Hi all

Anyone looked at wood vs engineered wood?
Girlie at the office brought some flooring that she intends having, that
appears to be oak-right-through with standard tongue and groove jointing.
I was wondering how this is likely to fare - the sample was already showing
signs of cupping with minor cracks at the ends.
Yes I know, real wood will show non-uniform characteristics etc etc.
The top of this looked good, but the general structure of the wood beneath
looked less so - cost for this is £20 /sq m.

Does anyone have experience of the wearability etc of this real wood
compared to the engineered stuff with (say) a 6-7mm wood layer bonded to
laminate style base? The click-lock version of the engineered stuff is
nearer £30 / sq m in B&Q.
As it's only for a small hallway, the price is less an issue - it's
quality/durability/longevity that we are looking for.

TIA

Phil

On Sep 22, 12:22*pm, "TheScullster" wrote:
Hi all

Anyone looked at wood vs engineered wood?

I'm not that impressed with the durability of the Kahrs engineered
beech that we put in a few years ago. It comes finished, but if
I had it to do again I'd varnish over it because the joins are
obviously
not sealed and it's quite sensitive to water. I also reckon that the
overall strength (resistance to dings, etc) must be reduced by the
fact that the backing is glued up from softwood.

On the other hand it's easy to lay and no problems with warping,
cracking ...

LEo

On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:22:57 +0100, TheScullster wrote:

Hi all

Anyone looked at wood vs engineered wood?
Girlie at the office brought some flooring that she intends having, that
appears to be oak-right-through with standard tongue and groove jointing.
I was wondering how this is likely to fare - the sample was already showing
signs of cupping with minor cracks at the ends.
Yes I know, real wood will show non-uniform characteristics etc etc.
The top of this looked good, but the general structure of the wood beneath
looked less so - cost for this is £20 /sq m.

Ours were apparently done about ten years ago - but it seems that the
quality/quantity of the coating then used was a bit variable; I can see
myself needing to sand and re-coat in a few years' time - thankfully our
neighbour owns a hardwood flooring company, so I've got equipment and
expertise on-tap :-)

Our floors (all 16" x 1-1/2" strips, where most HW floors use a lot
wider) have picked up a few dings and marks here and there, but I think
that just adds character anyway (and contrary to what some people say,
we've not had any issues with dog claws causing damage).

With a good 1/4" down to the tongue, it'll stand years of sanding before
it ever "wears out", too.

cheers

Jules

In message
, Leo
writes
On Sep 22, 12:22*pm, "TheScullster" wrote:
Hi all

Anyone looked at wood vs engineered wood?

I'm not that impressed with the durability of the Kahrs engineered
beech that we put in a few years ago. It comes finished, but if
I had it to do again I'd varnish over it because the joins are
obviously
not sealed and it's quite sensitive to water. I also reckon that the
overall strength (resistance to dings, etc) must be reduced by the
fact that the backing is glued up from softwood.


We've recently moved into a house which I strongly suspect had
engineered wood floor in from new (15 years old), also a beech finish.
The matching house opposite (in an estate with hardly two houses alike)
has the exact same floor. I agree with Leo, the joins would have
benefited from varnishing and it is very susceptible to water, in fact
its nowhere near as hard wearing as I'd like or expected.

It looks pretty good after 15 years, and now we've learnt we're not
making it any worse, it looks to be have been professionally fitted and
they've made a very neat jobs of the edgings in particular.

I've recently decorated an upstairs bedroom which will become our
toddlers room, I used fairly cheap B&Q laminate as it'll probably get
trashed in a few short years but I was very impressed with some of the
floorings that B&Q are now doing, some of the real wood stuff looked
high quality and there was a big selection (B&Q Warehouse Nottingham).
The cheap laminate looked much better when laid than some much more
expensive stuff I used to floor a living room a couple of houses ago. I
wouldn't use Floors2Go or whatever they're called again - useless.

