Please can I see pictures of your engineered wood floors... especially the scratches

[Muststopeating]

I have read and reread every Mumsnet post I can find on this and it is a complete mix of 'I love my engineered wood floor, and the dents add character' to 'My engineered wood floor is trashed and I wish I'd gone for something else'.

Could those of you who have it share pictures, especially of any scratched/worn areas. I would love to see examples of how it looks a few years on instead of the showroom finish.

We are building a considerable extension (starting imminently) and I just cannot decide on the floor. It will be the same floor through the hall, playroom, and into the open plan kitchen, diner, living room.

Budget is an issue cos this extension is eye wateringly £££ and we need nearly 100 sqm, but I would rather pay more money once and get it right.

My brain says Quickstep Impressive Laminate, my heart says Engineered Oak. Either would be in a natural colour, brushed and the more rustic the better! Not sure on brand or oiled vs lacquered/varnished for engineered.

Any advice and especially pics would be massively appreciated as I'm driving myself (and DH) nuts!

Ironbark Oak Highlands Engineered Wood

Kahrs Oak Oxford Engineered Wood (this is my favourite colour and style of all the samples).

I'm impressed with your very thorough testing methodology! Thanks so much for doing this, I have the same decision to make soon - it's certainly not an easy one.

We had engineered wood in our previous house. I loved it and really miss it despite the scratches.
In this house we originally started having LVT laid but I really didn't like it to DH's horror! I just didn't love it. Now we have wood effect porcelain tiles which I really like and they are more practical than the wood but I miss the wood!!

Quickstep Impressive Soft Oak Natural (this is DHs favourite but I'm concerned that it has a slight green tinge).

We have engineered oak in our hallway. Gets high traffic and as you can see skateboarded on too!

Still looks great!

@3orangekissesfromkazan skateboarding is an excellent stress test for ours (balance bikes, scooters, sit on tractors are the things I'm particularly concerned about). Do you happen to know the brand and finish of your floor? It's gorgeous.

Wow @Muststopeating thank you so much for that post it's really helpful! Im impressed with you very thorough stress testing! I only went as far as scratching a key across our samples which I thought would replicate our dog skidding across the floor chasing a toy. It didn't do very well unfortunately. I wish I hadn't ordered a specific Ted Todd sample as Ive absolutely fallen in love with it but nothing else is quite matching up.

My parents have both Amtico and Kardean in their house. The Kardean is in a high traffic area and they also have a dog and it does have a few scratches it's not as bomb proof as some people say. We did get a quote for Amtico i think our space was around 80sqm (can't quite remember) and it was £6.5k with an extra £1.3k for floor prep/fitting. It is lovely but can't get out of my head it's something trying to be wood. And also is it really that much nicer than something like Polyflor which is way cheaper? It's so hard to picture what something will look like from the tiny samples they send and obviously lockdown means I can't actually go and see any larger samples anywhere.

I will have a look at the quickstep stuff, I haven't heard of that and thank you for pointing out the issue with any patterns with a significant feature like the groove you mention as I totally hadn't thought about how that would look repeated in a large space.

I think like you I will end up without the wood and just pretend I'm not jealous of anyone who does have it! I'll get all the lovely things I want once the kids have left and we don't have a dog!

This is great, especially with pictures! The only thing I’d say is that I have wood floors (the original pine boards the flat was built with at least 120 years old), and they’re scratched in places 7 years after we sanded and oiled them and exposed them to sunlight after all their century of being under carpets - but they look so beautiful! I can see scratches, but it just looks like part of the grain. If I was bothered I could sand them, but I really don’t mind them. Scratches look horrifying when they first happen, all white and scary, but then the edges soften, the scratch darkens to match the board, and they vanish. I don’t suppose that happens with laminate though it would with engineered wood. I haven’t even had to put more oil on and I expected to do that over scratches, but they just blend in by themselves.

@MaryLennoxsScowl that's a really interesting point re. the scratches. You are right in the samples they look terrible and I had assumed that was the brand/quality. But indeed the scratches that have been shared in the pictures on this post wouldn't bother me at all. Interesting that they sort of fade in. Plus I would get oiled, so that we could touch up easily.

Oh this is so hard!!

Maybe you could try oiling the scratches on the samples and see which ones look best after a touch-up. Going on the principle that everything will get some scratches, but which can be fixed? If you don’t have wood oil just use vegetable oil for now.

We have engineered wood flooring (EWF) in our dining area and hallway. We’ve put pads on all the furniture so I don’t worry about it. It looks amazing and after getting a lot of Kardean and Amtico samples, I decided that EWF looked a thousand times better for the look I wanted. While the costs are comparative I’ve read a lot about chips happening with LVT.

The EWF in our house is one of my favourite things, it’s a white oak.

You should avoid EWF in the kitchen though, I’d go for tile. We have LVT in our kitchen and it doesn’t wear well either (already here when we moved in).

I wish I could show you the engineered wood in a previous home. Despite paying for a "premium" type, it was destroyed by high heels after the housewarming party . Cue hours of trying to fix it but the heels actually punctured in one part where I suspect there was exposed metal on the heel.
We hadn't kids then but would imagine it wouldn't have fared well.
America and Karndean is lovely but it's all in the fitting and the warranty is invalidated if the fitting is imperfect even if you use their approved resellers.
I will probably go with Amtico next time and take extreme care with the fitting.

We have had Quickstep down for about six years, after spending hours agonising on what flooring to go for.

We have a large dog, and DC were teenagers at the time - they're now students! The floor still looks like new. However, we did have a water leak in the kitchen area, and had to take up a few boards and replace them. That's the only downside we've had.

