Wooden floors. What do you wish someone had said?

[TomNook]

My qs:
How much to spend
What colour you wish you’d had
How do they do doorways
What happens with skirting boards

Ok. So no kids. No dogs. This is for living room study and hall way. Modern house. Want dark look.

One cat.

We have lvt, scratch proof and water proof. Had carpets before but young DDs weed all over them and vomited too couldn't quite get the stains out as seen when we ripped them up

Lvt?

I don't understand this fashion

Shit, I didn’t understand my four hundred year old oak floorboards were no longer fashionable.

Best I get a carpet...🤣

we live in a modern house. Only thing under our underlay is copies of the Sun from 1996

Your kitty cat may appreciate a rug too! Our boy likes the choice of warm soft rug when he’s chilly or sprawled all over the wood floor when the weather gets warmer...

We got laminate in the lounge, hallway and kitchen when we moved in. Lounge and hallway work a treat! We have a 3 year old so easy to clean up the many stains. It probably is a tad more dusty than carpet... BUT on the basis we hoover every couple of days it doesn't make much difference. Much better than having carpet.

The kitchen is ruined! When they fitted they didn't go all the way under the cupboards (we didn't think this would be an issue) to the wall so the laminate shifts in certain parts, it's also warped badly from when the dishwasher leaked one evening. We've had it down 3 years now and the lounge and hallway are perfect! The little bead things that go between the skirting board and the floor in parts are wrecked, but easily replaceable. I think the hallway will last forever (it's more an entrance way), and lounge I reckon another 6/7 years? Kitchen will get done once we are allowed to mix with society and I think we will try tile this time.

We have a darker effect wood and it works well, it is a tad cooler than carpet would be, but with a 3 year old it's much better than carpet. We do have a large rug in the lounge which adds some warmth, but our property is a newer build so better insulated than an older property.

Also don't use a wet bucket and mop, you'll need a steamcleaner, or wipes or some form of equivalent. We were told this when we had the floor laid, something to do with the laminate with absorb the water. Not sure if this is the same with high quality wood floors.

A rug goes without saying surely

We are doing wood. Not laminate.

Sorry about your kitchen 😔

@Bluntness100 - it seems to me that having completely bare floors IS a fashion. I imagine your 400 year old ones were covered with carpets at various points in their lives.

A rug goes without saying surely

Then why have laminate flooring ? Just carpet the floor. Simples.

We went for light grey oak effect laminate in kitchen and hallway, not cheap stuff either nearly £20sqm! Wish I had went with darker now though as every Mark, every chip etc shows up so easily and it does chip so easily but I have a wax kit to repair it. We also have the matching beading to cover the expansion gaps (sorry)! And think it looks fine as the skirtings are painted the same colour. Through time think I will change the kitchen to either that click vinyl stuff or tile. On the point of threshold bars we had to as the kitchen is laid in one direction and the hallway in another as I felt it was going to look silly laid running lengthways all through

We recently changed from vinyl in the kitchen and carpet in the hallway, to wooden floors in both. Still have carpet in the living room and don't plan on changing that. I'm still getting used to how quickly dust and cat hair gathers! I hoover twice a day most days. I just remind myself that all that dust and hair was there before, it was just trapped in the carpet, which isn't a nice thought!

We went for a warm brown- I think it was called pecan? To match our new kitchen worktops and backsplashes. I think it would go well with any colour/ style decor.

tiles

I imagine your 400 year old ones were covered with carpets at various points in their lives

Actually I don’t think they ever were.upstairs yes, but not down. Due to the history of the house.

Mine aren’t completely bare, I have rugs down, but exposed floor boards in period houses is not a new thing.

We have real wood floors downstairs and after 10 years I still like it. However - if you’re having underfloor heating - know that the wood takes time to “settle“. You will end up with little gaps here and there and real wood contracts and retracts as it heats/cools. Engineered doesn’t do this I think, but it does scratch. So pros and cons.

It is a little cold in winter tbh but we have very large rooms which doesn’t help. Get some nice large, fluffy rugs!

I have solid walnut. I think it looks beautiful, BUT it's lacquered and scratches/dents like butter!

