People with engineered oak floors - advice please

[WoolyMammoth55]

Aargh we need to tell our contractors our exact choice of floorboards by THURSDAY because that's when the survey for the bi-fold doors is happening and their measurements for the level threshold need to know the mm thickness of our floorboards!

We are NOT prepared for this, have seen a few things we like online but nothing 'in the flesh' that we liked except for Harlech rustic oak which is out of our budget!
woodpeckerflooring.co.uk/product/harlech-rustic-oak/

We like oak, natural rather than whitewashed or smoked. In person the Harlech was quite light and honey-ish, which we think would be good. We want single plank, wide-ish boards and ideally not too much black filler in the knots!

So with 24 hours to find our floor, where do we start please? We are in Hampshire with my in-laws at the moment and were thinking of driving an hour to a showroom in Portsmouth... but it's not a huge showroom, doesn't have the Harlech for example, so we couldn't compare.

In my head I was imagining some sort of mega floors emporium where we could see all the ranges but those don't seem to exist??

Is there anyone out there who just ordered online without seeing them and was happy?!

Also on prices - we need 60sqm, are we going to be able to negotiate a volume discount on the list price or is this not enough?

Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts.

I wouldn't buy without seeing a (preferably large) sample. We're just finalising our flooring similar style to what you're going for, either having this: natural-solutions.co.uk/ranges/mont-blanc/ or this: aswebdesign.pl/WoodConnexions/bez-kategorii/cedar/ both are closer to £40/m2.

Our builder picked up samples from a local flooring trade centre in Kent. He wasn't happy with the end product from the company we were originally going to use. I would try to find a trade centre rather than a fancy showroom.

@ParsleyThyme thanks so much for the reply! Were you able to visit the trade centre with your builder or was it "only trade allowed" type of thing? If you can give me an idea of what I'd search for on Google that'd be massively helpful! We went to a local Wickes today and they had literally 3 different engineered floors, all horrible... So I'm just struggling to work out where to look for what I want. X

We got ours from Flooring Supplies, its showroom is closed but it has a room visualiser to give you a vague CGI idea of what your floor might look like.

We did actually go in person to choose a floor but, weirdly, ended up choosing the one we'd disliked the sample of. We also had to choose in a similar hurry – ultimately it's not the floor I'd have had if budget and time had allowed, but it's lovely, easy to clean, and I don't really notice it day to day.

We recently had this one fitted at our old house which was quite reasonably priced, think it was from Homebase and about £33 sq m, though I think it was this one and price is higher here:

www.homebase.co.uk/natural-oak-engineered-wood_p514750

You can see samples at Homebase, not a massive choice, same with B&Q etc.

We bought our solid oak, but they had engineered too from here: www.luxuryflooringandfurnishings.co.uk, but probably not enough time for you.

We'd also looked at here www.directwoodflooring.co.uk/engineered-wood-flooring, which happened to have an outlet near us, lots of choice and decent price point.

Our research did lead us to realise that you do get what you pay for - fewer knots means more expensive etc etc.

[quote WoolyMammoth55]@ParsleyThyme thanks so much for the reply! Were you able to visit the trade centre with your builder or was it "only trade allowed" type of thing? If you can give me an idea of what I'd search for on Google that'd be massively helpful! We went to a local Wickes today and they had literally 3 different engineered floors, all horrible... So I'm just struggling to work out where to look for what I want. X[/quote]
@WoolyMammoth55 we’re having an extension built, so the builder went himself and brought me loads of samples to see. You need to be careful because some of the fillers looks like black marker! I would see what flooring suppliers there are in your local area and try to visit to see samples. I would avoid places like b&q, wickes etc because I think you’ll get a better deal elsewhere. I’d have thought your order was big enough to try trade places, but worth phoning first.

I don’t know Hampshire very well, but here’s a couple of suggestions:
We were recommended Cathedral Flooring (Based in Winchester):
www.cathedralflooring.co.uk/index.html
Also Direct Wood Flooring are in Havant and look to have a reasonable selection: www.directwoodflooring.co.uk/stores/havant
I hope you find something you like.

Thanks all this is massively helpful!

We've made an appointment to visit this showroom: www.bestofflooring.co.uk/

It's about half an hour away and looks like they have a good selection of single plank oak so fingers massively crossed that we'll find one we love (and can afford)!

Really grateful for all the advice X

Let us know what you get OP!

Thanks to all for the info, at the start of looking into this and it’s hard to know what to get. Any advice re solid wood v engineered flooring?

Hi,

I would have a quick google for local flooring shops. When we got our new floors a couple of years ago we went to a couple of local places and while they looked quite small from the outside they were literally rammed full of samples. They all seemed to be really helpful with pricing/style/knew the market and alternatives for looks within different price ranges too.

Once you've found some you could always have a look at streetview look at them to see if they look like it's a reasonable size shop.

@ParsleyThyme do you mind naming/linking the place in Kent you used?

Sorry for jumping on your thread op I have bought flooring from flooring supplies.co.uk before, they had a really short lead time, they might be able to get samples to you?

We had 6513 Next Step 189 - Nutmeg Brushed & Uv Oiled from Source Wood Floors. Good quality, good depth of oak.

The colour is warmer than it looks in the photo

These guys aren't too far from you and they are excellent.

www.justwood.co.uk/

We've used them twice.

Oh we had ours in about 11-12 years ago now. I'd forgotten how many planks of wood we looked at til I saw this post

@karmasic it’s www.allfloorstradecentre.co.uk/

@hedgehogger1 how's it holding up after 12 years, out of interest?? :)

Well the local guy we met today was great. Has a big range of Kahrs boards and also does his own range which are made by Kahrs but not branded, therefore cheaper.

We want to hold out for the single planks in 190mm wide boards - it's half price if you don't mind the type with planks made of lots of smaller boards, but I think single wide planks look much better.

Turns out that we like natural, not rustic - slightly "cleaner" boards with fewer knots and interesting bits... I also like a smooth finish in either UV oiled or lacquer, the bumpy 'hand-brushed' ones didn't feel as good to me.

Light oak looked better to my eyes than smoked, darkened or whitewashed - but that's obvs a personal taste type of thing.

Then there's bevelled or non-bevelled - little dinks where the boards meet. The bevels look nice but I fear would be massive dirt traps in my dog and toddler household...

The dream if-money-was-no-object floor was called Kahrs Oak Dublin - seriously drool-worthy but twice our max price!

We're getting the guy to price up 2 options - the Kahrs Oak Hampshire and his own brand Natural Kirby, which is slightly lighter in the flesh than here:
www.bestofflooring.co.uk/product/natural-kirby-oak-oiled/

He's giving us a great discount and including a high-spec acoustic underlay - beating any comparable internet prices that I could find. So local was definitely the way to go!

And fingers crossed we're sorted for tomorrow and the bi-folds measurements... Wonder what the next refurb emergency will be? :)

Thanks again to you all for the help and advice

@WoolyMammoth55 still looks fab. There's the odd scratch here and there but only if you know where to look for it

I like the way you call it a refurb emergency. We are going through this but they only started this week so we are OK so far.

I am nervous that the refurb will stop due to virus issues. We have no kitchen (we sold it). Luckily we are living elsewhere.

Thanks Parsley!

That looks lovely OP!