New lounge floor advice needed

blushingbride_3

Hi,

We are thinking of solid wood floor in the lounge and hubby thinks laminate might be better?

We've got 5.5 x 3.5 m room.

Budget is max £700 including fitting, carpenter charges £150 a day.

Please advice needed asap so we can decide and choose as we want it laid asap.

We need to be reasonably hard wearing and easy to clean as it is walk thought lounge.

thanks

quietheart

We had this problem a few months ago. We went for laminate in the end and it looks fab, it's so hard wearing you could mark it if you tried. Wood marks so easily but I guess it depends on your circumstances. Kids/animals and real wood would be asking for trouble!

blushingbride_3

is laminate cheaper or the same price?

youcanttakeitwithyou

I've laid loads of laminate flooring in the past, the one I would recommend to anyone is www.pergo.com

They are really hard weaing, long lasting, look like timber and are well priced.
With the budget you have, it seems you can get a nice floor as long as its layed correclty.

quietheart

The cost is laminate varies widely depending on the quality. It's not necessarily cheaper but is a lot more hard wearing.
I would second about having it well fitted, our fitter was great, it took a long time but you can see it's well done. A job best left to professionals imo!

Doozergirl

We have engineered wood fitted by my H (and me a bit!) using PVA glue and a new saw and just finished off round the door and fireplace and door by a carpenter. It looks better down than the solid wood floor we had in our last house, is evidently less prone to expansion etc. because it fits beautifully. For the same price we have longer, wider boards with no knotting at all in it and the fitting cost us pretty much nothing - half an hour of our chippie's time when he was doing our kitchen compared to 1000 when he fitted the solid stuff for us.

I was just thinking now I've lived with this engineered flooring for about 6 months that I wouldn't hesitate choosing this over solid wood if I were on the same budget

ajtrader100

youcanttakeitwithyou wrote: »

I've laid loads of laminate flooring in the past, the one I would recommend to anyone is www.pergo.com

They are really hard weaing, long lasting, look like timber and are well priced.
With the budget you have, it seems you can get a nice floor as long as its layed correclty.

Very good floors by this company, check their retailer list to have a look for yourself. I have it throughout my house.

underlay_guru

Real wood looks great! But it is difficult and expensive to fit. It will also wear down quicker than a laminate, believe it or not!! Plus there's the endless sanding, varnishing and treatments etc etc.

Laminate flooring is a PAPER PHOTOGRAPH of wood, stuck to an HDF board. the branded ones are easy to fit for a competent layer, and will last a long time! Go for the branded ones: Quick-Step, Balterio, Pergo, BerryWood, and avoid the cheapo woods....they are usually poor copies, are compasome to fit, and will be shot in no time.

Make sure you use a good underlay though. I would recommend TIMBERMATE EXCEL, as it has excellent sound and heat insulating properties, as well as a built in damp proof membrane!

jcorbygas

We have had a quote for a solid oak floor (20mm thick and 150mm wide) for our lounge which needs around 21 square metres of covering. The floor fitter has advised it would be best to take up the existing chipboard and lay the solid flooring onto the floor joists.
However, the price for doing this including materials, sanding and 3 coats of oil based finish is far more than we had anticipated paying ie 2800+vat.
Would I be right in thinking that we couldnt lay engineered wood or something like pergo unless we took up the existing rubbish chipboard and laid new - which then causes problems with laying on top because it brings the floor level higher than the existing parquet in hallway (next to lounge) and would probably entail removing and replacing existing skirting - or would you think the above price was OK ? or is it a job that a competent diy person could do?
Thanks in advance for anybody's thoughts.

Doozergirl

You're talking 133 pounds per metre plus vat fitted? That's insane!

You can lay engineered over the chipboard - you just need to make sure that the chipboard is secured properly. Board underlay and the engineered flooring don't take up that much room above the carpet - it's fine in my house. You just need a proper door bar to look after the difference that is there.

I don't know how much the flooring you are looking at costs, nor indeed the quality, but you can buy decent sized solid oak boards at about 25 a metre that's finished as well so no faffing about with oiling and sanding. Have a look at Howdens solid flooring. Your fitter will end up buying it for you as it's trade only.

The solid wood in our last house cost 1000 to fit 60 square metres! That was just employing our regular carpenter on his day rate of 150 plus he brought a mate to help. They had to lay all the batons down as well as it was a concrete floor - you've already got the joists. Take up the chipboard floor yourself to save money.

As I've already said, I prefer my engineered boards to the solid wood.

ginvzt

We fitted engineered oak in our lounge ourselves - got the click type one from BBQ on sale and stored in friends garage for 3 months before we managed to get the keys of the house!!! It is not that difficult really, and it looked fantastic. It is warmer than laminate, quieter, better looking. I would never go for laminate - it is just a picture glued to a bit of cardboard in my opinion...

Oh, and it was about £750 in material costs for all ground floor (living room, dining room, hallway) to fit with engineered oak. I think we had some left in the end, so took that back to B&Q!