Shopping for engineered wood or wood flooring, questions to ask?

[sbplanet]

We're thinking of going into town tomorrow to look at some wood or engineered wood flooring options. I've never bought any of either before.

What sort of questions should I ask, or tech spec to look out for please?

I'm sure someone with more experience will have more suggestions later, but I've just been looking at flooring options for our self build and some of the engineered floors say they should be re-oiled every 12-18 months what a faff! I don't know if they actually need that though. Or if that is also for solid wood flooring as well?

I don't understand the difference in finishes- oiled/ lacquered, so if you can ask about that then could you please let me know

Anyway that's what's I wanted to know about from a quick google.

Engineered or solid wood can come finished or unfinished ready for you to oil. We have always had a factory applied finish and no problems so far. Applying your own finish and re-oiling is a faff so avoid.

Solid wood is less common these days. Engineered wood has a wood veneer only and you should buy the thickest veneer you can because it will last longer and can take resanding if you ever need to do this. It’s also a better product for underfloor heating.

You will find floors with various widths of boards. From very narrow to wide plank. There is a huge array of woods from chestnut to oak. Decide what you like and what type of colour and finish you prefer. Look at how each board joins together. Is it an easy click together system? Also look at various companies and compare prices. They vary widely.

1926 Trading Company has a good web site for wood floors so you can see what is available.

I had engineered wood installed over concrete. My advice is to try and find a good local carpenter. Mine got generic engineered wood much cheaper than the name brands and included running it under the skirting boards in his quote - the carpet layers said I’d have to get a carpenter in to do that separately. The alternative is beading which I didn’t like the look of.

He said engineered was definitely better than solid wood but I forget why.

Generally there are choices of oiled (which is the stuff you have to do every 18 months or so), matt lacquer (varnish) and gloss laquer. You should definitely get the stuff that allows for sanding in the future in my opinion as it gives you more options if it gets scratched. Having said that, mine was installed in March and it still looks great although I don’t have pets or kids likely to bang toys off it so I assume that might make a difference.

I forgot to say, to get an idea of what’s out there you could look at kahrs.com. It’s mega expensive top of the range but gives you a good idea of what’s available.