I've been in my apartment for four years, and have some damage to the engineered hardwood floors. I'm trying to determine if the damage constitutes regular wear and tear, and the floors are just really cheap, or if I was too hard on them and it's my fault.
There are a variety of chips along the seams, that weren't caused by me dropping anything. There's also a highly worn spot where I had a plastic mat that my computer chair was on (the plastic was supposed to protect the floor…).
From some other questions I've asked, the deciding factor would be the grade of the hardwood floor, and the thickness of the veneer. Hopefully something can tell me based on these images what the grade/thickness is, or if this looks like regular usage patterns:
Best Answer
That floor appears to be of phenomenally low quality, and I have doubts that it's even actual hardwood. I would have expected the broken out pieces of veneer to leave a more fibrous edge. From the shape and coloration it appears synthetic.
Do you see how the edges of the top layer show white near the missing areas? Wood doesn't do that. That's what shows when the printed laminate wears away. I'm 99% sure there's no wood in this product besides the particle board. Tyson's suggestion about moisture would explain the decomposition at the edges due to swelling.
Your question isn't really answerable as we don't have all the facts, and it's partly a matter of opinion. I can only say this with certainty: Real wood doesn't look like that, and even inexpensive laminate shouldn't be disintegrating without extreme traffic volume or moisture damage.