WOODEN or ENGINEERED Wooden floors? Advice please!

[guineapiglet]

Hi all, I know this has been done many times. We are about to move and want to take up carpets in hallway and office and replace. Can you advise on which option is best - cost is obviously an issue, but in terms of general wear and tear and fitting etc which is the best option.

Many thanks!

[ArbitraryUsername]

We've just had solid oak flooring put down. It looks absolutely wonderful. You need to put engineered wood down if you have underfloor heating and possibly over certain sub-floor types (I'm not certain about this, but someone with a clue will be along to clarify things).

They're both generally about the same price. Engineered is sometimes more expensive as there's more complexity in the manufacturing process.

How hard wearing it is will depend to a certain extent on the finish you go for. Oiled finishes (which is what we went for) scratch more easily but you can sort this out yourself with some sandpaper and oil. Lacquered finishes are apparently a bit harder wearing but any scratches you do get are harder to deal with. You can get matt or gloss lacquers. Darker woods will tend to show any scratches more than lighter woods.

There are also options about fitting that you want to consider. Ours are screwed down (in case we ever need to get them up again, although we don't plan to). But you can nail them down, or there are click-together systems too. It's worth thinking about how you'd get the floor up again in an emergency (leaking pipes, etc) or for access to pipes and electric cables in the future.

It might be best visiting a specialist wooden flooring shop, looking at lots of samples and asking for their advice. We got ours from a local, family run business who were extremely helpful.

[ihatethecold]

You can't put solid wood down onto concrete.

[ArbitraryUsername]

See, someone with a clue came along! We have floating wooden sub-floors, so it wasn't an issue for us.

[CointreauVersial]

Engineered wood is less likely to warp.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

I have engineered bamboo everyone thinks it is oak, but a third of the price. It is solid can be sanded and re varnished or waxed just like wood.

[Selks]

Depends what is under the flooring. My builder advised engineered wood as I live in an old cottage that is slightly damp - solid wood is more likely to warp.
If you go for engineered it's best to get a type that has minimum 6mm thick solid wood layer on top to allow for a couple of re- sandings over the years. Cheap engineered wood is often 2 or 3 mm which will only allow for one re sanding.

[guineapiglet]

Thanks so much for your replies - very helpful. There is a local company up the road and I will go and have a chat with them. I guess we need now to find out what lurks beneath the carpets before deciding! :)

[ArbitraryUsername]

If you're really lucky there'll be something awesome underneath the carpets. The flooring people we bought from told us about a woman who'd ordered a new oak parquet floor from them. The fitters got there, took up the carpet and found an utter beautiful original parquet floor.

Of course, when we took the laminate/carpet up in our hall, we found nasty beige vinyl floor tiles stuck to the (crappy) original floor boards.

[discrete]

You can put solid wood on concrete actually - I did 7 years ago and it's doing just fine! It's a pretty standard thing to do here in France, and in other countries I've lived in too.

[Springforward]

We have solid wood on concrete, though we used the thickest underlay sheets we could find underneath it. We used a glue- together oak one from Homebase, DH reckoned he'd choose engineered wood next time as he found it tricky to fit.

[TalkinPeace2]

We have bamboo on concrete AND floorboards.
Its glued down - straight to the screed with the really expensive glue that makes a 2mm dpc.
The bamboo is thick enough (11mm) that you cannot feel the join between the concrete and wood underneath.
We have under floor access hatches under our doormats....