I know you're talking but about wood, but what about tiles? My kitchen diner is tiled and I absolutely love it. I wanted wood, but DH won the argument discussion. I'm glad he did. I suppose some of the same applies to tiles as wood. Fit before skirting boards, can be cold in winter (good excuse to buy warm sheepskin slippers), however, it's incredibly durable, doesn't show dirt (from one dirty dog and two dirty cats), easily cleanable, very hygienic. We have a carpet in the sitting room and it's looking a little jaded now even though it's only 4 years old.
I wouldn't have cheap laminate, which is what was down before we carpeted. It was cheap looking, bouncy, easily scratched and chipped, and just looked naf.
Also, with tile or wood, it's easy to change the vibe by changing the rugs.

I have always loved wooden floors and have fitted them in every house I’ve loved it (which is quite a few). I have always used solid wood and been happy with the finish. However, I have just taken up a wooden floor and replaced it with LVT (Amtico herringbone) and I absolutely love it. We took the floor up because it had warped due to a radiator leak and we couldn’t really salvage it. The LVT looks amazing and I think I’m a convert now.

However, to answer your questions, definitely put the skirting over the floor - no beading! It looks so much neater. If you’re going to be in your house for a long time, look at how many times you are able to sand the floor and you choose. If you have dogs or young kids, it will show the wear over time.

Get a robot vacuum and mop if you can afford it. They save so much time and keep the floor clean and looking good.

And post pics when you’ve finished!

Cheaper laminate can look cheap and has a noisy clacky feel when walking over it.
You can have under floor heating, you need to get a specific typw of flooring aswell as a special underlay, it feels lovely under your feet
I would never put it in a kictchen or bathroom, any bit of water on laminate espcially causes it to warp and can destroy it
Cons are is that it can scratch easily, and it shows up dust
Also if you have no soft furnishings it can make noise very loud
However it easy to hoover and keep clean
If in a living room put a big rug in the middle as it makes it more cosy, and takes the noise out

Have it running through the house with it laid the same way all the way through so it look better . Take skirting off when laying, you can get matching threshold joins to match your flooring . went mid price laminate flooring as better quality and looks very good

Kitchen has tiles and bedrooms have carpet - Find wooden floors in carpets make room feel cold and noisy

Had semi solid in previosue house never agin, couldnt cope with the scratch noise etc

Real wood isn’t cold underfoot but laminate is. We’ve got both but I much prefer the real stuff.

I have light coloured click together laminate boards from Wickes in what was the nursery and now is the office. Cost us £100 . Is still great after 16 years. Think laminate is fine in lower traffic areas. Still really like the light colour as makes a small room very light.

I went for engineered oak with natural oil finish (with a good 6mm layer of oak so I can sand it in the future) had it installed 2014 still love it, bought from woodandbeyond (don't know if they still exist) was redecorating the entire living room and replastering so had new skirting boards at the same time. Paid just over 1k for the flooring for a 6mx3.5m living room back in 2014 (not including installation) Does have a couple of scratches but that goes with the territory. Obviously never wear stilettos on it unless you want it pot marked. X

I also oiled it myself with Osmo brand oil when it was first installed too even though it said it was pretreated.

I have amtico vinyl tiles in the hall that in joins in the doorway (I'll take a quick picture, it needs a mop lol)

We have solid bamboo throughout our (open plan) downstairs and LOVE it. I'd lay it again in a heartbeat. It's been down 10yrs now and still looks great. A couple of light scratches where the pad on the bottom of a dining chair got a bit of grit stuck in it, but you'd have to look hard to see them. We've never treated/sanded/maintained it - it doesn't need it.
It feels lovely underfoot - not cold at all.
It meets the original parquet at the hall doors, and the fitter just used a wooden strip at the threshold, which looks fine.

There are several colour choices with bamboo - we thought we wanted one which was oak coloured, but when the samples came we went with a darker colour and it looks great.

simplybamboo.co.uk/collections/strand-woven-series/products/medium-coffee-strand-uniclic-bamboo-flooring

I love them. Definitely hygienic. I can't stand carpets either. Cold winters in the UK was a funny one. Cold winters to me = -20 celsius