--
Mike Buckley
RD350LC2
CB72

TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

Anyone looked at wood vs engineered wood?
Girlie at the office brought some flooring that she intends having, that
appears to be oak-right-through with standard tongue and groove jointing.
I was wondering how this is likely to fare - the sample was already showing
signs of cupping with minor cracks at the ends.
Yes I know, real wood will show non-uniform characteristics etc etc.
The top of this looked good, but the general structure of the wood beneath
looked less so - cost for this is £20 /sq m.

Does anyone have experience of the wearability etc of this real wood
compared to the engineered stuff with (say) a 6-7mm wood layer bonded to
laminate style base? The click-lock version of the engineered stuff is
nearer £30 / sq m in B&Q.
As it's only for a small hallway, the price is less an issue - it's
quality/durability/longevity that we are looking for.


No complaints about the solid oak from B&Q. Over the last 2-3 years we
have laid two floors with it, one a glued floating floor over concrete
and the other nailed to existing T&G. Not one board had the cupping or
cracking that you describe, and both floors are still flat and wearing
well.

I also used some spare boards to floor the tiny lobby behind the front
door and make a well for the doormat. Some of those are showing some
minor scratching from grit trodden in, but that's only to be expected.


--
Ian White

"TheScullster" wrote in message
. uk...
Hi all

Anyone looked at wood vs engineered wood?
Girlie at the office brought some flooring that she intends having, that
appears to be oak-right-through with standard tongue and groove jointing.
I was wondering how this is likely to fare - the sample was already
showing signs of cupping with minor cracks at the ends.
Yes I know, real wood will show non-uniform characteristics etc etc.
The top of this looked good, but the general structure of the wood beneath
looked less so - cost for this is £20 /sq m.

Does anyone have experience of the wearability etc of this real wood
compared to the engineered stuff with (say) a 6-7mm wood layer bonded to
laminate style base? The click-lock version of the engineered stuff is
nearer £30 / sq m in B&Q.
As it's only for a small hallway, the price is less an issue - it's
quality/durability/longevity that we are looking for.

TIA

Phil
Our 1960's living room has a Hard Maple engineered wood floor, which is
fantastic!

The supplier brand is Tembec (www.tembec.co.uk). It is still readily
available.

It comes in various widths and is not difficult to put down but you do need
a "proper" nailing tool to do a good job. Also worth acquiring a decent
belt sander.

Regarding refinishing floors the biggest single mistake I ever made is using
Ronseal Diamond Hard varnish. absolute rubbish. If you want to varnish
stick to old fashioned solvent based formulations like Ronseal "Solvent
Borne". Excellent (but smelly) stuff.

"TheScullster" wrote in message
. uk...
Hi all

Anyone looked at wood vs engineered wood?
Girlie at the office brought some flooring that she intends having, that
appears to be oak-right-through with standard tongue and groove jointing.
I was wondering how this is likely to fare - the sample was already
showing signs of cupping with minor cracks at the ends.
Yes I know, real wood will show non-uniform characteristics etc etc.
The top of this looked good, but the general structure of the wood beneath
looked less so - cost for this is £20 /sq m.

Does anyone have experience of the wearability etc of this real wood
compared to the engineered stuff with (say) a 6-7mm wood layer bonded to
laminate style base? The click-lock version of the engineered stuff is
nearer £30 / sq m in B&Q.
As it's only for a small hallway, the price is less an issue - it's
quality/durability/longevity that we are looking for.



I have engineered floors in 3 rooms, much better than solid wood .... as
long as you get 7mm veneer on face will take as many re-sands as solid wood
(tongue is the limiting factor).
It's more dimensionally stable (I have underfloor heating so this was
important)

They can use good face veneers and keep cost down by the backing layers.

If you wanted sheet material, you would for strength & stability use ply
..... that is exactly what engineered floor gives you.
I used BOEN .... which is the dogs spheroids in this stuff. Make sure you
use correct underlay to suit your floor ... I used 3mm closed cell.

I would not use thin veneer click fit flooring.... if you want that use
laminate.

BTW ... I'm not anti-laminate, I used that in 4 bedrooms, landing &
playroom ... but again get the right quality, there is a big variation.