide 9-inch planks carry an embossed texture and micro-bevel edge that read as genuine wood grain without overstating it. If you want classic oak character in a format built for Florida’s climate, this is a grounded choice.
Dover is designed for glue-down installation over concrete slabs, which makes it a natural fit for the slab-on-grade construction that dominates Fort Myers and the surrounding Southwest Florida area. The 12 mil polyurethane wear layer holds up to daily foot traffic, pet movement, and the kind of sandy grit that gets tracked in from Florida yards and beaches.
The wide plank format and embossed finish are practical for open-concept living rooms, primary bedrooms, and home offices. Because this is engineered hardwood — not solid — it handles humidity cycles better than solid oak would in a coastal environment, making it a reasonable option near the coast or in homes that aren’t always climate-controlled.
| Plank Width | 9” |
|---|---|
| Plank Length | 60” |
| Thickness | 2.0mm |
| Wear Layer | 12 mil |
| Finish | Polyurethane |
| Species | Oak |
Flooring Queen installs Dover at $8.99 per square foot throughout Southwest Florida. That price covers delivery to your home, removal of your existing floor covering, standard subfloor preparation, the full glue-down installation, baseboard reinstallation, transition strips at doorways, and cleanup and removal of all job debris when the crew leaves.
Work that goes beyond the standard scope — significant subfloor leveling, stair nosing pieces, or complex room layouts with custom cuts — will be quoted separately. Flooring Queen offers a free in-home measurement visit and puts the full scope in writing before any work begins, so there are no surprises on invoice day.
Dover is engineered hardwood, meaning its oak face layer sits atop a cross-ply plywood core. That construction resists the expansion and contraction that solid hardwood struggles with in humid, slab-foundation homes — a real advantage in Southwest Florida. Solid hardwood can be sanded and refinished more times over its life, but it requires a wood subfloor (or a costly nail-down system) and reacts more dramatically to humidity swings between rainy season and dry season.
Dover’s 12 mil wear layer supports light refinishing if the surface eventually shows wear, but it won’t give you the three or four full sands a solid plank could. If you have a concrete slab — which most SWFL homes do — engineered is the more practical path. Solid hardwood earns its place in second-story wood-frame construction.
| Dover | Solid Hardwood | |
|---|---|---|
| Water resistance | Moderate — not waterproof | Low — swells with moisture |
| Scratch resistance / wear layer | 12 mil polyurethane finish | Varies; finish depth, not mil-rated |
| Comfort underfoot | Warm, real wood feel | Warm, real wood feel |
| Installed price | $8.99 / sq ft | Typically $10–$14 / sq ft installed |
| Best room | Slab-foundation living areas, bedrooms | Second-floor wood-frame rooms |
Sweep or dry-mop Dover regularly to keep sand and grit from grinding against the polyurethane finish — this is the single most common cause of surface dulling on hardwood floors in Southwest Florida homes. For damp cleaning, use a hardwood-specific cleaner such as Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner or LOBA Clean; wring the mop nearly dry before it touches the floor. Avoid steam mops entirely — sustained heat and moisture will compromise the adhesive bond in a glue-down engineered floor. Do not use vinegar, ammonia-based cleaners, or oil soaps, as these strip or cloud the polyurethane over time. Felt pads under furniture legs are a low-effort way to prevent scratching. For technical guidance, see the National Wood Flooring Association consumer hardwood information.
LW Flooring’s Dover should acclimate in your conditioned space for at least 48–72 hours before installation. In Southwest Florida’s humidity, this step matters — the planks need to reach equilibrium with your home’s environment so the glue-down bond seats properly and the floor doesn’t shift after installation.
Dover can be lightly screen-sanded and recoated once, but the 12 mil wear layer is thinner than what a full sand-and-refinish requires, so you won’t get multiple refinishing cycles. Think of it as one touch-up opportunity over the life of the floor rather than a long-term refinishing asset.
Engineered hardwood is the right call on a concrete slab because its cross-ply core resists moisture-driven expansion far better than solid wood does. Solid hardwood glued or nailed directly to concrete is prone to cupping and gapping as Florida’s humidity cycles between rainy and dry seasons — engineered construction was specifically developed to handle that.
Flooring Queen installs Dover throughout Fort Myers and the broader region, including Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Estero, and surrounding communities. If you’re unsure whether your address falls in the service area, a quick call or the online quote form will confirm it — coverage across Southwest Florida is the norm, not the exception.
A single living room or bedroom typically runs one day for the glue-down installation plus cure time before foot traffic. A full home of 1,500–2,000 square feet generally takes two to three days on the tools. Glue-down installs need adhesive cure time, so your crew will walk you through the re-entry schedule before they leave.
Dover will fare best if your home stays climate-controlled year-round, even at a setback temperature of 75–78°F. Extended periods of high humidity without air conditioning can stress the glue bond and cause minor movement in engineered planks. Seasonal homeowners in Southwest Florida are generally advised to keep the AC running — it protects the floor and the house.
When you invest in hardwood, the install matters as much as the wood. Flooring Queen is licensed, insured, and family-run from a single Fort Myers showroom — no franchise, no national-chain shuffle. Free in-home measure: (239) 763-0770.
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Reviewed by Jack Maya, Lead Installer at Flooring Queen — 20+ years installing flooring in Southwest Florida.
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