Engineered wood floor, any recommendations?

[Autumnmumm]

I'm looking for a good supplier of an engineered oak in a dark shade preferably klick lock stuff. Anyone had this? I've had a few samples through post they all seem fine but range from £25-40 per sq m.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[FishfingersAreOK]

That is not a bad price. Try these people - www.ukflooringdirect.co.uk/Engineered/Florence_Engineered_Fumed_Oak_189mm_Oiled.html

I am having laid at the moment some 18mm smoked oak.. Is tongue and grove and totally beautiful.
My carpenter and builder are really impressed with the quality - was about 39pm2

[FishfingersAreOK]

If you are putting down as a structural floor you will need 20mm boards (ie if is to reach between floor joists). If it is to go on a solid floor (ie concrete) you do not need to go to 20mm so no need to pay above the odds for it.

If going on concrete/solid floor you need to make sure it is good - level, dry, even.

Mine is over underfloor heating, so have a special underfloor heating underlay. Then is just floating (tongue & grove glued with just PVA glue)

To check the quality of your sample the best judge is to look at how many layers of ply it is made up of - lots is good. Just compare a couple and you will be able to tell. Worth ordering a really expensive sample/branded so you have something to compare.

The stuff I go had as good a ply layer (where the strength comes from) as the really pricy stuff - it just had a couple of mm less of the oak. But the likelihood of us ever sanding it is minimal - there are still enough mm to sand a couple of times - but not as much as the £70 stuff.

I can waffle more if you want.

[wendybird77]

Fishfingers - I have a sample of that flooring and am weighing it up against unfinished oak. The sample I have is quite dark, more so than the photo. Is it all quite dark, or do I just have a dark bit? We have low ceilings and I don't want to feel boxed in by dark floors, but like the look of the fumed oak. I guess I'm asking if it is balanced out by lighter bits or if it is all sort of uniformly dark? I need to order flooring soon and can not make up my mind!

[FishfingersAreOK]

Mine, so far is coming up quite uniform and not as dark as I thought it would. But it is lovely. We wanted darker if you like - more than something just a varnish/ coloured wax could add. Just had to accept that as it was wood we couldn't guarantee the colour. In the smoking/fuming process it can depend on so many factors (apparently) how the finished result comes out. I went to a posh flooring place where they had bigger samples and showed me several planks to show the variation - and we were fine with the "range". Got a couple of samples o "double smoked" and that was too dark.
Sorry, waffling. In essence I cannot really say - it depends what you want. But maybe a trip to a posh shop.

UKFlooring were great though. And quality is great.

[Autumnmumm]

Thanks. Uk flooring are one of the companies who sent samples. I really like the one on the link.

We are getting underfloor heating so its over concrete.

[Autumnmumm]

Fish fingers. There are two I like. One seems to be 3 layers then the wood on top. So this sample is thicker than the others. Would it work with underfloor heating if it is really thick?

[Autumnmumm]

Thanks for that small town.

We won't be ordering for another month though. Great discount but not great timing for us I'm afraid.

Builder has requested klick lock fitting as its much easier for them. Anyone used this system?

[lindaworthing]

Click lock is really good. It's a bit like tongue and groove but the tongues are sort of barbed and hold themselves in the grooves. Sort of hard to explain but it works really well and is much easier which means the builders labour rate should be lower. (might be worth checking as you could save a few pound)

Most engineered flooring is click lock nowadays which is handy although the fumed oak one your were looking at from UK flooring direct is actually t&g. this page has just click lock floors if you want an easy way to browse. I chose the polar oak one on that page for my new floors earlier this year.

[FishfingersAreOK]

My carpenter is having a bit of a time of it fitting it together as it is quite snug. He thinks it is lovely quality but is taking him longer to fit is as there is not much movement and takes some banging to get each piece fitted. It will be sturdy (good) as tight fitting but a bit of a PITA if they have to wiggle it. Most floor is fitted with a price per m2 so if a bit tricky/slower should not impact on the price if you agree it that way?

As for thickness/underfloor heating efficiency - no idea - all I know is that it had to be engineered for the UFH - and as is to go through some variation in temp due to this my builder recommended decent multilayer ply. Mine has about 9 layers in a I think - 3 lots of 3 (looked properly earlier so I could report back and now tucked up in bed in the static...so cannot double check. It was the 189 (wide) structural stuff I got.

It is soooo lufferely.... [sad at being so enamoured of flooring emoticon]

[Autumnmumm]

I'm sad too. Total floor Anorak now.

Thanks for advice and the link.
We have fixed contract with builders and fixed price for floor fitting so don't have to get klick lock but thought I would be kind since they are doing good job.

So far.
and I want them to finish sooner

[Flora1980]

Hi Guys,

Not sure if this is still active but I have just had my flooring fitted and I had samples from a few companies including that uk flooring one already mentioned. I decided to go with Floormaker as their zebrano laminate samples were great and I was super impressed with the quality. Its //www.floormaker.co.uk and they usually have some kind of sale on.

[user1466425965]

Anyone considering buying wood floors from UK Flooring Direct (UKFD) may want to read about my experience.

On the advice of my builder, I purchased around £800 worth of engineered wood flooring (Engineered European Oak Flooring Brushed Oiled).

The problems started even before the flooring was installed. The company sent me several packages of the wrong flooring, and the joiner I had hired to install them needed to return for an extra day of work after the correct flooring arrived. This was a major inconvenience for both me and my joiner.

Within 1 month of the flooring being installed, the veneer on one panel came completely unglued and started cracking (see pictures below). My joiner returned to inspect it and determined that the product was faulty. UKFD asked me to fill in an assessment form explaining the problem and the conditions in which the floor was installed.

One week after submitting this form, I had yet to get a response. I called back to inquire on the status of my assessment. A customer service representative said she would look into it. Several hours later, she phoned me back and provided details that were inaccurate, contradictory and in some cases ridiculous.

I was told (1) that my 1950s house was “quite old”; (2) that there were wet works going on in my house at the time of installation, which is inaccurate. (3) that the flooring had been simultaneously too damp and not humid enough. She offered me a single pack of flooring in compensation. I declined and asked to speak to a manager.

After more than a week of daily phone calls on my part, I managed to get through to Chris McAteer. He maintained that the damage was not UKFD’s fault and refused to offer any more compensation than a single package of flooring – and that has failed to materialize so far.

The floors UKFD sold me are beautiful. But based on my problems with the product and the way they treat customers, I would recommend looking elsewhere for flooring.

[Dogwalker2]

Our engineered board has been down for 3 years and one of the boards has just split. We bought Ted Todd which was quite expensive but after a few emails they told me to go back to the installer/ seller. I have researched and found that you need not use engineered board over underfloor heating but can use solid timber as long as it has been acclimatised in the room where it is to be installed. We have always had solid wooden floors before and I wish we had done so this time. It looks like we'll have to stand the replacement cost ourselves because no offer has been forthcoming.