Solid Wood Flooring
Doesn't really need an explanation, it’s a solid lump of wood, from a tree! Solid wood flooring looks and feels great but it's not for everyone.
It's a natural product and hence has a few characteristics which need pointing out. All timber once felled will continue to react to its environment with respect to moisture levels. Higher humidity = expansion, lower humidity = contraction so if you have an environment in which the humidity fluctuates significantly you should think seriously before installing solid wood flooring. Older properties with less effective damp proofing, kitchens and bathrooms can all potentially cause problems as can newly built houses with residual moisture in concrete floors. If you are in any doubt we would recommend getting a local flooring specialist to do a quick moisture test.
Under-floor heating can also pose significant problems to solid wood flooring and as a general rule of thumb, we would discourage our customers from installing solid wood over under-floor heating.
What about wear and tear? Solid wood will mark. Period. If you're going to get stressed about dings and scratches forget it. Unless you want to put socks on your dogs and make your house guests wear slippers! It's a natural product and will produce a 'patina' over time. Personally I love rustic grade solid wood, as it's starts out a little less than perfect and has a great, warm, lived in feel to it and you won't get stressed when the dog skids in chasing the cat or your child drops a metal toy, life's too short to get stressed!!
Parquet Flooring
This seems like a good point to talk about parquet flooring. Parquet or block flooring is generally installed by sticking oak blocks in a regular pattern, typically herringbone to a solid floor. The installation of block flooring should only be attempted by full competent individuals who have access to specialist tools. We do not recommend the DIY approach!
Engineered wood flooring
Engineered, what? Don't worry, nobody has ever heard of engineered wood flooring. So here goes, prepare to be enlightened. It's basically a layer of hardwood bonded to a softwood base. The bottom line is it will look and feel like solid wood but you can use it over under-floor heating and in areas that are not suitable for solid wood installations. It comes in a traditional tongue and groove (think nailed down floorboards) and floating or click system akin to laminate flooring. So it really is incredibly versatile, it uses far less of the raw natural resource which is no bad thing and it can be as easy to lay as a click system laminate. We recommend the use of engineered flooring to all of our customers.
So it's perfect, right? Well don't forget the top layer is still real wood so you will need to bear in mind the wear and tear points highlighted in the solid wood section.
Laminate flooring
OK, this is easy as most people know about laminates. They are made by bonding an image, basically a photograph onto a softwood base. An ultra hard wearing surface is then applied. They come in endless styles and colours and can be fitted by anyone with reasonable skill level. Some laminates come with a 50 year domestic use guarantee which give you some idea how hard wearing they are. So if you've got a busy house or you want some of the slightly more 'out there' designs they really are a great choice.
An introduction to wood flooring products