Help Real wood is £38 per square meter and Karden is £33 which do I buy ???

[KatieDD]

There doesn't seem much in it considering and now I'm torn, so laminate or real wood ?

[CaptainKarvol]

what surface are you going to lay it on?

factor in the cost of underlay - boarding over floorboards or whatever you need between concrete and a floating wood floor.

How much would it cost to get each one fitted?

Oh, and which one do you like the best

[ConnorTraceptive]

what would the upkeep of real wood be like? will it need regukar treatment? is it easy to clean?

We have Karndean, I like it but tbh have never seen a real wood floor to compare

[Bleedodgy]

We have real wood and it's fab ours is lacquered though so upkeep is easy.

[KatieDD]

Well I've been told to get oiled oak rather than lacquered, due to kids/cats/dog.
It would be laid onto woodchip boards by the look of it, I'd probably need underlay with both wouldn't I ?
Fitting would be more for real wood I think and I don't know which I like best, not sure I'm bothered now just need to make my mind up quick lol

[brimfull]

definitely real wood

[jicky]

We have oiled oak and it is fab. Gets lots of battering from children but still looks fine. We have never bothered to reoil (4 years old) but keep planning too!

When the dc are older we will get it sanded down and another perfect finish.

[noddyholder]

wood definitely

[Tinker]

Wood. We've got Karndean and Amtico (not our choice) and, whilst it's not awful and people tell me it's expensive, I just keep thinking 'yes, but it's not real wood'

[KatieDD]

Oh this is so hard, the fitter I called this evening said get engineered wood and he wouldn't have a wooden floor.
I guess the other issue I have in the back of my mind is that we will only be in this house another 3 years tops and it's only a £230k house, well more like £170k now so £1500 on one rooms flooring seems a bit crazy.
When I'm in my £500k it will be wood without a doubt, but people keep tempting me with £16.00 psm laminate which is alright as long as it doesn't need doing again before we sell.
Arghhhhhh

[Heated]

Go with the wood.

We have karndean which is very easy to maintain & suits our house but if your future buyer doesn't like it, it's a pita to remove because the floor underneath, unless completely smooth, will need to be screed(sp?).

[jicky]

You can get engineered wood with a good depth of 'real' wood on it. We have this is one room as it was being laid on concrete and our builder recommended it. He had previously fitted a solid oak floor in another room in the house - with something else underneath (not concrete) but said the engineered board better in this case. I went for the boards with the thickest top so they could sanded if necessary.

Does seem a high cost viewed against length of time you will live there / cost of house. We are in our 'forever' house so the cost was less of an issue. In on of the kids bedrooms we have laminate clip together flooring that I laid myself and it looks fine 6 years on. It was much cheaper!

[brimfull]

we also have engineered wood with a substantial thickness that allows 3-4 sandings.
It is maintenance free and as it has loads of knots in it hardly ever looks dirty.

[Quattrocento]

Real wood. Think you might regret not spending the extra fiver or whatever because you'll always think - yes but it's not real wood. Upkeep is easy.

[LackaDAISYcal]

A possible alternative might be bamboo. I got some samples recently of vertically laminated bamboo, and it can look either piney or oakey depending on the treatment. It was priced at £15 psm as well.

and it's more ecologically friendly due to the sustainability of bamboo.