DIY engineered wood installation

[thatonehasalittlecar]

Has anyone DIY’d laying engineered wood floors? It would be in a pretty long open plan room and the current floor is floorboards. I’d love to have herringbone parquet, but is trying to do that just madness? Anyone done it themselves?

[Nowthereistwo]

Following with interest. We have tiles and planning a large extension.

I love the idea of herringbone parquet in a light wood but not sure on how it is put down.

[waitrosetrollydolly]

We did wide planks that were straight and that was hard, herringbone would be a bit too taxing I think.

[Nowthereistwo]

Sorry to hijack, but do you need to buy special herringbone parquet flooring or can you buy "normal wood" flooring but lay it in a herringbone pattern?

[NHSEA]

I watched my DB, who is a skilled joiner, lay mine. It was only planks, but it is harder than you think to do a good job. He replaced all the skirting boards too. I think herringbone would be very ambitious for a diy project, and a tradesperson would charge extra to lay like this.

Nowthereistwo. Have a look on here www.doorsandfloors.co.uk/products-category-engineered-wood-flooring-width-90-159mm-1-strip.html. I think you have to buy it as herringbone strips, they probably interlock on all sides

[buckeejit]

Unless you're A specialist don't even try parquet. We had parquet just done by a pro & my bro who's a joiner & a lot of laser & levelling just to get the first few down. The glue is £££ too so you need to know. It's so expensive but I love it.

We did upstairs & downstairs in matching colour oak in wide boards ourselves & it was ok but have laid laminate before. Our house is split level & so we saved by doing this & works well & coordinates.

Good luck, it will be worth it in the end!

[Saz12]

We laid wood flooring in our first house.

Next time round, we got someone to do it for us....

[skedaddIe]

It's madness and DIY is usually a false economy.

But if you're doing it for the challenge/satisfaction then go for it.

[TheSandman]

@Nowthereistwo

Sorry to hijack, but do you need to buy special herringbone parquet flooring or can you buy "normal wood" flooring but lay it in a herringbone pattern?

Parquet flooring has a tongue and groove on all four sides. Normal floorboarding only has T+G down the sides. If you cut floorboarding into short lengths and try to herringbone it without routering a tonge and groove into the ends you will have huge gaps where the end of the pieces butt into the sides of others.

I suppose you could do it it if you were determined and had a LOT of time on your hands but it would be one hell of a faff.

[MrsAvocet]

We did. Well, DH and a friend of ours did it really though I had a hand in the design. We had it made in tiles that are about 18 inches square so it looks like its made from individual parquet blocks but it was quicker to lay, if that makes sense. It was straightforward to lay though it probably helps that we have a modern house with completely flat floors and true walls. The only bit that was a bit tricky was fitting it around the fireplace and doorways. I should add that my DH is an engineer and he spent a long time doing scale drawings of the room, figuring out exactly how it would fit and what the pattern would look like before we had the floor made. There was also quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with the company we were dealing with as the first couple of samples they made weren't quite right, but we got there in the end! It is a good few years since we did it, but I don't recall it being particularly problematic once the stuff actually arrived. It only took a few days to put down.
On the other hand I have friends who laid real reclaimed parquet in their beautiful but somewhat irregularly shaped Victorian house and whilst it was gorgeous when it was done, it took them months and that floor nearly ended their marriage!

[newtb]

I can remember the waiting room at the Dr's was herringbone parquet in an Edwardian house. In one of the corners, a few blocks had started to come up, maybe his dc had done it. They were glued with what looked like bitumen/tar type glue, black and thick. Be a nightmare to do.

The large tiles that a pp mentioned earlier sounds a good way. Or you can get very expensive vinyl that looks like the real thing. The Littlewoods head office building had a compass rose design in a circle in front of the lifts by the owners' offices. It looked like marquetry but was very posh upmarket vinyl. Might be a way to go. You could wet mop it, too!

