Wood Flooring: Real vs. Engineered?

oHUTCHYo

oHUTCHYo

oHUTCHYo

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I've just had a supporting wall knocked through, with a new kitchen on the way, so the kitchen now flows in to the lounge. I've taken up all of wood flooring from the lounge with the intention of buying new so it flows nicely throughout the open plan design. Circa 40m2.

Question: what is the best "type" of wood flooring to use, something that is hard wearing (have a dog) and suitable for use within a kitchen as well as lounge? We are sticking with oak, to match existing real oak furniture and the new kitchen work surfaces.

Question II: where is generally the best regarded to source from? I've tried Frank's, B&Q, Howdens and a myriad of local suppliers. Prices and quality vary dramatically.

Any tips or advice?
 
I absolutely hate wood flooring, think unless you buy super expensive stuff then anything else looks utter shiney ****, especially that click board stuff.

That said, I have just moved to a new place that has fake wood vinyl flooring tiles, and they don't look anywhere near as crap or feel anywhere near as cold.
Like this

http://www.vinylflooringshop.co.uk/burts-vinyl-flooring-platinum-soft-elm-dark/46392/

Plus this stuff is indestrucible. You can take a knife too it and not do any damage.
 
Some friends of ours went with Bamboo. Sounds a bit odd in principle, but it looks great, is really hard wearing, sustainable, and water resistant.

E:

Just re-read, and realise you need Oak/oak-effect to match worktops. Bamboo's still nice, though :)
 
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With real wood you can sand it down quite a few times over its life, we have 20mm solid Oak fitted 5 years ago (Canadian oak) still looks as it did when it was laid, cost close to £50 a square meter for the wood.
 
Engineered wood is real wood on top but with a layer of board to make up the thickness. Laminate flooring and vinyl flooring are very different. Personally I think laminate looks awful as you say ChroniC.
 
Imo i like engnieered wood, then laminate then real wood.

I love real wood but hate the cost:D engineered wood is kind of a half way house, real wood with cheaper price. You can get some quality laminate these days tho. Layed some this year and compared to the stuff i done a few years back, its night and day
 
Engineered vs. Solid wood.

Usually engineered wood is more expensive than solid wood to initially purchase, however to fit a solid wood floor usually costs more unless you are also going to glue down the engineered as opposed to floating it on an underlay.

Engineered floor will last just as long as a solid if you go for a 3+mm thick wear layer, just think even with a solid board you can only sand down to the tongue & groove. Once you put either floor down dont worry about the longevity, it will outlive you, your kids & their kids!

Engineered wood is more stable than a solid wood so requires little no no acclimatisation, solid wood needs to be sat in the room for around 2 weeks, even then you will get quite a bit of movement.

For your requirements I would go for an engineered board, either matt lacquer or oiled finish, preferable an oiled finish as any scratches, dents etc goes into the wood and gives much more character...scratch a lacquered floor and it won't look too great.

Stay away from a laminate, all this a laminate is, is a photo of a wood grain on what essentially is paper, scratches, marks etc cannot be sanded and re-finished and in the long run will be more expensive as you would need to replace if this happens.

Hope this helps!
 
You don't have much real wood in engineered to play with if it is damaged. And real wood is high maintenance too.

Laminate can look good and be very hard wearing. It is cheaper too. The only downside is you know it is fake but I think the benefits can outweigh this.
 
Trifid said:
You don't have much real wood in engineered to play with if it is damaged. And real wood is high maintenance too.

Laminate can look good and be very hard wearing. It is cheaper too. The only downside is you know it is fake but I think the benefits can outweigh this.
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To be honest, not in a £15-£20 per sqm however the better quality ones you have just as much to play with as solid oak.

Are you confusing laminate to something like LVT flooring? As I would class laminate as anything but hard wearing!
 
I have a few laminate samples beltorio i think, gave them some abuse hit them with a hammer and stabbed them a few times, i was quite impressed with how they stood up i dont think wood would do as well.
 
We have laminate in our house. Every room! Was here before we moved in. I have done 2 rooms myself and to be honest i am very pleased with the stuff!

Quite hard wearing and looks really nice. Ok, if we could afford real wood flooring then that is the route we would have gone but this stuff is really impressive.
 
I had laminate from Floors2Go in my last place, nothing fancy just mid range stuff with bevelled edges. I beat it with a hammer, scratched it with a knife, sanded it and barely caused a visible mark.
 
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Oak flooring from B&Q last autumn, stuck down with adhesive. Still looks like the day it was laid - I love it. Managed to get it on a 50% sale.
 
That's a great post GinG. I may be looking to lay over 1000sq ft in a few months and that definitely pushes me towards engineered rather than real wood. Also a really nice room Abyss. :)
 
Amp34 said:
That's a great post GinG. I may be looking to lay over 1000sq ft in a few months and that definitely pushes me towards engineered rather than real wood. Also a really nice room Abyss. :)
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I used to be a product specialist selling the wood flooring and also doors, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

On a large area like you are saying I would definitely recommend an Engineered floor, far less risk of movement.

Also for those mentioning laminate, wood is a living thing. You walk on a laminate floor and then walk on a wooden floor, the wooden floor will be much warmer underfoot.
 
We've decided on engineered for ours, primarily as it would suit the open plan design of flowing from kitchen to lounge, keeping a nice aesthetic and longevity.

I'm currently trying to play off Howdens and Travis Perkins to get the best price I can :D
 
We went engineered in our place. The stuff we bought was the same price as solid wood, but there's less expansion issues to deal with. 8mm hardwood layer on top I believe, so no issues with sanding etc.
 
GinG said:
I used to be a product specialist selling the wood flooring and also doors, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

On a large area like you are saying I would definitely recommend an Engineered floor, far less risk of movement.

Also for those mentioning laminate, wood is a living thing. You walk on a laminate floor and then walk on a wooden floor, the wooden floor will be much warmer underfoot.
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Out of interest, what's your view on engineered wood vs luxury vinyl (or laminate) planks? Is a just case of better look/feel vs harder wearing & ease of maintenance?

When refering to luxury vinyl I'm talking about Amtico/Karndean.
 
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