to think engineered wooden floors are a right pain in the arse and too hard to maintain

[TigerLily666]

OK -am just in the middle of major house renovation and had my heart set on engineered wooden floors BUT not only am I bamboozled by the choice / different finishes debate, the more i hear about what you need to do to look after them the less keen I am. (Basically I am a lazy sod and shudder when I read that people have to clean their floors 3 times a week, and oil them, and avoid scratches!). Seriously, life is too short ... But do they get damaged easily?? Do they require kid-glove treatment? Is it a foolish idea in a house with a 3 year old son trailing dirt in all the time, with clumsy mummy and husband who thinks it is a stupid idea? Should I just opt for the Amtico vinyl look (i.e. bit rubbish look but v v low maintenance)

[Excited101]

Just get high quality wood laminate. It's much better than it used to be these days and some of it could easily pass for real wood but without such a hi cost and maintenance.

[Titsywoo]

I don't do any of that and my floors are clean. Mine doesn't scratch easily either. I think they are very low maintenance. Water spillages no issue as we put waterproof adhesive in the joints when we put it together. Solid wood floors on the other hand are a bastard.

[madmother1]

Laminate here too. I just hoover weekly and perhaps once a month o get a packet of floor wipes and clean it. My sil has real wood and within a week she had lots of scratches and in her words, says it's Sh*t and feels she's wasted her money. I have a friend who had 3 DS and a dog. They've got kardean flooring. Really hard wearing but expensive to lay.

[Thesunrising]

We've got engineered planks from Boen in our kitchen/dining area. Sweep it twice/thrice a week, mop it once a month (if the mood takes me) There are no other maintenance issues that I've come across. There are a few scratches/dinks, but none so bad that need treatment to stop them ruining the look of the floor. I genuinely can't think there is more I could be doing to keep it looking all right, but maybe I'm a slovenly so and so....

[HiddenMeaning]

I had good quality engineered old floors put in five years ago and I'm still delighted with them. I haven't 'maintained' them in any way apart from hovering them and I once started polished them with oil but I got bored halfway through . There are a few dings here and there and the colour has changed a little but they still look fabulous.

I bought ones with a particularly thick top layer so that I could sand them down if I ever wanted to. Apparently, cheaper ones have a much thinner top layer.

We don't have pets and are generally a shoes off household.

[BeALert]

Mine are badly damaged in the kitchen despite having been refinished less than 6 years ago. I wouldn't get wooden floors in a kitchen again. Also, where the bath leaked in the bathroom they went rotten.

They do look beautiful everywhere else, with minimal maintenance.

[Ruralretreating]

I love the look of my engineered wood floors but they scratched quickly and I was disappointed. Waste of money in my experience, I wouldn't buy again.

[Titsywoo]

Depends which one you get I suppose.i have mine in my kitchen with no issues. Re scratching I got loads of samples then tried to scratch them by putting them on the floor and dragging a wooden chair leg over them hard. I got a lacquered finish one as it didn't mark easily and when it did it was hard to see.

[bakeoffcake]

We've got them in kitchen, diner and conservatory. It was expensive 7 years ago but we've had no issues at all. Lots of people said "don't have wood in the kitchen or conservatory" but I love the look and feel of it and found someone who said as long as you get good quality, it will be fine. I've absolutely no regrets and would do the same tomorrow.

[Fozzleyplum]

I've got solid wood (French oak) floors. I bought them locally to avoid paying the silly prices charged by some high end retailers. My local joiner put them down and oiled them. That was about 6 years ago and I've not got round to oiling them since.
I just hoover them and clean them once a week either with a quick wash over with Aldi floor wash, or Method wooden floor cleaner. We're not a "shoes off" household and after 6 years of assault from 2 boys, the floors still look great

[Zaurak]

Absolutely essential to have shoes off (which you should anyway, shoes indoors is grim.)
Ours are fine - solid wood planks, we have a roomba that does them daily and I just mop them with a damp mop once a week (ish)
If we didn't have a baby who insists on flinging everything he eats I'd mop them every couple of weeks.

[easterlywinds]

We've had engineered wood floors for about 4 years and they still look like new. I did the same as tipsywoo and took lots of samples and went for the one that I couldn't scratch easily which happened to be an oiled wood. Iicjef one with a thicker top layer so if it looks manly in a few years, we can sand it back and resurface. I am very bad at maintenance. I sweep (or Hoover) once a week and mop about once a month (or sometimes longer). We've had a few water spills and it always gets splashes on it when I use the sink but you can't tell.
We've had laminate in the past which I found it hard to look after and prevent scratches. This was a rented house though so may have been cheap stuff.

[CookieDoughKid]

We have LVT luxury vinyl Tile. Bought from carpet rite and it's the best ever. Waterproof scratch resistant and needs no oiling. Just an occasional mop. Very realistic and everyone who comes to my house thinks they are walking on oak flooring!

[hettie]

Friend who is professional wood guy says oak engineered is tough (any hardwood too).he advised us to use it in our heavy foot fall kitchen diner. You need to get the toughest finish though(for a heavy footfall area) not oiled, more like it lacquered, and St least 3mm layer, pref 5...

[Zarah123]

Engineered wood flooring here. Cost £1,000 from B&Q for living room, hallway, dining room and kitchen extension.

Our flooring doesn't need vacuuming 3 x per week! I do it either once a week or every two weeks.

And it feels much nicer than my friend's laminate flooring.

The only thing that was causing scratches (small ons) was dragging dinibg chairs around. We put on those round adhesives from Ikea (50p) at the bottom of each chair leg and no more scratches.

Sometimes visitors come in with shoes but has had no effect on flooring.

[EarthboundMisfit]

My parents have Antics (sp?). After 5 years they are absolutely pristine.

[EarthboundMisfit]

Lol Antica

[Abraiid1]

Absolutely essential to have shoes off (which you should anyway, shoes indoors is grim.)

We don't always take shoes off as we were brought up to regard this as a bit strange for adults. Our wooden floors are 14 years old, scratched but still beautiful. When we lose a dog or two, I shall have them restored.

[Believeitornot]

We had engineered oak floors in our last place for 4 years. In our kitchen. They were in great condition and only needed oiling once after the cleaner accidentally used the wrong floor cleaner, stripping the oil out. They even survived my 4 year old gleefully pouring black paint on them.

You wash them once a month and sweep the rest of the time. They were oiled.

So YABU!

[Believeitornot]

Any hard wood floor is going to need regular cleaning or sweeping though as it will show up every mark!

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Our oak floor is 10 years old and looks amazing,practially looks after itself. I sweep and mop with a microfibre barely damp mop once a week and that's it. Any slight scratched buff out and it can all be sanded down if it gets too scratched at some point. We wear shoes indoors.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

My experience of wooden flooring is that it barely shows up any marks

[eddielizzard]

i have engineered boards down in kitchen, dining room and loo and they look fantastic. been 10 years. vacuum when needed and mop once a month and the soap has oil in it. once a year i get it oiled which involves a guy coming round for a couple of hours. they are good quality so i'll be able to sand a couple of times.

i have underfloor heating so couldn't go for solid wood.

i love them. if you want low maintenance go for vinyl.

[GoudyStout]

Engineered oak here too - I Hoover every few days and mop once a month or so. We take shoes off, as found that grit will scratch the surface, and use felt pads / castor cups on furniture feet. 6 years on and it still looks good, a few dings here and there but most marks can be sorted with a bit of wood polish.

[molyholy]

We have real wood in the living room. No oil. Not a shoes off household (although I would draw a line at high heels if a guest was wearing them never happened yet) I love our floor. It looks fabulous and wouldnt change it.