Wood flooring suggestions

[SparklyGlitterballs]

I've had wood flooring in my through lounge for many years. I wasn't allowed a say in it because my late DH didn't much care for my opinion, and it was mostly his money paying for it. Unfortunately he chose the cheapest stuff he could find. Even the fitter made a derogatory comment about it all being off cuts (when DH asked him to hide the more knotty pieces behind where the sofa would be). The plank size is small and it has a gloss sheen to it that shows up every single scratch and mark, so it has to be covered with rugs anyway. I'd like to get it redone in the next couple of years. I will stick to oak as most of my furniture is oak, but I want a matt effect and something hard wearing.

If you have nice wood floors, can you share your suggestions and/or photos, and even better if you have names/sources of what you bought.

I installed Pergo which is a laminate but very good quality. It’s been down for over 15 years and looks like new despite kids, cats and dogs over the years.

Scratches and wood floors go together I'm afraid. Felt pads on legs of tables and chairs and caster cups can help, as can the finish - obviously high gloss will show scratches more than matt. Rather than totally replacing, have you considered getting it sanded and refinished, it will depend on how thick the veneer is if it's engineered wood, but generally a light sand is possible but that may not remove deep scratches.

lol, I'm finally getting long overdue renovations done, to my liking. It feels good!

Is it engineered wood? (Plywood with an oak veneer on top). If so, it should be good for at least one thorough sanding.

I laid engineered oak and I love it- but the difference is that it has a brushed and oiled finish, where the scratches really don't show. The smooth lacquered finish looked like a bugger for showing up scratches.

No idea what it is - cheap rubbish. I don't even like the look of it. I much prefer the long, large plank look, like the attached pic from the Pergola site.

Thank you for the suggestions so far.

I've been researching this a fair bit as doing a whole house refurb. For high traffic/ prone to spillage/ dropped pizza areas I'm going with Amtico Signature which is a "wood look" glue down vinyl - can get various laying patterns like plank, herringbone, basket weave etc. For the more formal sitting room I'm going for engineered wood with a 4mm wear layer - basically engineered wood has a number of price points and much depends on the wear layer and how "rustic/ varied" the wood looks. The two higher end brands are Tedd Todd and Woodpecker, but I got some samples from Luxury Flooring and they were nice too. Can get a glossier or a more matte/ rough texture as suits you. You can also obviously get solid wood flooring but honestly I'm not sure if it's worth it. The engineered looks so good now but does require a bit of maintenance whereas a high quality vinyl flooring like Amtico or Karndean are bombproof.

I love love love the wood floors in The White Company shop.
Have a look there if you live close enough to a branch and see what you think @SparklyGlitterballs

My engineered wood flooring has been subject to all kinds of abuse. Perhaps the piece de la resistance was the Christmas tree falling over this year, with an entire bucket of water cascading over the floor. It swelled up at the joints, but as it dried went back to normal and there's no longterm damage done. I've had it for 10 years, with 2 DC growing up, and in the living room it just looks better and better as the patina deepens (it's oak). In the hall, after 10 years of incessant mud, the grain has darkened a bit, so if you were picky you might want to sand it and oil it.

I couldn't recommend it enough, for durability. It's brushed and oiled, as opposed to lacquered, which does make a difference.

We laid 60 sq m of Woodpecker engineered oak flooring throughout the reception areas of a previous house a few years ago. It was only down around six months when we put the house on the market, but was already scratched in places (no DC at home, but two young DDogs). One cheeky potential buyer asked if it was laminate 🙄

At our last house we fitted glue down Karndean in the hall as we'd previously used this successfully in several bathrooms and have always found it to be pretty bomb proof.

https://www.ukflooringdirect.co.uk/products/galleria-professional-engineered-european-rustic-oak-flooring-20mm-x-190mm-lacquered?srsltid=AfmBOorOlHo74yZKF-CXWDtoWjnvopyZEd8HiBHJKLShwt8kuXcH2Cz0EEE