Both of these flooring types are of the engineered variety, meaning they are both comprised of layers of solid wood, also known as plies that are laminated together for added dimensional stability. Both have a premium hardwood top layer. The main difference between the two is the number of layers. A single strip floor has three layers—a bottom layer, core layer and top or wear layer, which is of the selected species of wood. A multilayer floor can have from five to eight plies in its composition again with a premium hardwood wear layer.