Wood flooring

Greensprout

Hey all..

I'm looking to get some flooring for my living room..

I'm not sure whether to get real wood or engineered..
Can someone tell me what engineered means?
What are the pros and cons for both?

Does anyone know any websites for reasonably priced flooring?

Thanks..

Nile

Hello Greenspout

I'll move your thread to the 'In my home' board, where it should get more responses.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]!!!!!![/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

Trimmer_2

Engineered flooring consists of 3 layers, the base grain runs the same direction as the top layer and is normally pine and about 3mm thick, the middle layer is again normally pine and the grain runs across the width and is about 8mm thick then the top layer (the wear layer) again runs lengthwise and is normally 3-4mm thick. They come with either a waxed,oiled or laquered finish. The way that they are made means that they are alot more stable than a solid board and won't expand and contract anywhere near as much as a solid board. They are mainly installed in a floating method.
Solid boards vary in thickness, finish and length and expand and contract with changes in humidity, so that in the summer the joints will be nice and tight (more moisture in the air) and when the heating goes on (less moisture in the air) they shrink and gaps open in the joints. There are also different installation methods recommended by the manufactureres which are alot more labour intensive and costly.
I can recommend hxxp://www.flooringsales.co.uk/

I'm a flooring contractor myself and have used them a couple of times when my normal trade only wholesalers have not had stocks available.

Have a look at the forum below for more ideas and advice
hxxp://www.diynot.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=16&sid=ceb7a91fa9999c22039cff1b62b6cb74



Good luck.

Pete

becs

Hi,

we've just bought solid bamboo flooring which is very hard wearing, sustainable and a very stable wood so suitable for wet areas aswell. We bought 70m/2 as we wanted it throughout the entire downstairs and because of the quantity managed to negotiate a discount. We paid £17.99 plus vat per square metre which is the price of a good laminate. We bought ours from www.simplybamboo.co.uk as they had a lovely chocolate stained colour that we liked. The floor does look absoloutely stunning.

Trimmer_2

becs -out of curiosity, how much did you pay for installation and accessories? Hope you don't mind me asking.