Engineered Wood Parquet or Cement style tikes for flooring -PLEASE help me choose?!

[Multitudes]

Hello.

I posted in Property/DIY but hoping I’ll get more traffic here!

I’m having underfloor heating laid in my hall and living area.

It’s a small house, front room is 12’by 16’ which looks onto a small patio.

It’s technically a new build but it was built in the shell of a Victorian factory so the exterior is old IYSWIM.

I love both looks, the tiles would make it look very Scandi-contemporary.

The wood would be traditional but so lovely too.

Bonus for the tiling is that, eventually I could tile the kitchen and the patio in the same tiles but that would be in the next 2-3 years.

I think that would add the illusion of space and make the house feel more coordinated.

Also it would contrast with the wooden stairs.

The wood wouldn’t match the stairs which isn’t a good look but I could put a carpet runner on them anyway.

I won’t sell or move anytime soon, if ever so resale value isn’t a concern tbh.

I’m stuck in a loop and the builders need to know v soon!

Can anyone help me break the cycle?

I can’t even choose between times either!

Links to the tiles:

www.stonesuperstore.co.uk/cement-urbano-porcelain-tiles

or these ones! www.wallsandfloors.co.uk/opus-concrete-effect-tiles-cinereous-grey-tiles

This is a link to the wood www.woodfloorwarehouse.co.uk/diamond-walnut-herringbone

Oh, I love dark flooring too!

Thanks so much!

Oh, and choose a smaller rather than larger board, I know someone who has herringbone with the large modern boards and it looks heavy and clunky. The smaller size on Woodfloor Warehouse are much nicer.

Thanks @picklemepopcorn. Really appreciate that.

Problem with tiles is that I’ve got do upstairs landing and my builders have said tiles are not suitable for there, and I’m now thinking I’d prefer the landing and hallway to match.

Really appreciate those tips @HMArsey

I’m a bit floored out but given all the advice here, for which I am unbelievably grateful, I am now looking at this one!

www.woodfloorwarehouse.co.uk/90mm-desert-oak-herringbone

It would definitely mean the stairs would have to be redone though.

Yep, that’s lovely, and nicer proportions than the Schoolhouse, if I remember rightly.

People who are saying engineered wood looks fake, are you confusing it with laminate?

Thanks @HMArsey!

Yes the SchoolHouse one was 14mm (3mm wear layer) thick 125mm W and 625 as opposed to 14mm 90mm 450mm which is much nicer - so grateful to you for pointing that out!

However, I’ve just found this one which is dark oak and

www.woodandbeyond.com/natural-engineered-flooring-oak-herringbone-cognac-uv-oiled-no-bevel-11-3-6mm-by-70mm-by-490mm-hb045.html

Dimensions are 14.6mm T ( 3.6mm wear layer) 70mm wide and 490mm long.

May I ask if laying Engineered flooring is a lot more expensive than laying laminate?

Thanks again so much, you’ve all been amazing, I would’ve made so many mistakes without your advice.

www.woodandbeyond.com/natural-engineered-flooring-oak-herringbone-cognac-uv-oiled-no-bevel-11-3-6mm-by-70mm-by-490mm-hb045.html

I’m bit convinced there’s any difference in cost in terms of labour, except for engineered is more likely to be glue together rather than just click like laminate. Doesn’t add on v much time, and glue isn’t v expensive. You’ll need underlay for both types.

Oiled engineered will wear much better than laminate, you could have it down for 20 years.

There are differ types of underlay, make sure the shop know about the plan for underfloor heating.

Scuse the typos.

Thanks so much @HMArsey. The insurance builders said it’s £500-£600 more to lay engineered flooring over laminate so I was confused!

I don’t understand what they’re basing that on. We’ve laid both in our house in the last 5 years, and apart from glueing for the engineered, the process was the same.

Now, herringbone does have more wastage and is more time consuming to lay and set out, so if you’d mentioned you were thinking of that maybe that’s where some of the additional cost could come from.

If you do go for oiled, allow for a couple of coats of oil once it’s laid, to give you a really good start. Osmo Poly x is great, be hard wearing and comes in a variety of finishes I think. We have matt, but I think I’ll go satin next time, just to bring the wood to life a little more.

Thanks, they said they’d have to get a specialist to lay it, and that labour would be the extra cost, very confusing - I’ve emailed them to ask the to clarify.

I’ll definitely do a couple of extra oil coats, thanks so much for the advice!

We have porcelain to look like wood herringbone. Lots of people think it’s wood until we tell them.

Those look beautiful @LizziesTwin - as does that gorgeous cabinet! Thanks so much for posting a pic.
Did they have to be laid individually?

Yes each tile is laid individually and we have expansion gaps after 5m I think (in a doorway). We have oiled engineered wood in another kitchen and it is not sufficiently resilient for our two large dogs, it needs refinishing already after 5 years.

I'm older than you so can remember my mother's pleasure getting rid of all the mid-century furniture she had in their first house, its so funny seeing it all be desirable again.

We have these encaustic tiles in the laundry room.

On my, your pics are pure #houseporn @Lizzystwin. I have full blown house envy!

No pets here and no heavy use so hopefully an oiled floor should last.

