Emory Engineered Hardwood starts at $8.99 per square foot installed in Fort Myers — a warm honey-toned oak floor from LW Flooring’s Cascades collection. The wide 7-2/3-inch planks carry an embossed-in-register texture and painted beveled edges that give the floor a grounded, genuine wood character. It’s a solid everyday choice for homeowners who want real oak presence without the limitations of solid hardwood.
Emory is built for the rooms where Southwest Florida homes take the most punishment: main living areas, open-plan great rooms, and busy hallways. The attached IXPE pad cushions footfall and helps the floor sit quietly on concrete slab — which is how most homes in the Fort Myers area are built. That’s a real advantage over solid hardwood, which doesn’t bond well to slab without significant preparation.
The click-lock floating installation means the planks can move slightly as humidity shifts — important in a coastal climate where indoor moisture levels swing between air-conditioned winters and humid summers. Seasonal or snowbird households benefit too, since a floating floor tolerates temperature cycling better than a glued-down solid plank.
| Plank Width | 7-2/3″ |
|---|---|
| Plank Length | 59-1/2″ |
| Thickness | 10mm |
| Wear Layer | AC4 |
| Finish | Aluminum Oxide |
| Species | Oak |
At $8.99 per square foot installed, Flooring Queen’s price covers everything needed to get the floor down properly: delivery to your home, removal and disposal of the existing flooring, subfloor inspection and standard prep, full installation, and fitting of baseboards and transition strips. There are no surprise line items for the basics.
Some projects do carry additional costs — significant subfloor leveling beyond standard prep, stair nosing, or custom layout patterns like herringbone or diagonal runs. Flooring Queen offers a free in-home measurement and puts the full scope in writing before any work begins, so you know exactly what the project will cost.
Engineered hardwood and solid hardwood are both real oak floors, but they’re built differently and that matters in Southwest Florida. Solid hardwood is a single thick board — it can be sanded and refinished many times over decades, but it’s highly sensitive to moisture and generally shouldn’t be installed over a concrete slab without a vapor barrier and adhesive system. In a coastal climate with humidity swings and slab foundations everywhere, that’s a real constraint.
Emory’s engineered construction — a real oak veneer over a layered core — handles humidity cycling more gracefully and installs as a floating floor right over slab. The trade-off is refinishing capacity: you get fewer sanding cycles than a solid plank. For most Fort Myers homeowners, that’s an acceptable trade for a more stable, easier-to-install floor.
| Emory | Solid Hardwood | |
|---|---|---|
| Water resistance | Good; handles humidity well | Poor over slab; swells and cups |
| Scratch resistance / wear layer | AC4 aluminum oxide finish | Uncoated or site-finished oak |
| Comfort underfoot | IXPE pad attached; cushioned | Firm; pad not included |
| Installed price | $8.99 / sq ft installed | Typically $10–$14 / sq ft installed |
| Best room | Living areas, bedrooms, slab homes | Above-grade rooms, wood subfloor |
Sweep or vacuum with a soft-bristle head regularly — grit tracked in from Florida’s sandy driveways is the fastest way to dull an aluminum oxide finish. For damp mopping, use a hardwood-specific cleaner like Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner or a pH-neutral wood floor solution; wring the mop nearly dry before it touches the floor, since standing water can work into the seams of any engineered plank over time. Avoid steam mops entirely — the sustained heat and moisture degrades both the finish and the core layers. Never use oil soaps, wax-based products, or acidic household cleaners on this floor. For technical guidance, see the National Wood Flooring Association consumer hardwood information.
Engineered hardwood should acclimate in the installation space for at least 48 to 72 hours before going down. In Southwest Florida’s humidity, that window matters — the planks need to stabilize to your home’s actual conditions, especially if you’re transitioning from a climate-controlled warehouse to a coastal environment.
Emory can be lightly refinished, but the number of times is limited by the thickness of the oak veneer layer. Engineered planks have a thinner surface than solid hardwood, so you typically get one careful screen-and-recoat rather than multiple full sandings. It’s worth discussing with a flooring professional before committing to a refinish.
Engineered hardwood is built from a real oak surface bonded to a layered wood core, which makes it dimensionally more stable than a solid plank. Solid hardwood expands and contracts significantly with moisture changes — installing it over a concrete slab in Southwest Florida requires extra vapor management and adhesive. Emory’s engineered construction floats freely, making it a much more practical choice here.
Emory’s click-lock floating system can often be installed over existing hard, flat surfaces — but the condition of what’s underneath matters. If the existing floor is securely bonded, level, and under the height allowance for transitions and doors, it may stay. Flooring Queen checks all of that during the in-home measurement before the quote is written.
Engineered hardwood handles seasonal vacancy better than solid hardwood, but it still needs a stable environment. Set your thermostat no higher than 80°F and keep humidity between 35–55% year-round — a programmable thermostat or whole-home dehumidifier helps. Extreme temperature swings in an unoccupied house can cause gapping or cupping over time.
A single room typically takes one day once the floor has acclimated. A whole-home project in a typical Fort Myers house runs two to four days depending on square footage, the number of transitions, and how much subfloor work is needed. Emory’s click-lock system installs efficiently, which helps keep the timeline tight on larger jobs.
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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