Recommendations for hard wood flooring supplier?

[John Rumm]

Preferably "engineered" (i.e. real wood top, bonded to something dimensionally stable) rather than laminate or solid.

[Capitol]

I saw an episode of Grand designs or something where the owner had used bamboo as it was far,far superior for resisting stiletto heels when compared to oak,walnut etc. Don't think I've seen engineered bamboo though.

[brian.brianwilson]

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I used Factory Direct Flooring. My selection was Loire Pure Oak Natural Br ushed Matt Lacquer Engineered Flooring. It was delivered on time, the qual ity was excellent (after two years use it is showing no signs of wear) and the strips fitted together with ease

Brian

[Jon Fairbairn]

I think the ?strand woven? bamboo probably counts as engineered and is pretty dimensionally stable on it?s own.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I found it an absolute minefield. With retail pricing simply no guide to quality. Depending so much on special offers. With some of the specialist shops the worst value. Despite their claims.

Eventually bought from Ebay based on spec. Got plywood with a thick top veneer. But you also need to check the spec of the veneer - how many knots, etc.

Bought direct from a small importer who delivered personally.

It's a large room - approx 34 x 16 ft. Bought the proper nailer too new - and sold it at a profit after use. ;-)

Been down now for a few years and still looks perfect.

[Andy Burns]

I bought solid finger-jointed, T&G all round, oak boards, then left them to acclimatise in the room (for 8 years!) before fitting.

I used the tongue-tite screws recommended here, instead of nailing, but I found their claim of not splitting the wood didn't bear up (when I tried a few test pieces they all split along the tongue) so I cut a wedge to hold them at a suitable angle on the drill-press table and no problems that way.

Actually, I would avoid the random finger jointed stuff if doing it again, no matter how carefully you plan the stagger pattern of the boards, you also have to watch out for "bad" staggering of the staves within the boards.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd not want any finger joints showing in this old house. The ideal was to get a 'perfect' looking oak floor that could be original.

I do have solid oak in the bathroom, though. Made up of planks where strips are glued together at random and with some finger joints. but that would be too fussy for a large room IMHO.

[John Rumm]

Even though this is not for a particularly large area (~10m^2) I am not so keen on the mini plank in larger plank styles - you never really seem to get the actual joint matching the pre made joints. (IMHO one of the things that can make many laminate floors look naff)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I did manage - but you have to glue and clamp pretty hard. And reject any too bent to do this. Since it came from Wicks, about a third. ;-)

I wanted a floor which looked like a newly laid T&G one. The stuff I got pretty well succeeded in that. I also removed all the skirtings so it goes underneath which helps the illusion.

Think I'd rather have lino than cheap laminate simply plonked down.

[Andy Burns]

Agreed and as I said, I wouldn't choose the finger-jointed planks again.

I was able to sort them into planks with 2, 3 or 4 staves in them, and use the best ones in the open area and the not so good ones under the desk where they're less visible, then chose those with tiddly staves near one end as the planks I would trim at the start or end of rows, and then shuffle the planks where the finger joints accidentally lined up ...

All in all they were more faff to get a pleasing layout than having continuous planks, especially when my +10% for waste only left 2 spare planks after cutting them for an L shaped room.

[Andrew]

I was going to say avoid anything sold by Wickes.

Back in 2010 I did my lounge with their 18mm solid 'hardwood' flooring. The packs were 1.2 metres long but out of 24 packs I only found 2 lengths of 1.2 metres, and many 300mm long bits of firewood. At the time Travis Perkins were selling apparently identical stuff but on closer inspection, it was better quality wood. Much more consistent colouration.

The clips that should be used were impossible to fit so I glued up 3 lines in parallel to create complete wide planks. The problem is that different species of wood were used which expand and contract at various degrees so the inner line out of the three has shown some evdence that some individual sections are being pulled apart, splitting the grain.

Also, very soft with poor resistance to impact (dropping bunch of keys) or scratching.

These wide planks I screwed down with ordinary spax 45 mm screws. I tried tongue-tite but they just pull through the tongue and split it. Also tend to snap if you try and undo them.

If I had to do it again I would go down the engineered route without a shadow of doubt. (provided you have a dead level surface).

[DJC]

Kährs from

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes. I should point out I spent some time making sure the original suspended wood floor was as near perfect as I could get it. Stripping that wasn't really an option being ground floor with cellar beneath and not being T&G. The plywood base of the engineered stuff I used made nailing easy.

[Tim Watts]

My recommendation:

Kahrs - nice thick top layer that can (it is claimed) be sanded twice.

Excellent manufacturer instructions (you can download from their website) that specifies maximum permitted unevenness in flatness and expansion gaps.

It lays like a dream (but worth vacuuming the joints as you lay as they are so tightly engineered that a bit of sawdust can affect the joint).

I've had 3 rooms down for 6-7 years and been very pleased.

[Tim Watts]

I got mine from them too - very helpful too if you ring them.