solid / engineered wood flooring

We're looking at either sanding / staining our existing floorboards, engineered wood, laminate or LVT at the moment. Had a lot of samples of each and (depending on the state of the existing floorboards) leaning towards LVT.

The engineered wood samples look good but are also very thick which (in our case from the hallway) will cause quite a step down into the rooms off the hall.

We even got a quote for engineered wood to the hall when we recently got new carpets upstairs and for approx 16m2 was around £1400 fitted. The base cost was about £60/M2 then underlay about £4.50m/2 Fitting £13/m2 then threshold strips, edging bead etc.

They also wouldn't honor the quote until an "estimator" had been out, done a "proper" measure, moisture tested the original floor and if existing timber floor (as ours is) done some tests and further surveys for deflection etc. Depending on the survey / tests there could be further work needed for dpm / moisture barrier and remedial works to the floor (to be sperately priced). Apparently they have had a spate of engineered wood floors cracking / spliting so are a lot more stringent on surveys and preparing the floor. Asked if it was the same for laminate or LVT and apparently not.

You suspect if it's their fitters where the issues have arisen from, but to be honest the decent quality laminate and LVT look just as good from the samples and examples in the various suppliers / show rooms.
 
We've had engineered oak down for about 2.5 years. Far, far nicer than the laminates we looked at, including the more 'premium' ones which still looked pretty awful.

It wasn't cheap, though. About £4k spent on it all for approx 35 square metres: the boards, plus levelling the floor and fitting (plus new skirting). I've put down maintenance oil on it about once per year.
 
danlightbulb said:
Worth the cash?

£40-50 per m2. Typical room = £600-800.

In the past i have used laminate flooring under £10 /m2.
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Definitely worth it in my opinion but I'd only get the ones that are brushed and oiled rather than those that are lacquered as the former look so much better and genuine. I'd recommend any of these Galleria ones. We went for the white fumed brushed and oiled and everyone remarked how good it looked.

https://www.ukflooringdirect.co.uk/...essional&custitem_producttype=Engineered-Wood
 
How do you make a judgement on board width? I was previous gravitating towards narrower boards (100-125mm) but several styles are in 190-240mm wide boards, which feels quite wide to me? In previous houses I always went for 3 strip laminate to make the boards look narrower.
 
danlightbulb said:
How do you make a judgement on board width? I was previous gravitating towards narrower boards (100-125mm) but several styles are in 190-240mm wide boards, which feels quite wide to me? In previous houses I always went for 3 strip laminate to make the boards look narrower.
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Larger widths and big flowery grains make the room look smaller, this is the flooring I'm putting down at the moment. Boen Oak jasper https://oakflooringdirect.co.uk/BOEN-Brown-Jasper-1-Strip-209mm-Brushed-Natural-Oil

It needs waxing after it's installed then yearly in low traffic areas or up to monthly in high traffic areas. Potentially a right pita :p

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danlightbulb said:
How do you make a judgement on board width? I was previous gravitating towards narrower boards (100-125mm) but several styles are in 190-240mm wide boards, which feels quite wide to me? In previous houses I always went for 3 strip laminate to make the boards look narrower.
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The wider boards look better IMHO, more like a natural board.
 
I was actually looking at flooring at the weekend so a timely thread! I really liked the Kardeen wood style that I saw, the showroom had a parque design with a straight border and a trim insert and it looked amazing. It even has some texture to it rather than being just a flat board if that makes sense. I assume its pricey however...
 
Mark M said:
I really liked the Kardeen wood style that I saw
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after living with engineered wood floor - kardeen looks attractive
got to take care not to bring in external debris from peoples shoes (no stilletos obviously) which can give pitting, and, cleaning stains that can become ingrained,
also, at least in the living room, with significant rugs anyway (for coseness, acoustics) how much do you actually see.

... but maybe karndean is not so hard/durable itself.
 
jpaul said:
after living with engineered wood floor - kardeen looks attractive
got to take care not to bring in external debris from peoples shoes (no stilletos obviously) which can give pitting, and, cleaning stains that can become ingrained,
also, at least in the living room, with significant rugs anyway (for coseness, acoustics) how much do you actually see.

... but maybe karndean is not so hard/durable itself.
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The place I was at only stocked Kardean so naturally said how great it was with no mentioned downsides. It does come with a 25 year guarantee I believe which suggests it should withstand scratches etc but no doubt there is plenty of small print attached to the guarantee.
 
We have Karndean in our kitchen and downstairs wc but I wouldn't want it in our lounge or hall as when you see it with the light streaming in across it, it doesn't look quite as good as real ceramic and certainly wouldn't pass for real wood. We're happy with it in the rooms we've got it as they had ceramic that was damaged and the Karndean could be laid over the top after it being screeded.
 
danlightbulb said:
I was always unsure about sanding and staining the structural floorboards. Most likely pine floorboards, do they scrub up well? Is it colder?
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It's more the joists under them with the structural integrity. You'd really have to go some on the floorboards to affect their strength to any degree.

Effectively you are taking the top layer of dirt (and possible paint / stain) off.

They look like new and haven't seen any noticeable drop in temperature where we have done it in the lounge
 
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