Wooden flooring new home owner

babymama89

Hello

Hoping I can get some good advise from the experienced home owners here at MSE

Just about to complete on my first home and I want to change the living room , dinner and conservatory to wooden floor from carpet . I have two young boys (3.5 & 2 )
I’m just researching what to expect so far I’ve been in touch with local tradespeople and hoping to get to BnQ on BH weekend

3 options have been suggested

- solid oak wood
- luxury vinyl
- engineered wood

Essentially I’m looking for the advantages and disadvantages of the above . Im currently swinging towards luxury vinyl as I saw it at my recently renovated GP Practice and it looks really nice

The Dimensions for the rooms are as follow
Lounge - 8.26m x 3.31m
(27’.1” x10.1)

Conservatory - 4.56m x 2.92m
(15’.0”x9’7”)

Hall 3.0m x 2.5m

Also what sort of budget should I set apart ?

Thank you in advance

Slinky

A large one.


I've seen Amtico quoted at up to £90 per square meter and £15 per square meter fitting on an already levelled floor.


Karndean is cheaper, but still expensive.


Some of the sheet vinyls are very good these days and are significantly cheaper.

ka7e

I had textured wood plank-effect vinyl for many years in my previous property and most people thought it was real wood. The only drawback was the deep texturing trapped dirt that no mop could shift! In heavy traffic areas and having 2 hairy mutts, it took a scrubbing brush and hot soapy water to keep it really clean. Even a Vax floor cleaner couldn't reach into the deeper grooves.

Dedekind

I just installed engineered wood. Very nice. Price range is quite large it depends what you want thickness etc. I bought from a local company in London. Super high quality and feel, roughly 50 per sq meter.

Solid wood we also considered but there seemed to be so many more options in engineered wood.. it's kind of fashionable so I suppose that's the reason

Kiran

Be careful with real wood in a conservatory, you get massive temperature differentials. If your after wood then engineered wood is the way to go IMHO

thebigstillmeister

We had solid oak flooring put in last year,

Have had various vinyl and engineered flooring in previous properties which looked good, be just for me personally I love the solid oak and wouldn't have anything else now, but that is just my opinion,

Grenage

Most people seem to opt for engineered wood flooring over solid wood, but it wouldn't be my preference. If there is damage then it's a lot easier to repair solid wood.


You can get some rather decent vinyl sheet, but I don't know how well it hold up to scratching. I would probably opt for it in a modern build house.


Don't forget to check under the carpet before you spend money; if it's a suspended floor then you may well have nice floorboards.

neilmcl

Grenage wrote: »

Most people seem to opt for engineered wood flooring over solid wood, but it wouldn't be my preference. If there is damage then it's a lot easier to repair solid wood.

What sort of "damage" are you referring to. An engineered wood floor should be just as simple to fix as a solid wood floor.

need_an_answer

With small children I would opt for a vinyl option as its much easier to keep clean.

I know its not quite the same but I know a lot of nursing homes who are changing to good quality and easy to clean as its better than carpet and much cheaper and durable than the solid wood flooring...I'm mentioning that simply because you say its in your doctors surgery...again a high traffic area that needs to be kept clean and not easily damaged.

alex_163163

We had Polyflor LVT laid in our kitchen diner and hallway. Wood effect. It looks really nice.
We had quotes for Karndean and Amtico, but was really expensive. Polyflor is the cheaper, unbranded/ less well known alternative I guess?!
Our fitter was really good too.
We paid £960 for kitchen (approx 16m2), and £500 for hallway (approx 7m2), including screening the floor, etc. We just had to take up the old floor coverings.
The quote for amtico was over £2k just for the kitchen diner!

Grenage

neilmcl wrote: »

What sort of "damage" are you referring to. An engineered wood floor should be just as simple to fix as a solid wood floor.

If the veneer isn't particularity thick, then any damage that gets through it. It would obviously have to be a fair whack for that to happen.