Engineered wood floor - what do I need to know?

[StillRunningWithScissors]

We're installing floor in our kitchen and dining room, and looking to use engineered wood flooring.

This will sit on concrete slab and hung timber sub floors.

It's a big area with a decent amount of foot traffic.

Does anyone have good tips for what to keep in mind/consider? Ie. What finish is easiest to maintain (want a matte finish, but oil Vs varnish so I can potentially spot treat if one small area gets damaged), any brands you suggest, minimum mm of real wood layer etc.

Hope I'm making sense :-)

Any help much appreciated.

Lots of makes are good. We have Kahrs but others are good. Be careful with prices. We have found www.1926woodflooring.co.uk to have a good selection at reasonable prices.

You need the thickest wood veneer you can get. A decent supplier will guide you. Ours isn’t mounted on a wood sub floor, so ask about joints and how the new floor will be fixed to allow for movement of the sub floor. A wood sub floor can move. Ours has underfloor heating.

We have Matt prefinished. I’m not prepared to keep re oiling but some people like diy. If it’s highly trafficked (ours isn’t) go for the highest quality veneer of hard wood and even consider solid. That’s not so easy to find but it lasts longer.

We have Kahrs too - fitted 12 years ago into concrete subfloor - had it latex levelled first - we lovd it still - its in hall, passage, lounge/diner - we have lacquered oak - still looks good - do have large barrier mat by front door

We have solid oak mostly rather than engineered and I oiled it (on my hands and knees) but in the kitchen we have stone as it's better in areas that get wet!

I am also thinking of engineered wood for my kitchen to be used over underfloor heating. Does it tolerate spills well?

We have engineered oak floor and we have varnished it. Oiled wood is beautiful but drop a strawberry on it and it stains.

Varnish much more practical and waterproof but if you scratch it there's little you can do.

I have a distressed oak engineered wood floor over ufh. Mine is oiled and I regularly repair scratches with a rag dipped in oil. It's so easy to do. I have been really happy with it.

We installed engineered wood floor with Matt lacquer finish two years ago.
I think it held up really well but DH wasn’t too happy about the odd scratch that appeared over time.

We had a leak recently and the whole floor was ruined though.

Il still be replacing it with engineered floor again as I far prefer the feel of wood under foot than tiles or stone.

Wonderful, thanks all.

We currently have solid flooring, but it's cupped in a lot of areas less than a year in. Strongly suspect the installer was a cowboy and didn't prepare the concrete correctly (among a lot of other issues).

Luckily they were instructed by our builder, so it's being replaced at their cost.

Suggestion has been made to go with engineered flooring to avoid further issues, so wanted independent feedback/tips before meeting with the new installer (who I have looked up and found to be very reputable).

Thank you

The cupping only happens if the RH (relative humidity reading) is too high.

Wood can take quite a high humidity reading but where a fresh concrete floor has been laid readings should be taken before the floor was laid.

It was probably just laid too soon last time around and this time (pending you don’t have any leaks under floor) you should be fine.

Some flooring companies say to wait between 4-6 months after concrete floor has been poured to lay wood floor.

Many people do it far sooner than this.

I have engineered oak that came already matt laquered. I love it, no problem with spills. With kids and cats there are a couple of scratches but as it's real wood that doesn't bother me, it just looks worn in.

The only thing I regret is in my inexperience, I ordered the flooring first online and then found a fitter. I should have got a fitter first and got them to order their own recommendation. The fitter did a great job but he didn't like the locking together system of the wood I'd bought and he could have got the type he liked and recommended cheaper.