Like with many things, there's no one right answer. We spent so long researching, but since it's been down, I'd not given it another thought until our water leak. And that was easily resolved.

This is my EWF in my hall. I’m not sure what brand - I got a carpenter recommended by a friend to do it and he supplied it. I have the leftovers somewhere so I can check if it is possible I ever want to consider sanding / replacement. He charged me less than half what the big shops wanted and did the skirting boards rather than expecting me to get them sorted separately so I’m not particularly fussed.

It’s been 2 or 3 years and it looks like new. Having said that, I don’t have children or pets and I don’t wear heels.

I really like it and I am considering having similar (same colour but wide plank effect) in the living room.

It can be slippery but only if you use the wrong products to clean it. I use a dedicated wood floor cleaner and mop and it’s fine to walk / run on in socks. My cleaners once used their standard hard floor product on it (the company sent a replacement who didn’t read the instructions to just brush / hoover the hall) and I ended up lying on the floor with no idea how I got there. Luckily I just had some bruises - no broken bones.

If you do get EWF, I would suggest getting it run up to the wall and the skirting boards cut down to fit - I think it looks better. Some fitters try and persuade you to get beading or say you have to hire a carpenter to sort the skirting boards separately which needs to be taken into account in considering quotes.

@MaryLennoxsScowl best tip ever re. the vegetable oil. I didn't have any wood oil and was considering buying some osmo but would never have thought of using vegetable oil.

Just tried it and an absolute world of difference, with the exception of a couple of more exaggerated scratches the planks that I would have said were completely ruined look fine now!

I think you may have just doubled my floor budget!

This is the Kahrs Oak Oxford Engineered Wood that I posted earlier. I've reattached the picture with the scratches and posted a second picture after I'd rubbed a tiny bit of Flora on with kitchen roll. The difference is amazing! There are still a few dents but they aren't white and crazy obvious anymore.

@Muststopeating - Saw you on another thread, and it reminded me! After my post to you about my Quick Step Impressive floor (in the Classic Oak Natural) - I moved some of my furniture out of the way to look at the floors more closely. Pretty much all of the boards seem to have the grooves in varying places depending on pattern - so if you are not keen on the grooves definitely don't choose the classic oak natural!

I personally don't notice the pattern repeat - in fact it was only when looking more closely at my floors I noticed they had laid two repeating boards near each other in the lounge (I think because of the way they are laid in the stepped effect you'd have to look incredibly closely to notice). I'm otherwise very happy with them in term of water -resistance and general wear and tear.

With those who have engineered wood do the casters on an office chair mark it?

Oh this has been so useful. Thanks all. I have a related question, I've just read that engineered wood floors shouldn't go under heavy kitchen units, is that correct. Thoes of you with it in your kitchen, has it just been fitted up to your units and appliances? That seems odd.

[quote IamnotwhouthinkIam]@Muststopeating - Saw you on another thread, and it reminded me! After my post to you about my Quick Step Impressive floor (in the Classic Oak Natural) - I moved some of my furniture out of the way to look at the floors more closely. Pretty much all of the boards seem to have the grooves in varying places depending on pattern - so if you are not keen on the grooves definitely don't choose the classic oak natural!

I personally don't notice the pattern repeat - in fact it was only when looking more closely at my floors I noticed they had laid two repeating boards near each other in the lounge (I think because of the way they are laid in the stepped effect you'd have to look incredibly closely to notice). I'm otherwise very happy with them in term of water -resistance and general wear and tear.[/quote]
Thanks for thinking of me. I don't think its something I ever would have thought to look for until MN pointed it out to me, now its all I see! Sigh! Great to get some feedback though thank you!

We have exposed pinewood floor boards in our living room, they are scratched from the animals, but tbh you don’t really notice it that much and it adds to the character. The only thing I really don’t like is we have an armchair and the legs have left dents in the wood despite having felt pads under them. I don’t know if you would have this problem with a harder wood though like oak.

@Somuddled

Oh this has been so useful. Thanks all. I have a related question, I've just read that engineered wood floors shouldn't go under heavy kitchen units, is that correct. Thoes of you with it in your kitchen, has it just been fitted up to your units and appliances? That seems odd.

A fitter we spoke to said the biggest concern was that it you have a big mass of stone or quartz on your worktop that a floating floor or any bounce can potentially cause issues with the worktop itself. Its also a waste to put expensive flooring under the units (though it does future proof if you think you might change the layout later). We won't be paying under the kitchen but will possibly put it under the dishwashers and fridge/freezer to make it easier to move them easier to move out later. Might depend on timing though.

Just remember that if you are having your floor fitted afterwards to get the kitchen fitters to keep off the kick boards and end panels until the floor is fitted, otherwise you'll have to have beading to hide the expansion gap which is not an ideal look if you can avoid it.

I live in Sweden where a lot of homes have engineered wood floors. Most would be the type that you can sand down at least two or three times. No-one wears shoes indoors obv.

IMO they are over-used here, at least ATM, because it's been sort of a trend and now they think everyone wants it everywhere. I rent and have oak engineered flooring in the whole flat, including kitchen (cupboards and appliances stand on the floor as far as I can tell ie it goes wall to wall) and hall. Result being that the floor in the kitchen has some water damage from the bloody fridge leaking underneath it once as well as plenty of dents and scratches, and the hall floor has had a good few scratches from winter grit. Swedes have a ridicuous prejudice against tile flooring "it's so cold, glasses break too easily when you drop them" whine whine whine. Well they're hardwearing and easy to clean and much better in halls and kitchens!