Which wood floor?

[thenorthernluce]

We’re having our living room carpet taken up and replaced with engineered wood floorboards. We’ve had the quote back for our two preferred options and there’s not much in it, cost-wise, so could I canvass opinion/experience here?

They’re both oak, same plank width, oiled finish. The only difference (other than minor differences in appearance of the wood grain) is one is 21mm and the other 15mm thick. They’ll be affixed to a 3.6mm underlay (Floormate) over the existing board nailed into the joists.

I’m genuinely clueless!! if anyone’s interested, it’s the Chepstow and Berkeley boards from Woodpecker 👍🏻

The important thing about engineered wood floor is the depth of the veneer, not the depth of the plank. It’s likely the deeper plank has a deeper veneer. Check it out and go with the more substantial veneer. 6mm is a good depth.

Chepstow has 6 mm and Berkeley has 4mm. I would go for Chepstow. In addition, Berkeley is very rustic and says it may have cracks and has lots of filled knots. Cracks are unbelievably difficult when it comes to cleaning and yuk getting into the cracks. I would be very wary of this.

So helpful @BubblesBuddy - thank you! My gut response after we laid down all the sample boards was the Chepstow planed antique oak, and seeing as it’s only ~£250 more, it’ll be worth it to choose the higher spec with greater veneer depth.

I agree. I think it will be easier to live with too!