Engineered oak floor

[3in4years]

Any advice, hints, tips or warnings? We moved into our new house 2 months ago and the access at the back (to the huge garden) is only through patio doors straight off the lounge. It's carpeted, and driving me crazy! The kids keep spilling juice on the carpet, it needs hoovering every day, looks manky and just feels grotty and impractical. We do have a front door and small hallway, but too narrow to fit a buggy or anything through, so we tend to use the back door more.
I've had enough, and want to buy new flooring now! Any reasons to wait? Things to consider? I thought engineered oak might do the trick. It needs to be easy to clean, and not super expensive, as it's a large area (30msq). I'm not sure I'd like laminate or vinyl...
Thanks for any replies.

I have engineered oak in my entry way and I love it but the fitter warned me it gets scratched easily. I have the thickness that lets you sand it a couple of times if necessary but if you have young kids, I assume it will get bashed more.

Also, in terms of cleaning, you are supposed to use special cleaning solution and try and avoid getting it wet. I live in a flat so I’ve got the mats inside the communal doors and the walk through the corridors to dry off a bit but I don’t know if it’s suitable for direct from outside.

We moved into our new home a couple of years ago and it had engineered oak flooring downstairs. It's much nicer than cheap laminate we had in the old house. Seems fairly robust and has very natural texture and feel. It does have scratches now, but they don't feel/look too bad on wood imo, but I am not a perfectionist Can't tell you how much it costs, it's easy to clean, but I mainly vacuum clean it and don't soak it with water.

Thank you. Will have to think about how easy it is to scratch and clean!

We have engineered wood in our hallway & dining room. So much easier to keep clean than carpet. We just have a bottle of diluted wood cleaner and a microfibre mop and give it a quick spray and mop once or twice a week. Ours has been down for about 18 months and still looks great.

We fitted engineered oak floor - kahrs - 15 years ago jn lounge/diner & hall - it still looks good - except around the dining table is scratched by chairlegs (we have felt pads on) Large mat by front door to catch most of the grit. wouldnt have anything else. easy to hoover and mop occasionally with soapy wood cleaner

Great news. Thanks

Went to have a look today, and we preferred the look of the solid oak in the end. The price difference isn't much. Any reasons not to go with this? Thanks

Can you get under-floor heating with it? I'm cat-visiting for a friend. Gorgeous floors but noisy & cold. I worry about moving any furniture on them, too.

No you can't, but we weren't going to anyway.

We went for engineered oak because it is apparently better on concrete subfloor - are you floorboards or concrete? Otherwise check whether laying costs are same for both? Our floor is oiled and I love it, but we do reoil more regularly than I expected to have to. Busy house, dog, lots of dirt and need to mop - probably why!

Thanks. Yes, we're laying on concrete. No pets though.

Engineered oak is more stable due to the man made board backing. Visually you shouldn't see any differences, just depends upon the species and the finish applied. I prefer European Oak. There is a lot of American oak around but the grain tends to be very straight and plain.

Thank you

Chap at the flooring company said he would always have engineered wood ( as long as a decent thickness of surface. More robust and stable as SciFiRules said. ) We had a solid wood floor in last house and it was more expensive to maintain. But hope you get what is right for you

Thanks again. My husband seems pretty set on solid oak now, so I'll let him take over the research, as he'll be laying it!

Oh, and the survey said we had damp. It's not obvious and not bothering us, but should we get that sorted before the floor? Thanks

Definitely investigate damp issues first. If there is a serious breach of the dpc or a lack of dpc it could require either sealing or cutting out significant portions of the floor. Hopefully it is a bit more mundane and is an overflowing gutter or something else simple, it often is but check first.

Thanks again. It's an internal wall so unlikely to be a gutter unfortunately!

Probably a pipe or related to a chimney if on an internal wall.

Thanks

I’d also have a look at marmoleum. Natural product and super easy to keep clean and maintain.

We chose engineered over solid because it supposedly does better in places where it might get wet (we have it in our open plan kitchen/dining/longe area) and also because it’s on a concrete subfloor. If you go that route, I’d strongly recommend gluing down instead of floating installation. We have the exact same product glued down in the lounge and a floating in our bedroom, and it feels much more expensive and solid where it’s glued down. People are shocked when I tell them it’s engineered.

Oh, and if you have any dampness issues, you could have them apply an epoxy layer first, which will act as a moisture barrier on the cement so that any dampness issues don’t affect the flooring.

OP If you have any damp issues and you are choosing solid / natural wood - I would definitely get that (damp) sorted out first. Given that most wood they ask you to let it acclimatise before laying , I would not think laying where damp would be a good idea. But ask someone better than me.

Yes I thought as much, thanks. In the damp survey I seem to remember it pointing to condensation and poor ventilation.