Engineered oak floors - are they worth it

[abitfunny]

We're in the process of buying our first house and there's carpet throughout downstairs, which doesn't work for us at all. I really like the look of engineered oak floors (concrete underneath carpet) and from what I can see it's durable. Has anyone got experience of it? Prices etc?

Thanks

I can't remember how much we paid (but it was Kahrs oak, from John Lewis and you can see prices on their website, or any flooring website I think), but ours has been down for 9 years now and still looks great. When it was installed we had 2 small children tearing about the house, and it has stood the test of ride on toys, and similar. It isn't without marks, but as it has a layer of real wood they blend in well. I'd recommend it.

We just ordered this on our architects recommendation
www.builderdepot.co.uk/20-x-191mm-oak-brushed-and-oiled-t-g-engineered-wood-flooring

Haven't had it installed yet but we are having it throughout the groundfloor, hallway, living room and kitchen/diner.

Love ours, we have hand scraped so full of texture and interest. Hardwearing and I believe it's suitable for underfloor hearing if you want.

We have a cheap engineered oak floor. 8 years, two kids, it is still absolutely fine!

We did put a rubber matting on top in the living room which had saved a lot of noise and kids heads quite often! The hallway gets a lot of use. It does have a few dents from dropped things. However we went for a scraped finish so it isn't smooth when new, so dings and scratches aren't noticeable. Not as great for wheeled toys due to the rougher' surface.
Also we went for a dark colour for contrast with white walls. The dark colour seems to hide muck and dings well.

For young children you will want a big rug or rubber matting in my view.

Our engineered oak floor (from Howdens) is 15 years old now and looking great. Takes dings (falling saucepans) really well.

We had it in our previous home. Looked as good as it did when we first put it down after three years. When we sold recently, almost all the viewers commented on it. Would definitely recommend.

We have engineered oak floor. We went for oiled rather than lacquered. I do love it, but it has taken a beating since we got a dog last year. It’s got dirt marks and no amount of scrubbing shifts it. If anyone has any tips, I’d love to hear them!

We put oiled in our last house. So so beautiful and warm, but stained and marked so easily. I do miss it, but new house has varnished and i don’t even think about it. Unlike the oiled one which was a cleaning nightmare.

Oh dear stillgardening. Do you have any tips or is my floor destined to be a state?

I have lacquered engineered oak in the hall and it looks like new several years later. Having said that, I don’t have young children which might make a difference.

I got mine done by a local carpenter for literally half the amount quoted by carpet fitter shops. Also, he cut down the skirting boards to put the boards underneath - the carpet fitters said I’d have to arrange and pay for that separately.

I’m hoping to have the same person do my living room in due course.

Whatever you do don’t get oiled. We have real oak floor boards which were originally oiled when we moved in snd a friend had the engineered in, also oiled. Both stained, scratched, and marked so easily. You need to get varnished.

We have it in our lounge. I'm not overly keen on it to be honest. It was immaculate when we moved in but 3 kids later, it's scratched from the casters on the chairs. I'm wondering if I can restore it at some point, but not quite yet. I would rather have a carpet for warmth and to feel more homely, but maybe that's because I've had babies learning to crawl and walk on it. It does look nice, and I'm sure pre-kids I'd have loved it!

You can refinish an engineered floor, the issue is how thick the top layer is, because underneath it’s just ply. So it’s very sensitive and you don’t want to sand through the thin top layer of real wood to the cheap ply underneath. I think they need it to be 3mm thick (can’t recall) and at that level it needs to be done by hand, any thicker and the heavier the sander can be obvs.

So potentially yes it can be restored but it depends on the quality that was put down and the thickness of the top layer.

That's good to know, @Bluntness100, thank you 😊

We put down solid rather than engineered wood, as I like the thought of it being for life, and thus can be sanded several times if necessary. I love wooden floors, in our last home we had reclaimed parquet put down, and it had so much character.

Yes to finding a local fitter rather than the big name shops, and getting their advice on where to source and what to look for. We sourced from this place, and they were quick, sent samples really quickly and for free, and the floor looks fab! www.luxuryflooringandfurnishings.co.uk