Engineered Wood Flooring

[croon979]

Hello - I am about to exchange/complete on a house and would like to install new flooring in the bottom floor of the house. I figure that the best time to do this is before we move in so there will be no furniture etc to move out of the way. The house is a relatively new build and there is wet underfloor heating throughout the ground floor so I would need the flooring to be compatible with that. Under the current floor is a sand/cement screed flooring and the underfloor heating is embedded within that.

I understand that solid wood would not be the best option so I am instead looking at engineered wood flooring which is recommended as better with the underfloor heating.

Can anyone provide recommendations for excellent engineered wood flooring? If it is relevant I am wanting a medium coloured oak herringbone….

I have been looking at woodpecker flooring (either smoked oak or natural oak). Has anyone installed woodpecker flooring and been happy with it? Anyone willing to share any pics? Any good quality alternatives?

Thanks in advance!

We’ve got woodpecker and we are very pleased with it. Had it about a year. We got the engineered wood with a 5mm thickness top layer. I want to say it’s rustic oak.

I can’t take a picture right now but I’ve just looked at the website and their photos are accurate!

I haven’t got underfloor heating though.

Ah great - that is good to hear that you are pleased with it! I was going to ask about thickness…will look at the 5mm one

The thickness doesn’t make any difference visually. We actually ordered the thinner one but the flooring business got 5mm instead for some reason so we got that. I’m happy to know we might therefore get another sanding out of it in the future if we need it though.

I have no experience of other wood flooring but I’d be happy to get woodpecker again if we had to do it again.

I would have liked to get solid wood (if only for my own vanity) but DH wanted to save a bit of money.

I would have liked to get solid wood (if only for my own vanity) but DH wanted to save a bit of money.

There's absolutely no difference between the 2 visually once laid, and generally not much difference in the price. The engineered is however less likely to suffer issues if subject to damp and temperature change - which is why it's often a better choice.

Good to know Cellophane as the only reservation I had about engineered wood was the aesthetic of it

OP, your next decision will be whether to go with oiled or lacquered! I'm still undecided myself, oiled scratches more easily, but can be spot repaired and damage looks more 'rustic'. Lacquered is much more hardwearing, but scratches are more noticeable when they do occur.

I'd advise getting loads of samples and attempting to destroy them and seeing which ones hold up best.

I got oiled and I haven’t managed to damage it at all over the past year.

I’ve got lacquer on the wooden floor downstairs and that has scratches in it but it looks good still. In my opinion a few scratches are what you expect on a wooden floor, it doesn’t need go be pristine.

Yes I was also leaning towards oiled (although not sure why 😂!). Maybe I will order some different samples and test them out.

I was told by the floor installers that I could safely use the steam mop on the lacquered wood floor.

I didn’t ask them their advice on the oiled floor they had just installed but the line from woodpecker is that you should use wood floor cleaner sparingly and don’t use the steam mop.

So cleaning could be a consideration too.

Gah there is so much to think about!! I would definitely prefer an option where a steam mop can be used. I am also thinking of buying a robot Hoover but have just thought that this could scratch a wooden floor maybe??

I haven't got underfloor heating, but do have hot water pipes under my floor and I've just laid a humongous parquet floor in the house before moving in. Only a couple places it popped up within the first week and I had to adjust a couple fingers and put them back. I'm so happy and it cost £700 total. I still have to sand and varnish it, I had to move in and have our Xmas celebrations. The materials for finishing are here already, and I included them in the total.
The floor is cement, I didn't need any underlay. Just glue and cork strips.

Cleaning wooden floors, I would say any hoover should have a hard floor setting and it should be easy to find one that won't scratch. Check reviews before buying.

Mopping should probably be sparing on any real or engineered wood. Steam mopping is likely preferable as there's less need for chemicals that could dull the colour and I feel if used sparingly a steam mop would likely cause less penetration of moisture into gaps than a big soggy old bucket mop.
For people who have real wood floors, it's normal to only mop once per month or so, or even 3 months, sweeping and spot cleaning daily instead.
I have seen plenty of laminates that should be OK for steam mopping become warped or worn due to daily mopping withing 2-3 years. I'd say, if you're married to daily steam mopping, just get ceramic or stone instead.

For me, I place machine washable rugs in high traffic areas and where there is food mess ( 2 kids with asd 4 and 5, ), I hoover and wash with cloths most of the time. Once my floor has been sanded, stained and varnished a couple times, I'd not be afraid to steam mop it once a month. I don't find its usually necessary though.

We regularly use a vacuum on the oiled EW floor on a hardwood setting. No scratches. I wouldn’t be worried about a robot vacuum. I use a wood cleaner fluid in a vileda spray mop when it needs a freshen up.

I use a steam mop on the solid wood varnished floor.

@ProfessorSillyStuff

Cleaning wooden floors, I would say any hoover should have a hard floor setting and it should be easy to find one that won't scratch. Check reviews before buying.

Mopping should probably be sparing on any real or engineered wood. Steam mopping is likely preferable as there's less need for chemicals that could dull the colour and I feel if used sparingly a steam mop would likely cause less penetration of moisture into gaps than a big soggy old bucket mop.
For people who have real wood floors, it's normal to only mop once per month or so, or even 3 months, sweeping and spot cleaning daily instead.
I have seen plenty of laminates that should be OK for steam mopping become warped or worn due to daily mopping withing 2-3 years. I'd say, if you're married to daily steam mopping, just get ceramic or stone instead.

Just to add to this, I got me a fancy-pants Bissel cleaner that vacuums, washes and dries the floor all in one. I totally love it! Suitable for almost every flooring and it does rugs, too

That sounds nice. I've been using a George for non machine washable rugs, don't like it, though it does a good job, it's a pain to clean and carry.