Wooden Flooring - general questions plus anyone used SOLID BIRCH FLOOR?

ellives

As the title suggests, I'm after some leads on good deals on wooden flooring.

I appreciate that a budget of around £30 m2 will probably reduce my options to real wood as opposed to solid wood?

Not interested in laminates - I'm pretty open to type of wood, but would prefer Oak/lighter coloured wood.

ALSO

If you also know what it costs to get a floor fitted professionally, this would also be useful information.

Cheers

MissBehaving

There are plenty of solid wood deals out there for less than £30 sq mtr.

Have you tried floors 2 go or even b&Q?

We are also looking for solid wood, but have an even tighter budget of £25. Everything we have seen has been about £27.00 onwards.

misgrace

Dont bother going to B&Q, I have been there, and thier real wood (solid oak) is £34.99 Sq Mtr.
I have been searching for months,I have been everywhere,and the best place to look is on the internet, there is a couple of sites having sales at the moment, and some with free delivery over an order of 25 mtrs, but quite a few of them charge VAT as well, but there is a few that because of the sales is quite affordable.

BTW, I wanted 'engineered wood', ( real wood veneer), as spoken to a few carpenters, floorers etc, and they say that Engineered wood is much better than real wood, it lasts longer, doesnt scratch or dent as much, but OH wanted real wood, but now I can get it quite reasonable from these sites compared to what I saw the oak flooring for before, we are going with the real oak.

Also, BTW again lol, these sites are very good for hints and tips about what you do for certain sub bases and all that.
I know so much about it all now, I should do, I have been researching for months lol.

I will get back to you in a little while with the sites info.

ellives

Thanks both!

Any idea of the fitting cost for a professional to do it?

misgrace

http://www.carpentersofyork.com/?OVRAW=solid%20oak%20flooring&OVKEY=solid%20oak%20flooring&OVMTC=standard

http://www.cityfloors.co.uk/solid-oak-flooring


You will see on the left hand side a selection of all woods, if these are no good, then type 'solid oak flooring' into your search engine, and will bring up a list.

You could also try Ebay, again, type 'solid oak flooring', or even wood flooring, and you will see some good offers there too, its just if your prepared to go along with them, but the majority have good feedback, but again there is also vat and del on top.
But there is a good selection of oak and engineered wood.

As for fitting I havent a clue, as I want 35 mtrs laid, so I would be interested on an average guess too.

ABN

misgrace wrote:

they say that Engineered wood is much better than real wood, it lasts longer, doesnt scratch or dent as much,

never heard that before.

Wood is wood. "Engineered" wood is simply plywood with the top thin layer (normally only a few mm) of decent wood. Thus will dent, scratch and wear the same as a solid wood floor with the same finish.

Where I believe that Engineered wood does have an advantage is in stability i.e. does not expand/contract as much if at all (but don't quote me on that ) When I laid my engineered floor I was told that you didn't need to leave an expansion gap. So didn't and have not has a problem.

robv_3

Rough fitting cost in south east is 30/m2 but depends on the room layout, fixing type etc.

You do not way what type of wood flooring. Pre finished? Waxed? etc. Find a local independent and they will get you 110mm pre finished boards for under 30/meter. Have just picked up 54m2 of solid oak for 18/meter but the lengths are pretty short but suits the job we are doing.

ellives

robv wrote:

Rough fitting cost in south east is 30/m2 but depends on the room layout, fixing type etc.

Hi

Are you saying that it costs £30/m2 to supply and fit or to fit only?

Cheers

robv_3

ellives wrote:

Hi

Are you saying that it costs £30/m2 to supply and fit or to fit only?

Cheers

Fit only I'm afraid.

MissBehaving

robv wrote:

Rough fitting cost in south east is 30/m2 but depends on the room layout, fixing type etc.

You do not way what type of wood flooring. Pre finished? Waxed? etc. Find a local independent and they will get you 110mm pre finished boards for under 30/meter. Have just picked up 54m2 of solid oak for 18/meter but the lengths are pretty short but suits the job we are doing.

Hi Rob

Would you be able to tell me where you got your wood from? We are in the South East and want waxed real wood flooring!

Thanks

bargainlover2006

At floor-2-go they quoted us £11 m2 for laying laminate, it might not be alot higher than that to do real wood flooring (but that again as mentioned previously, depends on what wood and finish you would like).

It may be wise to ask around before you commit yourself to any particular person.