[thatonehasalittlecar]

Thanks for all the advice! I was under no illusion it would be easy, but it sounds like it isn’t worth the hassle / marriage ruining possibilities to even consider DIY parquet.

[thatonehasalittlecar]

So the next question - DIY engineered planks. Anyone laid them? Have some quite specific questions for the best order to lay them.

I’m pretty handy - have fitted a couple of kitchens, tiled walls, laid a deck and some fencing, and have done a bit of woodworking as a hobby - so not a total newbie to DIY.

I would love to hand over the stress to a fitter, but it’s too large an area.

[TheSandman]

@newtb

I can remember the waiting room at the Dr's was herringbone parquet in an Edwardian house. In one of the corners, a few blocks had started to come up, maybe his dc had done it. They were glued with what looked like bitumen/tar type glue, black and thick. Be a nightmare to do.

The large tiles that a pp mentioned earlier sounds a good way. Or you can get very expensive vinyl that looks like the real thing. The Littlewoods head office building had a compass rose design in a circle in front of the lifts by the owners' offices. It looked like marquetry but was very posh upmarket vinyl. Might be a way to go. You could wet mop it, too!

It is bitumen. I used to have a huge pile of old parquet flooring in my coal-cellar. They made great kindling.

[MyDucksArentInARow]

We laid our own engineered hardwood floor. It wasn't that hard, but annoying. We had tongue and groove, but click lock is better for the diyer and tbh the tongue and groove is more effort than it's worth. Not sure it is worth it at all. We laid in areas we'd had carpet. Levelling the floor is a must. Its a pain, but a must. Its not too hard to do yourself either, but can be messy. Always get more than you need!!!!

Do get 10% more planks than you need. Some are horrifically ugly so you want to be able to avoid using them. Its also easy to not get around a door quite right.

Find any transitions you need but not necessarily order, you want to know their widths so you can lay with the correct gap in a doorway that can be hidden.

In my opinion, it's so worth taking off the skirting boards. Much better finish.

We will happily lay click lock flooring next time we come to it!

[thatonehasalittlecar]

@MyDucksArentInARow

Thank you for replying.

Re skirting boards - how easy is this? I’m really loath to take them off and ruin the walls which were only plastered a couple of years ago.

This isn’t our forever home and the improvements we’ve already made have put us up to about the ceiling for the area, so I need to balance the costs carefully.

Did you lay on concrete? I’d be laying on floorboards so no way to use self-leveller - I’d have to board it if it’s not flat.

[MyDucksArentInARow]

Yes we laid on concrete. If it's not your forever home could you polish up the floorboards to give a similar feel without the ££?

The builders had glued, nailed and used pink expanding foam to stick our skirting boards on 🙄 so it was an operation to get them off, but doing it carefully and we didn't damage the walls beyond scratching to break the caulk seal at the top. Few chunks of plaster came off with the glue, but it was just where the glue was. As the floor raised the skirting board height, it meant all those marks were covered. It was definitely a drama, but that's because of dodgy builders in the first place fixing them badly and dodgy plaster work!!!! Normally it wouldn't be that hard as long as you use the right tools.

[MrsAvocet]

If you don't want to take the skirting boards off you can get narrow strips of beading that fill in the gap. We've got that in a couple of rooms (we have hard floors in every room in the house) and its ok, but I would agree with MyDucks that you do get a much better finish if you take the skirting boards off. I guess it depends on how much it bothers you and how long you are planning to stay in the house. We did it "properly" in the rooms we spend a lot of time in but used the beading in places like the dining room and the downstairs toilet where you don't really spend a lot of time looking at the floor!

[buckeejit]

Engineered planks are ok if you're handy. Definitely take up skirting boards or you'll be left using beading all round the edge which isn't great

[thatonehasalittlecar]

Thanks, all.

We did tart up the floorboards but I just don’t like them! I’m sure if we had them properly filled and fixed, it would be fine, but I can’t face the dust and upheaval.