Oak flooring for lounge - give me your experiences

[UltimateInteriors]

Okay- tell me the good and bad.

I am thinking of replacing a wool cream carpet which I love but which has signs of wear where our feet go by the sofa. It's lasted a good 20 years as we are 'shoes off' family.

However, I don't like asking visitors to take their shoes off and if I replace the carpet I was thinking of oak flooring for the lounge. I'd cover most of it with a cream berber rug.

It would have to be pale as I hate a dark look.

What sort of cost and what quality? Lounge is about 20ft by 12 ft.

Carpet to replace would be in the region of £50mtr.

I don’t know about costs but we have oak flooring throughout our home. It’s about 16 years old and still looks really good, timeless and elegant - no signs of wear and tear. There are few scratches but a vacuum and mop with wood floor cleaner is all you need. I don’t have rugs down (except for doormat by front door). It’s a lovely warm shade and goes with all colours. I’d never go back to carpet. We are a no shoes family too and I hoover every day and mop it 3-4 times a week.

The bad about wood is it can be noisy and cold. I like the look, though, and we have it in a couple of rooms.

Cream rug and you DON'T ask guests to remove their shoes! 😱

Sorry- this is long! 😬We have just renovated and have oak flooring throughout upstairs. We haven't finished, and its only been down a few months, so can't comment on the longevity of it as yet. Ours is woodpecker brand, York rustic oak and has a 99yr warranty. Yes- ALL the pics below are the exact, same wood colour, but look different in the pics. Strangely, it was slightly cheaper to buy solid wood vs engineered wood!

Directly from the retailer, it was about £70 per m2. We have been using a building merchant for the renovation, and they were able to buy it in slightly cheaper than that.

Does your lounge are have any direct, outside doors? We have bifolds, so I'd worry about wet shoes walking on the wood and the area directly near the door getting ruined. Also, I'm not sure how resilient wood flooring would be to say stilettos (not that I wear them!). If no outside door- not a problem.

One thing I wasn't aware when buying the flooring. The boxes were about 1.6m (5ft) long, so I assumed that ALL the wood inside would be that length. Instead, there was a single piece that long, and all the rest were much shorter lengths. The finished look is lovely, just not what I was initially expecting. I've since learnt that these were described as 'random lengths' but it was just something I wasn't looking out for- as assumed ALL floorboards were the same length!

I love the look, it feels warm- even though there is no underfloor heating there and being solid- can be sanded down many times if ever needed.

Ensure you get a qualified carpenter, or at least someone with experience of laying this type of flooring- and ideally see examples. At another property, we had engineered wood laid by someone who claimed he'd laid it before. A few days in- it became apparent he didn't know what he was doing, so we had to get someone else. It was a straight pattern, not some fancy chevron pattern!

I don't ask visitors to remove their shoes but so far, all have offered! @SM4713

But I am 'entertaining' less than I'd like as I live in fear of muddy foot prints or shoe polish coming off onto the carpet.

Thanks @SM4713
Yes, I can see what you mean by the short lengths. Yours is lovely but slightly more 'knotty' than I'd want.

Does 'engineered' mean it's ready to slot together ( a bit like Lego?) and other types- well what?

We'd definitely employ a fitting company.

I have engineered Oak, primarily because it’s far more stable than regular Oak as it’s laminated which means it wont warp at all. I paid about £50 a square metre and paid £400 to have it fitted. It’s lovely, warm underfoot, not noisy as it’s laid on a solid floor with a decent underlay.

I have had oak flooring in the whole of the ground floor in the last 4 houses , both solid oak and machined oak , really not any difference between them other than machined is easier to lay .
I Hoover most days and occasionally mop , no shoe adult household , no pets or kids , ( occasionally visiting dog ) looks neat always and as good as new . We don’t have any rugs simply because I like the oak floor
Love the flooring - couldn’t imagine having carpet , I don’t like carpet upstairs much either but that’s personal taste

@UltimateInteriors I can see what you mean by the knotting in the pics I posted. Strangely, in real life they don't seem so obvious, but can I completely understand wanting more wood and less knots. Woodpecker do have other styles/colours. We also looked at a brand carpetright sold, but cannot recall the name now.

Solid wood flooring is a plank of wood that has been milled from one single part of the tree.
Engineered wood flooring has a real wood top layer and a central core of cross-layered plywood or softwood, and is underpinned with a veneer layer for balance.

My understanding is that real wood can be sanded more times than engineered wood, due to the thickness or the real wood part. No idea how often it might be needed though?

We put oak parquet flooring in our living room about 3 years ago (and in our previous home, we bought reclaimed parquet from an old school hall, had it cleaned up and relaid, it was stunning!).

Our living room is quite cold anyway, so the floor doesn't help, but it's so beautiful, I'll happily put up with it. I think we ordered via luxuryflooringandfurnishings.Co.Uk (we definitely got samples from them at least!). Current prices seem to be about £60 per m2.

My preference would be for wood or stone floors throughout the house, but I have to concede that carpet is soft and warm and a good sound insulator for upstairs. I love the maintenance of hard floors though, so easy.

My oak floor panels for living room through to dining room cost 3k. That was a while ago though.