How to look after engineered wood furniture

Engineered wood is not a lesser version of solid timber. It is a different material with different habits, and most of what shortens its life comes from treating it like the other thing. Looked after properly, a piece will outlast the room you bought it for. Looked after carelessly, it will tell you within a monsoon.

What you are actually looking after

Under the surface is a core of wood fibre or particles bonded under pressure. Over it is either a laminate — a printed, sealed sheet — or a wood veneer. The core is stable and strong in the directions furniture asks of it. What it does not like is water, and what protects it from water is the facing and the banding around every cut edge.

That is the whole of it, really. Keep the skin intact and the core stays dry. Almost everything below follows from that one sentence.

Water is the one it does not forgive

A scratch can be lived with. A swollen edge cannot be undone — once the core takes on water it expands, and it does not go back when it dries.

• Wipe spills when they happen, not when you next walk past. The surface will hold a puddle for a while; a seam or an edge will not.
• Watch the floor, not just the top. Damage most often starts at the base, from wet mopping. Mop around the legs rather than against them, and wring the mop out properly.
• Keep the back off a damp wall. An outside wall in the rains can stay wet for weeks. Leave a finger's gap so air can move behind it.
• In the monsoon, open the doors. A wardrobe that stays shut for eight weeks in coastal or heavy-rain air will hold that air. Ten minutes a week is enough.

Cleaning: less than you think

A dry cloth for dust. A slightly damp one for marks, followed by a dry one. That is the whole routine, and it is enough.

What to keep away from it: solvent-based cleaners, thinner, acetone, bleach, and anything abrasive — scouring pads, powders, the rough side of a sponge. On laminate, solvent leaves a dull bloom that cannot be polished out, because it has damaged the printed layer itself rather than sitting on top of it. There is no recovering from that short of replacing the panel.

Furniture polish is unnecessary on laminate and can leave a film that attracts dust. On veneer, use it sparingly if at all.

Heat, and the window problem

Use a mat under anything hot. A cup will not hurt it; a serving dish straight off the hob can mark the surface permanently.

Sunlight is slower and easier to miss. Months of direct sun will lighten a finish, and because it only lightens the part the sun reaches, a piece by a window ages unevenly — you notice it the day you move a lamp and find the shade underneath. If a piece has to sit in a window, a sheer curtain during the worst hours is enough, or turn it once a year so it fades evenly if it fades at all.

How much a shelf will really take

Where we have published a load limit on the product page, use it. Where we have not, the rule of thumb is to spread the weight rather than concentrate it, and keep the heavy things low.

The failure to watch for is not a shelf snapping. It is a shelf that sits under a heavy, even load for a year and takes on a permanent bow — the material slowly gives under sustained weight and keeps the shape. Books are the usual culprit, because a full shelf of them is heavier than it looks and never gets unpacked. If a shelf is going to carry books for years, put it low, fill it evenly, and check it after the first few months.

Moving it without loosening it

Lift, never drag. Engineered wood panels are held with cam locks and dowels, and dragging puts a sideways load through joints that were designed to be squeezed together, not levered. It also risks tearing the base if the floor catches.

• Empty the drawers and shelves first. The weight is what does the damage.
• Carry a tall piece upright with two people rather than tipping it — laying a wardrobe on its face can rack the frame out of square.
• Lift from the base, not by a door, a handle or a shelf.
• If a piece is wall-fixed, release the fixing before moving it, and refit it in the new position.

Ten minutes, once a year

Most of what people call a fault is a screw that has worked loose. Once a year, or whenever something starts to feel wrong:

• Doors that have dropped or will not sit flush. Concealed hinges adjust in three directions — there are small screws on the hinge arm for side-to-side, in-and-out and up-and-down. A quarter turn is usually the whole fix.
• Drawers that catch. Check the runners are seated and the screws holding them are tight. Wipe the runner clean; do not oil it unless the maker says to.
• Handles. Tighten from the inside of the door. A loose handle enlarges its own hole over time.
• Cam locks. If a carcass feels slightly loose, the cams have backed off. Turn each one clockwise until it stops. Do not force it past that.
• Wall fixings and anti-tip brackets. If a piece came with one, check it is still tight — particularly after a move, and particularly on anything tall with drawers.

When to ask

If something arrives wrong, or a part fails in a way this page does not cover, tell us rather than working around it. Message us on WhatsApp with a photograph and the order number. We review it and confirm what applies.