solid oak flooring advice

keaskin

any advice on solid oak flooring for lounge ,cheapest place to buy ,what kind of finish to get,how to lay,what underfelt type needed for chiboard floor or should i go for laminate. any other advice please.

tawnyowls

You don't have a choice just between the two (solid wood or laminate). There is a third choice - engineered/structured board with a layer of real wood. As to which one to get, depends on what you like - would strongly advise going around the shops to get them out. Very difficult to say where's the cheapest - you really need to decide on a brand first.

Solid wood usually in plants or small blocks (for parquet). Usually needs to be nailed down. .

I don't know as much about the solid floors, so I'll stick to the other two. Laminate is basically a photo of wood with a clear melamine layer on top. It's hardwearing, but to me, doesn't look real - it looks 'flat'. It also has a tendency to chip at the corners, so if you do decide on it, make sure you buy coloured putty to fill in any chips. Its main advantage is the price - starts from about £4.99/sq m.

Engineered planks usually have a layer of wood of either 6-7, 10 or 15mm thick (termed the 'wear layer). The thicker it is, the more pricey, because the thicker ones have enough wood to enable you to sand down and revarnish if they get damaged. For oak, I'd expect to pay £35-£50/sq m.

Engineered wood or laminate planks are usually glued together as a floating floor. Most laminates now come as a glueless click-together option too. Generally need sound insulation plus on a cement floor, a damp-proof membrane. Many of the brands come with insulation, but it's very thin flimsy stuff. There are better underlays available - the type often seen comes in bronze, silver and gold, with gold being the best and most expensive (the metal layer is the DPM).

Both types will need an expansion gap round the edge. You can either cover this with beading (the convex architecture stuff is best), or to get a better finish, take off the skirting, lay the floor with the gap just slightly narrower than the skirting and replace the skirting. You'll also need beading around things like fireplaces, kitchen units and the like.

Kahrs have some useful videos on here: http://www.realoakfloors.co.uk/video_installation_tutorials.php

keaskin

thanks for info will look at engineered planks as they sound a good compromise at floors to go or tops tiles all i need now is to find a discount code or cheaper place to buy.