Affordable wooden flooring - does it exist?

[saltyseadog]

We have about 50 square metres in our kitchen/ family room that we'd like to re-floor, ideally with wood. However most some of the prices are making my dh choke - can anyone recommend good quality flooring at the...ahem...more value end of the market?

We really don't want laminate, or the wooden covered MDF, as we have had bad experiences with both in the past. If we can't afford wood we'll go with good old fashioned lino instead :o.

Have you checked out Karndean? Absolutely amazing. Looks like wood but so cleanable!

Nope - will have a look :). Any idea on price?

Any more ideas please?

What prices have you been given per square metre so far?

Someone has quoted £5K for flooring and labour - which is just too much for us.
I'm just looking at Wickes - it's 33% off their solid oak which takes it to £27 per square metre, which seems 'cheap'. However I think there's loads of extras, and I am conscious that a cheaper floor will potentially take more labour to look good.

Any ideas doozle?

we used engineered wood flooring from our local carpet man and it was fab in kitchen/diner. this time we needed something for office and got bloke via rated people who was very good and got us trade discount from magnet and honestly can't see difference

I hadn't thought of asking our local carpet man. I will do so on Monday - certainly worth a quote - thanks.

I think it's around £20-30 per square metre.

Thanks CC. We're off to Wickes and B&Q today (rock and roll), so will definitely bear it in mind whilst looking.

I quite like quick-step (in particular Luna) laminate ceramic tiles. Not keen on real tiles as they are too cold, hard & potentially slippery.

I don't think they do Karndean there you have to have proper Karndean fitters. What did you find today?

Nowt at B&Q. I think it was really a trip to see if we could find anything cheaper, but to be honest their flooring didn't look great and seemed relatively expensive.

Sorry - I should have said as a price comparison to B&Q, Karndean looks far too posh for the likes of B&Q :o.

We're going to speak to our local carpet fitter, and I will also see if we can get a quote for Karndean. Off to check put Quick step now.

I'm looking at engineered oak flooring for my lounge though now veering towards a good laminate. Balterio has been recommended.

Unsure which way to go. The way that real wood changes colour over time with exposure to sun really puts me off tbh. Mainly because the discolouration is so uneven, ie just the bits exposed to light. Our room has huge floor to ceiling windows on three sides so no way to avoid!

Might even go for Karndean which is first choice for kitchen. Polyflor is a very good but much cheaper alternative, or so I've been told. Bit snobby about vinyl (and laminate) in the lounge but I think the benefits may persuade me otherwise.

We have had quite a bit of wooden flooring from here
Birbek.

Have you looked at solid bamboo flooring? Not as expensive as oak - we have it in our hall - wouldn't have the highly polished variety again as it has scratched (although it looks more worn in now) but definitely better than laminate (imo). Do you have a local timber merchant? We got ours from there and my husband (decent DIYer) put it down himself with their guidance.

Hope that helps

wickes often have solid oak flooring at reduced prices, as do B and Q . you just have to know when they have theri offers on

For Engineered wood look for a wood top of about 6mm. I got samples from this company vanilla wood floors and they look like good quality - I think I might buy. The guy told me you can buy unfinished wood and oil it yourself saving around £10/sq m.

Also ask for a discount with flooring people - you'll be surprised how much you can save.

Karndean is gorgeous. had it fitted in my last house. I would definately have in kitchen now if I could afford it. I think I saw it at about £25 square metre in carpet right. easy to maintain like vinyl and really does look like wood floor
sigh

i got a lovely engineered wood floor from this company but they also do real wood floors at pretty reasonable prices and often seem to have sales on.

If you do go for wood go for lacquered. Easier to keep looking good than oiled. Particularly in a kitchen / family room.

Karndean does not look like wood! It is more expensive aswell in some cases. Go for engineered or have a look at some rubber wood floors much cheaper and very hardwearing.

Havwoods do a huge selection of solid and engineered floors.... and they often have small amounts "left over" that they will sell at a discount.... might be worth trying them? Will try and find link....

here it is. They will send out samples and if you call the number on their website, you ca speak to someone on the sales teams about possible remnants etc.

Wow lots more responses!

For some reason DH seems to be getting relaxed about spending money about biting the bullet and going for wood. Currently we're looking at Howdens wooden floors, the beauty of them is that our builders can return the pieces that we don't use.

However I'll also look at the other options that everyone has suggested, as we don't have the trade price for the Howden floor yet.

Thanks for the ideas :)

Easystep flooring. Can't link easily as I'm on my phone but solid oak flooring v cheap. Will try link www.easystepflooring.co.uk/index.html