Wood Flooring
Wood flooring usually comes in two categories solid wood flooring, as the names suggests these floors are a single solid piece of timber machined into the shape of a Plank/Block etc. Or Engineered wood flooring, this is made up of two or more layers adhered together, a top layer or wear layer of a more expensive wood and a core made of less expensive timber. Engineered is usually a more stable product due to its construction less likely to be warped or misshapen with temperature and moisture changes. Both types come in a range of finishes: lacquered, oiled or unfinished (suitable for site finishing) and within these finishes floors can be stained or unstained.
The type of flooring best for your home is usually best discussed involving your flooring contractor. Subfloor type, age of property, level of traffic should all be taken into consideration to make an informed decision.
Wood floors have a few different fitting methods. Fully glued to the subfloor:
as the name suggests the wood is glued to the subfloor underneath using a flexible adhesive, we would usually us this method with solid woods and parquet flooring. Secret Nailing: nails are driven into the floor using a special nailer that fires nails at a 45 degree angle into the tongue of the board, this is the covered over with the groove of the next board leaving no visible nail heads. This can be used for engineered or solid wood planks but requires a wooden subfloor. Floating floor: the flooring is glued to itself using a bead of glue inside the tongue and groove, this is ‘floated’ over an underlay and either a separate or built-in damp-proof membrane. The floor the essentially acts as a raft able to minimally move within the room. This fitting method is only suitable for engineered wood flooring except with use of very specific products in particular fitting manner. However something of note is that certain manufacturers allow a floating fitting method to be used even for herringbone parquet.
Laminate. We’ve listed laminate flooring under wood flooring because technically it’s made of wood; it’s a high density fibre board or melamine fibre board with a photographic applique layer under a clear protective layer on top. Laminate can often be a cheap product to purchase making it the product of choice for many people.
We’re happy to fit laminate flooring and can fit it incredibly well. However we feel before anyone chooses this budget option they should be made aware of the ins and outs of laminate flooring. Laminate is laid as a floating floor, able to expand and move within the room. It is usually affected by major swings in temperature and is particularly affected by moisture. Laminate must be fitted with an expansion gap with either beading or new skirting used to cover this. With hard use laminate can chip or scratch.
