The Suntups family has been in the timber industry for three generations and Steven Suntup has been in the solid wooden flooring industry for 21 years.
Super-Engineered wooden flooring matches full-solid wooden flooring in that it is still solid; it has the same solid wood resurface or top face thickness – of 4mm to 6mm; it is supplied tongued and grooved, in single strip planks and multiple lengths that create the same staggered finish; and it is 15mm to 21mm thick. The key difference in Super-Engineered solid wooden flooring is that instead of being one species of wood from top to bottom, it has a solid wood top face and from the tongue and groove downward it is constructed using a birch multiply. This has the advantage of making Super-Engineered solid wooden flooring 70% more stable than a full-solid wooden floor.
Problems arise with full-solid wooden floors during climatic changes which, in South Africa, can see relative humidity levels shift from around 8% in the dry seasons up to 90% at the height of the rainy seasons. Because wood is hygroscopic, full-solid wooden flooring planks expand and contract with such changes in humidity levels. This is the most common cause of floor failures and consequent expensive repairs. By contrast, Super-Engineered solid wooden flooring minimises movement in the planks during climatic changes and ensures a stable, trouble-free, solid wooden floor. A further benefit is that, with the thickness from the tongue and groove downwards being of plywood, less exotic wood is used in Super-Engineered wooden flooring and, accordingly, fewer trees are felled for its manufacture.
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