I do like the feel of tiles underfoot though, especially in the summer when they’re cool.

I think also that underfloor heating works better with tiles than wood.

Hmmmmm. If they are gonna charge me loads for the floor, I may look at tiles again.

Ha! What goes around comes around re furniture styles.

TBH, it started with me about ten years ago cos it was the only good quality furniture I could afford. I also found they were smaller which made a enormous difference the space as the rooms are really small with low ceilings.

I know it’s a bit passé now though!

Hello again;

Need some advice!

The builders have come back and said that the subfloor would cost significantly more for herringbone than boards.

I’ve c&p’d their email.

“Looking at your recent flooring choice, this is a herringbone parquet (albeit engineered) that would require a lot more sub floor preparation and the fitting costs are extremely higher for a parquet floor. For engineering flooring we always suggest the use of flooring from a company called Staki, we all carry samples in our vehicles. Have a look at the link below and let me know what you think. Staki flooring is a tried and trusted material and also recommended by our floor fitters. For your situation you would be looking at the 15mm thick x 180mm width planks.

^www.flooringsales.co.uk/wood-flooring/wood-flooring-by-brand/wood-flooring-staki^

A similar match to what you've chosen would be the Staki Cuba which we're currently looking to fit at another job:

^www.flooringsales.co.uk/wood-flooring/oak-cuba-180-detail^

Could you please let me know if you're happy to go ahead with Staki, or I can arrange for you to view some samples then I can work out the budget left for the tiles.”

I’ve googled it and these boards seem to be very expensive, £80sqm

The Cuba option is lacquered, not oiled.

Are they manipulating me?

I feel like I’m being pushed into something I don’t want...

Clicky links to the boards the builders want to use

www.flooringsales.co.uk/wood-flooring/wood-flooring-by-brand/wood-flooring-staki

www.flooringsales.co.uk/wood-flooring/oak-cuba-180-detail

Hello, sorry bumping this as I’m still very confused and would really appreciate any opinions/advice or guidance!
Is preparing a sub floor for parquet engineered wood really super expensive?!
@HMArsey did you come across this?

I wonder if they are getting a commission or something for it- it does look like a nice floor but fundamentally comes down to your budget- you can ignore their suggestion if you're happy with what you've found elsewhere.

Laquer may be more hardwearing than oiled, but if you want the latter then again, you don't need to take their advice.

And yes, I had certainly heard that parquet is quite expensive to lay, though I must admit I had assumed that related more to traditional parquet than the engineered wood variety, as traditional parquet tiles are really small and so need a VERY flat base to avoid getting a wonky floor.

Thanks so SO much @Canyousewcushions.
The flat floor for parquet makes sense if that’s also the case for engineered wood. Although the boards aren’t as small as solid wood parquet.

I’ve been taken advantage of so many times before that I’m very sensitive/paranoid about it.

I did query the price but they said they bulk bought so got it at £45sqm.

I guess I feel/felt that once again, my wishes and opinions were being rode roughshod over.

I’ve asked them to price up both, so we’ll see.

Really appreciate your advice, thanks again.

We had to have the floor levelled because it had a dip in it, but it was an upstairs soon so it was laid on hardboard type flooring, not concrete or underfloor heating so a different situation to what you have.

Can you ask the builders exactly what preparation they are talking about? Self levelling compound isn’t v expensive but as I say, I have no experience of underfloor heating.

By the way, I know someone who has the woodfloor warehouse oiled herringbone that you’ve been looking at, and it’s wearing really well in a busy hall and they have a dog. I can’t see any reason why you’d pay more than that. We paid about the same for straight boards from an independent flooring shop, they are thick, with a good top layer and laid really well.

Thanks so much @HMArsey I really appreciate it.

I will definitely ask more about a breakdown of the work that needs to be done on the sub floor.

Unless it is levelling I still don’t understand why laying parquet is more expensive than laying boards over underfloor heating.

Excited to hear that those wood floor warehouse herringbone boards look good and are hardwearing!

Thanks so much, hopefully they’ll get back to me today.

Laying herringbone style has more wastage and is more time consuming because you have left and right boards. Sometimes you can be lucky and the room works out a great size for laying out, but sometimes there can be lots of cutting. That still doesn't explain why they're saying preparing the floor for that is more difficult that preparing the floor for straight boards.

I understand the builders have preferences for brands (eg some decorators have a fit about using F&B paint), but I'm not sure it's in your best interests for them to push you into using one particular type of flooring. Do you have the option of buying the flooring and engaging a fitter separately?

One other thing to note about using engineered - or solid, for that matter, anything that's not laminate - is that you may up with some boards that you don't want to use because of v obvious knots that have been filled etc. Definitely don't go below whatever the shop/manufacturer suggests as the wastage ratio. Also, this is where someone with a decent eye comes into their own, not just a 'chuck it down' type builder.

Thanks @HMArsey. At this stage they are my only option I’m afraid.

They said they using a ‘specialist’ flooring company but clearly they (mainly) just lay boards from this particular flooring company.

Thanks for the info about the flooring that’s really useful to know.

I will stand my ground as as for details though.

It bothers me as they’ve been pouring cold water on the parquet idea from the get-go and really pushing these boards.

I do feel pressured...