How much to budget for fitting wooden floor in London?

[sh77]

I am think

Sorry - hit post too soon.

I am thinkIng of having a new engineered wooden floor put in and wondered how much I should budget for installation - either per day or per sq m. I would be grateful if any Londoners could tell me how much you paid ?

if you can find a well-recommended local joiner, he should have the skills to do do a nice job. I pay mine a day-rate so he has no reason to skimp or rush. He's £130 a day outside London, I would have thought £150 would be OK for you.

I recommend having the skirting taken off first, and preferably new put back once the floor is down (unless you have ornate period joinery, in which case put the old back, preferably after stripping or sanding it). It will look good and be easier to paint or stain to a good standard. I had the architrave and windowboard done to match. Ask the joiner to explain why skirtings are scribed. If he is, he'll know.

Thanks piglet! Always appreciate your advice.

I was told that because the wear layer was 5 mm, the floor could be fitted up to the skirting as there was unlikley to be expansion (though top layer is oak). I have never heard this before. I have Lovely skirting and so don't want it damaged when removed. Would it be a big mistake not to take off skirting?

lots of people don't as it is less work. But to hide the cut edges of flooring you will need a quarter-round or something nailed to the bottom of the skirting, which I don't like.

If the skirting was modern, you could have changed it for new at modest cost. If it is old or ornate it would be expensive to match, and is probably fixed with cut nails which will make holes when it is levered off.

The other alternative to a quarter round is to fit a slim piece of MDF to the front face of the existing skirting. If you have period skirting, continue this almost up to the start of the current skirting architrave ( so maybe 5mm thick - to hide the expansion gap - and up to 200mm high). This way, once it's decortaed it looks like part of the original skirting. Rather than the quadrant pieces which are a dead giveawy that it's new flooring.

Thanks for the advice!