Wiltshire Engineered Hardwood starts at $8.99 per square foot installed in Fort Myers — a warm caramel-toned floor from LW Flooring’s Shires collection with an embossed wood texture and a wide 9-inch plank format. It’s built on a 5mm engineered core and finished with polyurethane, giving it the genuine hardwood character that works well in homes throughout Southwest Florida.
The wide plank format and engineered construction make Wiltshire a practical choice for living rooms, dining rooms, master bedrooms, and open-concept main floors. The glue-down or loose-lay installation works directly over concrete slabs — the standard substrate in most Southwest Florida homes — without the moisture risk that comes with solid hardwood.
The polyurethane finish holds up to the grit and humidity that coastal living brings in daily. For snowbird properties that sit closed through the summer, the engineered core handles seasonal humidity swings better than solid wood, reducing the expansion and cupping concerns that plague all-wood planks in high-heat closures.
| Plank Width | 9” |
|---|---|
| Plank Length | 60” |
| Thickness | 5mm |
| Wear Layer | 20 mil |
| Finish | Polyurethane |
| Species | Loose Lay |
Flooring Queen installs Wiltshire at $8.99 per square foot, and that price covers the full job: delivery to your home, removal and disposal of your old flooring, surface prep for a standard slab, the installation itself, baseboards, and transition strips where floors change materials.
A few things fall outside the base price — significant leveling work on an uneven slab, stair nosing, or custom layout patterns will carry an upcharge, and we’ll go over any of those line items before work begins. Call or schedule a free in-home measurement and we’ll put a written quote in your hands before you commit to anything.
Shoppers comparing Wiltshire to solid hardwood are really weighing authenticity against practicality. Solid hardwood is thicker and can be sanded and refinished more times over its life, but it’s highly sensitive to moisture and humidity fluctuations — which makes it a risky choice over concrete slabs in Southwest Florida. A wet season or a closed-up house in July can cause solid planks to cup, gap, or buckle.
Wiltshire’s engineered construction uses a stable layered core that resists those movements. The 20 mil wear layer is still thick enough for at least one light refinish. You give up a little long-term refinishing depth, but you gain real stability in a climate that solid hardwood genuinely struggles with.
| Wiltshire | Solid Hardwood | |
|---|---|---|
| Water resistance | Better; stable over concrete slabs | Poor; moisture causes cupping/buckling |
| Scratch resistance / wear layer | 20 mil polyurethane finish | Varies; surface is bare wood, sand-able |
| Comfort underfoot | Warm, real-wood feel | Warm, real-wood feel |
| Installed price | $8.99/sq ft | Typically $10–$14/sq ft installed |
| Best room | Main floors, bedrooms, slab installs | Above-grade rooms with wood subfloor |
Sweep or vacuum daily with a soft-bristle attachment — skip the rotating beater bar, which can scuff the polyurethane finish over time. For routine cleaning, a lightly dampened mop with a hardwood-specific cleaner like Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner or an equivalent pH-balanced formula works well; avoid saturating the floor with standing water. Steer clear of steam mops, oil soaps, and any acidic or wax-based cleaners, as these can dull or break down the finish. Wipe up spills promptly to keep moisture from working into seams between planks. For technical guidance, see the National Wood Flooring Association consumer hardwood information.
Plan for at least 48 to 72 hours of acclimation in the room where it will be installed, with your HVAC running at normal living temperature and humidity. Southwest Florida’s high ambient humidity means skipping this step raises the risk of expansion and gapping after install — it’s worth the wait.
Wiltshire’s 20 mil wear layer is thick enough to support one light refinishing — enough to remove surface scratches or refresh the finish without cutting through to the core. That said, it won’t hold the three or four refinishing cycles you’d get from thick solid hardwood, so it’s best treated as a once-in-a-lifetime refresh option.
Engineered hardwood uses a real-wood veneer bonded over a layered plywood or composite core, which makes it dimensionally stable across humidity and temperature swings. Solid hardwood is milled from a single piece of wood and expands and contracts significantly with moisture — a serious problem over concrete slabs in Southwest Florida, where engineered construction is the more reliable choice.
A single room typically takes one day once the floor is acclimated. A whole-home project — assuming standard slab conditions and no major leveling needed — usually runs two to four days depending on square footage and layout complexity. Wiltshire’s loose-lay and glue-down options are both straightforward installs without unusual time requirements.
Day-to-day costs are low — a bottle of Bona or a similar hardwood floor cleaner runs $10 to $15 and lasts months with normal use. No special equipment is required. If the surface finish dulls over many years, a single professional screen-and-recoat can refresh it for a fraction of full replacement cost, though that’s typically a once-in-a-decade consideration.
The 20 mil polyurethane wear layer gives Wiltshire reasonable scratch resistance for everyday pet traffic — better than bare solid hardwood, though no wood-finish floor is claw-proof. Keeping pets’ nails trimmed and using felt pads under furniture legs will extend the finish significantly. Spills and accidents clean up easily; just wipe promptly before moisture sits in the seams.
Flooring Queen has over 20 years of experience installing engineered hardwood across Southwest Florida — slab foundations, humidity, the realities Florida throws at real wood. We install everything ourselves. 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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