Homes with a floating wood floor have become especially popular as of late. Its popularity can be pegged to its affordable price and to the relative ease and quickness with which it can be set up. It’s common to hear floating wood floor be referred to as “laminate flooring.” Laminate flooring is a synthetic product that results from a “lamination” process that joins multiple layers of engineered materials to form floor planks. The interior layer of these planks will usually be made of fiberboard and melamine resin. The top layer, called the appliqué layer, is an industrial photographic reproduction of wood.

But not all floating engineered wood flooring has a photographic appliqué layer; other varieties have a hardwood top layer made of natural wood that be sanded. If the planks obtained have a sufficiently thick upper layer, the floor in question is more than likely to be able to take multiple sand-downs. But what floating wood floors are most famous for are the tongue-and-groove edging they exhibit. It’s this attribute that’s responsible for the easefulness with which they can be laid down on the ground to create beautiful surfaces in a matter of hours.

Thanks to the purposefully gnarly edges, planks can “click” into place in such a way that even a newbie home-improver can be expected to achieve assembly success.

As to the provocative “floating” adjective, well, the planks themselves aren’t glued to the concrete found underneath them (nor nailed to a wooden subfloor): they remain attached to each other and are weighed down by the objects above them — like sofas, dinner tables, and bookshelves — and they stay in place.

An engineered hardwood floor is understandably many people’s top choice when deciding between engineered wood floors and carpets — the similarly priced alternative. But unlike most carpets, engineered wood flooring is capable of giving even the smallest of indoor spaces an uncluttered and open appearance. Some people even swear that the upkeep it requires is infinitely less intense than that demanded by the textile counterpart.

It’s no surprise that wood floors, which are beautiful and comfortable and a traditional choice, are so immoderately favored. But even though not everyone can afford natural, or the best wood flooring, many can attain the look and feel of it with quality engineered wood flooring.

Sam Walters is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her writing appears in print and online.