how to compare different wooden flooring

[imamartian]

i'm looking to buy some engineered oak wooden flooring. If i do a simple search i find a plethora of different boards on offer.. all slightly different colour and description e.g. "special engineered 3 strip European oak lacquered" @ £12.65 metre sq or "special offer european engineered natural oak 18mm matt lacquered" @ £22.65 metre sq.

How can i measure each board against another?

Wickes has a 30% off flooring, but ho can i tell if i'm getting a good deal?

 

[mr_vampy]

The best person to ask will be "WoodYouLike". He/she will tell you what to look for when choosing.
My only suggestion would be to look at the wear layer thickness of the flooring as that would give some idea how many times you can re-sand it, etc. I guess, the thicker the wear layer, the better the quality of the flooring and the more times you can re-sand it.
I've had a look at the Offers, and it says "up to 30% off". So the offer will vary between the different type of engineered flooring. BTW, the offer ends on Tuesday.

 

[imamartian]

The best person to ask will be "WoodYouLike". He/she will tell you what to look for when choosing.
My only suggestion would be to look at the wear layer thickness of the flooring as that would give some idea how many times you can re-sand it, etc. I guess, the thicker the wear layer, the better the quality of the flooring and the more times you can re-sand it.
I've had a look at the Offers, and it says "up to 30% off". So the offer will vary between the different type of engineered flooring. BTW, the offer ends on Tuesday.

Thank you... i intend to get some bought this weekend at the latest... and if i'm honest, i don't want ever to be sanding it !!! lol

 

[mr_vampy]

I've got an Oak engineered floor in my lounge which I fitted 5/6 years ago and it still looks good as new. It was a click system. Has never been resanded or treated. I just make sure by looking after it and putting loads of felt pads underneath the furniture.

I've got laminate in the rest of the house thats been down for the same time. As I do alot of laminate fitting in my job, I'm not that familiar with engineered or solid wood flooring, so when I bought mine for the lounge, I got advice and recommendations from my local wood flooring shop.
Are you fitting it yourself?

 

[imamartian]

yes i'm doing it. I've put click system laminates in the rest of the house. with varying results.... some where i've 'tapped' the boards too hard and the resulting raised edge is now worn....

Hoping this Kahrs system is easy to use?

 

[WoodYouLike]

A few things to be aware of:

indeed the wear layer of the engineered boards (some are very thin, between 0.6mm and 2mm and should be called wood-veneer officially)
Standard it is 4mm on plywood or pine backing = total thickness 15mm
You could get away with a total thickness of 10mm if there is not much "traffic" in the house and your underfloor is very level. See here for more details on this: Which floorboard thickness do you need and why

Then we get the length of the boards. Some "cheap offers" come with many short lengths which could make your floor look very busy and even unstable (because of too many hinges = joints of the many boards in a row)

Width is another consideration and influence on price, so is the finish and of course the overall quality (of both product and seller)

If it sounds too good to be true, it normally is. So don't expect top-notch quality for £ 20.00 ex VAT per sq m

 

[imamartian]

Thanks WoodYouLike.

So would if follow simply, that you get what you pay for? And can you recommend an on-line supplier?

Ta.

 

[WoodYouLike]

I'll get Freddymercurystwin on my neck if I do

My profile has our main website link in it

 

[imamartian]

I'll get Freddymercurystwin on my neck if I do

My profile has our main website link in it

thanks again.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Glad to see you venturing out of your comfort zone imamartian.

 

[imamartian]

Can i get away with using the underlay that's currently there under my carpet ? It's rubber, and like a miniature upside-down egg-tray type design. And it's on a solid concrete floor.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Nope.
A - it is carpet underlayment which has different abilities than underlayment for wood
B - no matter how well you vacuumed over time, you won't believe the dust and dirt trapped in there. Install a hard floorcovering over it and you can imagine the cosy breading ground for bugs, mould etc