Flooring - what and where to buy

f00b4r

f00b4r

f00b4r

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I will shortly be moving into a new house and before i do i am looking to rip up the carpet in the hallway, living room and dining room and lay down either engineered wood or laminate.
My wife and i have a baby on the way so although it is driven partly by cosmetic reasons we are also looking at the practicalities (prams in and out of hallway etc).
I am looking for advice on the following:

- Laminate or engineered wood (including any particular brands)
- The price range i am looking at for each (per sq. m)
- What underlay (i am unsure of the floor yet - it will be concrete or boards i would think as it is a 1930's house)
- Where to buy
- Anything else i may have overlooked

I am leaning towards engineered wood as years of seeing cheap laminate in houses badly laid with thick beading all around the edges has put me off a bit but i want to remain openminded.
 
If you've got a healthy budget then I can wholeheartedly recommend Chauncey's. But I do mean healthy. They're based in Bristol but they fit all over I believe.
 
Buying engineered flooring won't stop seeing quadrant around the skitings, I agree though it looks pony, especially in a hall where you will have lots of doors and turns it'll look a mess with little bits of quadrant everywhere.

If you don't want to remove and refit skirtings you could look at an Amtico / Karndean floor, strips of high quality vinyl with texture if not then any fitter will have their favourite laminate / engineered they get good discounts off, just buy a decent manufacturer.

Tip don't go for a flowery grain it looks rubbish try and get a tight grain.
 
Seen a floor laid at the Cow Shed, Bristol by Chauncey's must be five or six years ago, was superb job.

If your going to laid engineered flooring, remove the skirting & do a proper job, takes a little longer, but the end results are well worth it.
Nothing looks worse than tacky quadrant laid every where:(.
 
Skirting will definitely be removed and it is likely to be installed by someone recommended to me, unless the budget really won't stretch.
Thanks for the tip about getting a tight grain.
I am also not too bothered about really thick layer of wood as I don't see myself staying long enough to sand more than once at most.
What is a good online place where I can compare prices and are the good laminates comparable?
Also with children should I get pre-lacquered rather than oiled?
 
Oiled then it'll look and age like real timber lacquered will look fake and age badly plus it takes 5 minutes to wipe over some danish oil before you go away for the weekend
 
Nightglow said:
Seen a floor laid at the Cow Shed, Bristol by Chauncey's must be five or six years ago, was superb job.

If your going to laid engineered flooring, remove the skirting & do a proper job, takes a little longer, but the end results are well worth it.
Nothing looks worse than tacky quadrant laid every where:(.
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We produced a film for them and filmed there :). They also did the Lido who are one of our clients too. Met the owner of Chauncey's only yesterday actually.
 
We have had karndeen installed for us in the past. It was brilliant, bomb proof, dog and kid proof, when we moved out it looked brand new. Its what marks and spencers use for their flooring apparently. We had wide planks which looks very authentic and fooled a good many people. The guy that installed it layed a screed first and then put it down. Very quick to lay once the screed dries.
 
Chauncey's do some very nice stuff but out if my price range I think, I would struggle to justify that outlay for a house I may only live in for a few ears before selling or renting.
I was thinking more around the £25-35 per sq m range, is that realistic?
 
On the low side if you want skirtings removed and refitted.

Doubt a hall has any meat in it to earn money I'd be thinking a days work for two guys plus materials
 
I was thinking about that price for the flooring only.
It is a friends of the wife's husband who would be doing other work to the house as well so it would be part of a bigger job. I am aware they would probably only take a day to do the floor.
 
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I would advise laying laminate/engineered yourself, it's pretty easy and you will save quite a lot of money. However with Karndean it's strongly advised to get it fitted by a professional (was just looking at Karndean for the new house).
 
BIt late, just noticed this thread...

We're three-quarters through relaying all the floors in our house. We asked around all the handymen that we use and were consistently pointed towards Quickstep as a brand (and told to avoid what the DIY sheds sell!)

So we've laid Quickstep laminate through mosy of the houe (with the corresponding QS underlay; there's a choice of grade) and have put an engineered wood floor in the lounge. The laminate was around £17 psm (raw materials cost) and the engineered wood £36 psm. We got local joiner to do the laying.

We also put Karndean down in one room (that has a concrete floor); very pleased witht that as well. You need a specialist layer for it.
 
Topps tiles had a good selection when I looked before, very helpful too. if your budget allows I would also recommend underfloor heating, cheap to run and lovely under foot.
 
rotters said:
We have had karndeen installed for us in the past. It was brilliant, bomb proof, dog and kid proof, when we moved out it looked brand new. Its what marks and spencers use for their flooring apparently. We had wide planks which looks very authentic and fooled a good many people. The guy that installed it layed a screed first and then put it down. Very quick to lay once the screed dries.
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A thumbs up from me for Karndeen. We have it in the kitchen/dining room and hallway and it's great. Very hard wearing and still looks brand new after 3 years of wear and tear. Not exactly cheap but I think it's worth it, loads of choices as well.
 
another thumbs up for karndeen. although we have a polyflor variant just fitted (the whole ground floor of our house)

it looks superb and has a 25 year gaurantee (same with kardeen i believe)

ours is tiles but you get the idea.

 
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We have engineered oak in the living room, hall and dining room - pulled the skirts off but paid for it to be fitted. It cost a fortune but is amazing, we have a laquer finish but not a shiny one and it does change with time as some of it has been down a couple of years and is a totally different colour to the new stuff!

We used a local place in Norwich, i forget the brand but it was sweedish or nordic. The finish is called rustica and thats why we went for wood over the top quality laminate as the wood will age and take on knocks etc, i dont like the perfection of laminate but thats personal - a mate has some quickstep and it looks amazing, vastly cheaper too!
 
Shimmyhill said:
We have engineered oak in the living room, hall and dining room - pulled the skirts off but paid for it to be fitted. It cost a fortune but is amazing, we have a laquer finish but not a shiny one and it does change with time as some of it has been down a couple of years and is a totally different colour to the new stuff!

We used a local place in Norwich, i forget the brand but it was sweedish or nordic. The finish is called rustica and thats why we went for wood over the top quality laminate as the wood will age and take on knocks etc, i dont like the perfection of laminate but thats personal - a mate has some quickstep and it looks amazing, vastly cheaper too!
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Is it Kahrs by any chance?

A matt lacquer finish looks quite nice.
 
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