Easy To Fit & On Budget, Engineered Wood Flooring Offers It All. Here's How To Plan Your Project For Maximum Ease & Minimum Stress...
Whether you're updating an existing room, renovating an entire house project, or putting your stamp on a new build, starting a new decorating project can be super fun, exciting, and stressful in equal measure.
It’s no different with your new flooring either. As the saying goes; ‘failure to prepare is preparing to fail’, if you don’t organise your project it can quickly descend into chaos, over budget, over schedule, and potentially short on materials. Get it right from the start, however, and you’ll have a breeze installing your new flooring, leaving you with your dream finish, stress-free.
Wondering how to plan your perfect engineered wood flooring project? Don’t worry, our latest blog covers everything you’ll need to consider, so you can get it right the first time.
First though, let’s take a look at some of the basics of engineered wood flooring…
Is Engineered Wood Flooring Popular?
Yes! Engineered wood flooring has established itself in the flooring market, quickly becoming one of the most popular options available.
Generally, our customers choose engineered flooring when they’re looking for a real wood finish on a budget. It’s also easy to fit, as most come with a tongue and groove profile.
Is Engineered Wood Flooring The Same As Laminate Or Solid Wood?
A hybrid flooring, engineered wood is technically neither. Whilst it shares some structural similarities to laminate wood flooring, such as being made of multiple layers, it offers a much higher quality finish.
A solid wood top layer means that, when laid, engineered wood flooring looks identical to solid wood flooring, at a fraction of the cost. In short, it offers the budget-friendly pricing of laminate, with the quality and finish of solid wood.
What’s more, thanks to its structural sub-layers, engineered flooring is often stronger and more durable than other flooring types, making it an ideal choice in most settings.
Things To Consider
Budget
Although engineered wood flooring is incredible value for money, the prices do vary depending upon the wood species and finish, so it’s worth doing your research before you commit to one particular type of flooring.
Prices of engineered flooring are generally affected by common factors, such as the type of wood (with walnut being more expensive than oak, for example), the thickness of boards, and how thick the wear layer is (the top layer of solid wood). This makes finding affordable flooring easy if you know what to look for.
Footfall
Different households and different rooms will need different flooring choices. For example, a spare bedroom in a bachelor pad won’t necessarily see as much footfall as the hallway in a busy, family home.
Considering your circumstances and understanding whether your floor will be subject to low, medium, or high levels of footfall is key to choosing the right product that lasts.
Engineered wood flooring comes with a wear layer (also known as a top layer) of real wood, which, over time, can be sanded and refinished, to revitalise the look. Usually, these wear layers range from 4-6mm, but some can be as thin as 1mm.
Obviously, the busier the room, the thicker the wear layer should be, whereas lighter traffic areas will be fine with a thinner top layer.
Lifetime Use
If you’re planning on selling up in the next few years it probably doesn’t make sense to install a budget-busting 20mm American Walnut, for example.
That said, if you’re planning on enjoying your floor for many years to come, it pays to invest in the most hard-wearing floor you can. In general, a thicker board, with a thicker wear layer will have the longest lifespan, however, pretty much any engineered wood floor will last for years and always look great!
Underfloor Heating
If you’re thinking about heating your room using underfloor heating you’ll need to think about a couple of things; the thickness of your flooring and the underlay you use.
A thinner board will help dissipate heat more effectively, we usually recommend boards around 14-16mm, although thicker boards can still work well.
A specialist underlay, designed specifically for use with underfloor heating, will allow your room to be heated most efficiently, without breaking the bank.
At Flooring365 we recommend using water-based underfloor heating only. Electric heating can cause heat spikes; areas of rapidly changing temperatures which can have a detrimental effect on wood.
Installation Method
Engineered flooring is generally available in two profiles; tongue and groove and ‘click lok’, which offer different installation methods. Let’s take a look at the two:
Tongue & Groove: Tongue and groove flooring pushes together and is held with a thin layer of PVA glue along one side.
It’s quick and easy to fit but can be messy if you’ve never worked with glue before.
Click Lok: Click Lok has interlocking profile edges that push or ‘click’ into place. Although Click Lok doesn’t need glue, it can be tricky to install for the novice DIY’er, especially at first, when joints can be difficult to keep together, but once you’ve got the hang of it, it’s a relatively easy process.
Planning Your Wood Flooring Project
Consider Fitting
Will you be laying your flooring yourself, or will you be using a professional fitter?
Fitting the floor yourself will definitely save you some money, but can be a hassle, especially if you’re new to floor installation.
Delivery
Flooring can be bulky, heavy, and awkward to deliver, so it’s worth keeping in mind that you’ll probably need to set some time aside for your delivery.
Whilst most delivery companies will accommodate your requests as much as possible, they’ll usually specify a ‘kerbside drop’ which means they’ll unload your flooring on a pallet at the roadside. With this in mind, be sure to have at least one person at your home on delivery day that’s willing to get stuck in, moving your new flooring indoors.
Before your delivery day, think about where you’re going to store your flooring, in the short term, before your installation. Ideally, somewhere clean, dry, and easy to access. It goes without saying that, to make things easier on delivery day, make sure you clear your path of any obstructions or hazards, remember, you may struggle to see your step when you’re carrying flooring!
Alternatively, you could collect your flooring directly. Engineered wood flooring usually comes in packs under 2 metres, which means they’ll be pretty easy to pack in your car or van but keep in mind they will be heavy in larger quantities.
Acclimate Your Flooring
Although engineered wood flooring is less susceptible to changes in temperature and humidity than solid wood flooring, we still recommend acclimating your flooring for a minimum of two days.
Acclimating helps your flooring adapt to the room in which it will eventually be laid, reducing the risk of misshaping after fitting. To acclimate your flooring all you need to do is let it ‘breathe’, by opening up your flooring packs and leaving them in the room you’ll be using them in.
Remove Furniture
We get it, sometimes space is tight, especially in busy family homes, but if you can, it really pays to empty your entire room of furniture before you start to install your floor.
Not only will having an empty room save you time, by not having to constantly rearrange furniture around the area you're laying, but it could also minimise your risk of damaging your new floor. After all, laying a floor in a cluttered room is bound to be more tricky, resulting in scratches, bumps, and scrapes that could last.
Floating Floor (Sub Floor)
Engineered floors are laid using a ‘floating floor’ method, essentially sitting on top of an existing subfloor, without any adhesion. Although installing over a subfloor is much easier (than on a fixed floor, where gluing to a base is required), you will need to prep before fitting.
Ensure your subfloor is level, clean, and dry, free from any lumps or bumps. If you need to, be sure to use underlay that will overcome any major discrepancies. Remember, the better your subfloor, the easier your floor will be to fit.
Conclusion
Engineered wood flooring is relatively easy to fit, looks great, and always comes in within budget. What's not to like?
As with all projects, preparation can be key in getting a professional, stunning finish, which if you get right, will leave you with a gorgeous floor that lasts a lifetime.
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