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)

We have an oak wood floor, not sure about "engineered" that's not a term I've heard applied to wooden floors up here. Initially we sanded them, filled in holes and oiled them. I now oil them every year. They get vaccuumed with a brush attachment on the vaccuum cleaner so it doesn't scratch. They get washed occasionally but no shoes so don't get that dirty. All furniture (table, chairs) has felt based casters on it.
The planks shrunk slightly so have small gaps between them. We probably should oil them more often. They look lovely. I wouldn't have them in the kitchen area.

We have underfloor heating and solid wood. Our heating system just has a maximum temp they can be set to with wooden flooring, although we don't usually have it anywhere near that.

Engineered wood here, and love it. We generally wear crocs ( I KNOW) around the house or socks but are not a shoes off house as such. Have the odd scratch from heavy furniture as our arm chairs move around a lot, and the felt pads we stuck on keep coming off, but I just hoover it, and occasionally use floor wipes or microfibre mop. It tolerates wine/coffee spills and cat sick very well! I don't have it in the kitchen (hideous old lino there) tho as I don't trust our dishwasher not to leak big time!

I wish I had had it years ago when the kids were little!

We restored the floorboards ourselves (and I didn't paint myself into a corner. Not once. Although I did leave my phone and cuppa on the windowsill and had to leave them there for 12 hours)
I love them, highly practical with kids and I change the big rugs as I fancy. I have dogs though and shortly after finishing the dining room, the dogs went on a mad one and left a scratch. It was where he took a corner too fast. It's really deep and needs sanding out and re-staining. Generally though they have worn well. We put a really tough clear yacht varnish on top of the stain.

2rebecca. The term 'engineered wood' is a very common and normal term even up there It just means that the planks consist of layers of wood. Sort of like a laminate. Engineered wood varies in quality but if it's good quality it is very durable and is much less likely to shrink or warp than real wood. Cost wise, engineered wood can be more expensive than real wood.

We have wood floors throughout (except hall, bathrooms and laundry which are ruled. I think it's solid oak? Standard here for Sweden. No shoes (shoes in the house would be the height of rudeness here, it is just not done.) we have a robohoover that zips round daily, underfloor heating and I just mop them whenever I can be bothered with pine soap.
They're brilliant- warm underfoot, look good and hard wearing.

Tiles, not ruled! Bloody autocorrect

Any recommendations for brands?

We've got engineered wood and I've never done anything to it other than hoovering and the occasional mopping. It has got the odd scrape here and there, but it's been down for years and has had assorted very heavy items dragged across it.

I have engineered oak floors - supposedly in a battered look! I barely maintain them and re-oil any scratches when they need it (annually - I walk around with a tub of oil and a tissue - rub some in where necessary and Bob's your uncle), I hoover and very occasionally wash with a damp cloth. They look gorgeous and are so forgiving that they suit my sloppy, careless housekeeping. I have had them for 8 years (2 dogs, two kids)

We have engineered oak in our playroom, having spent months with lots of samples of different woods and finishes and doing strange experiments with them (like leaving a wet teabag on overnight to check for stain resistance!). We opted for oak, which had been lacquered and brushed to give protection and not be as slippy and still look like proper wooden floor. We've had it for 3 years now and it still looks as good as new. There's the odd scratch on it, mainly from dragging the sofa in and out from the wall to retrieve lost toys from underneath. I've certainly never oiled it or polished it and it's only been washed once I think!
It does get vacuumed regularly though and a large portion of it is covered with a rug.
We are so pleased with it that we are getting the same floor for our dining room and living room

Which type do you have Singing?

We moved in to a new build nearly 10 years ago. I didn't understand what engineered oak meant - assumed it was like a laminate so it was not treated well. Once I realised it all seemed fine, so have continued as before. It is so tough I assume it must have been pretreated in some way.

It is vacummed weekly (ish), damp mopped fortnightly ( ish) with extra cleans and vacs if it gets extra mucky or dusty or if we are expecting visitors. Still looks like new bar a few furniture moving/resident cat scratch marks which don't detract from the overall appearance.

Ours are Kahrs engineered oak.

YANBU

We have them in the kitchen. Big mistake. Washing machine flooded and a load of planks were totally knackered and had to be replaced.

Ours are kahrs engineered oak, lacquer finish,

We have had one of them for 14 years. It is looking a bit scratched and worn and I must do something about it.

Sorry, only just seen your question! I can't remember the brand, will check with my hubby as he's the one who ordered it originally. I'll let you know!

We had lots of wooden floors (pine floorboards) when I was a child 40+ years ago mainly because my parents couldn't afford carpets
My Dad waxed and polished them every other year - in between they were swept and still looked fab

We used to have engineered wood in our old house and I would NEVER go near it again. We had very expensive top grade boards, thick top layer suitable for several sandings and one grade down from commercial. So should last! No!! leaks in the kitchen led to total refurbishment and new floor several times, that's a risk in kitchens and bathrooms, but even simple things such as our dogs favourite sleeping spot and her moist breath..... I kid you not!!!!.... left the gaps looking worn rotten and damaged.

Wood will scratch. It depends if you are in camp a) you believe this is part of the character of a wood floor or camp b) you don't want to spend £££ on a floor for it to be scratched within weeks.

There is no real maintenance beyond hoovering at least weekly and running over with a spray mop. Less work than keeping carpet clean. The planks will probably come treated (oiled or laquered) and that will last 10-20 years before you have to do any maintenance.

We had engineered oak in our old house. It was likely quite cheap stuff (cheap for eo that is). It looked nice but not beautiful. It was very scratched within a year.

If you go down the laminate route, I personally think a top quality laminate is better than a cheap engineered. They also have the advantage of being very hard to scratch. Some of the top end quickstep ranges for example are very beautiful. It is harder to create the same effect with karndean I think. Like any of these products you have to appreciate them for what they are (a practical alternative to wood that has its own beauty) rather than an imitation of wood as they will never fool anyone who looks really closely. Depends what you value more. The fashion on mumsnet property boards seems to be to always go for wood and there is lots of snobbery about laminate. Same people seem to like karndean though

We have engineered oiled oak and it does get dents and dints but it genuinely adds to the character and makes it look more mature and loved somehow! We re oiled after five years using teak oil and the finish is beautiful. I vacuum it a couple of times a week just because i have so many small children dropping food and walking through!