Reply With QuoteStay away from hi gloss , it will only be high gloss the day you pick it up
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As always, I'm turning to you knowledgable fellows for advice. I'm currently in the midst of a self build and am approaching the finishing line.....it's been a hard slog.
SWMBO has suggested that we have a solid wood glossy floor in the hallway, kitchen and dining room. We have a floating floor, not screed.
Does anyone have any pointers, tips, recommendations that they could share....?
Thanks in advance.
Stay away from hi gloss , it will only be high gloss the day you pick it up
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If by high gloss you mean lacquered, then I disagree with the previous post. We've had ours a year and it still has a lovely, glossy sheen. Full of dings and scrapes of course, but a great sheen!
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I have a glossy bamboo floor . It's fine. Be careful of natural timbers that haven't been seasoned properly. Shrinkage can be phenomenal.
I'd go with engineered boards for a floating floor. I'd be concerned about movement in solid hardwood that isn't firmly nailed down.
And on the kitchen, we were advised against solid wood as the moisture in a kitchen from cooking etc. Can cause issues with a solid floor. The shop and fitter both recommended engineered oak as being more suitable. There is often very little different in cost or look, the downside of engineered is you can usually only sand it back once or twice, but ask yourself how many times you are likely to do this and you realise this is not really a limitation.
There are loads of pros and cons with wood, but I don't regret our choice of engineered oak in our kitchen, look (and sounds) beautiful.
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Dont waste your money on solid. Go semi solid/engineered.
If looking for gloss I would recommend a higher end laminate (20mm thick).
Just finishing a self build myself!
Spot on. You will be more likely to rip it up and put new floor down than sand and refinish.Originally Posted by paule23
My Dog, clumsy, big claws etc. Polished floor is fine but morks are visible in certain light.
Exactly the advice we were given when looking for flooring. In fact, several suppliers wouldn't even quote for solid as they struggle to stand over the product's tendency to expand or shrink.
Engineered was recommended and has been great.
We didn't go gloss, for reasons stated above.
My Dog, clumsy, big claws etc. Polished floor is fine but morks are visible in certain light.
???
Depends how fussy you are about keeping the floor perfect and free from marks?!
If that's not important to you or SWMBO then great but our fear was that without ongoing care and attention it will just get scuffed up by furniture/kids/dogs/things being dropped etc.
Engineered seems the way to go and keeps the initial look that you bought into.
I've put down engineered oak flooring in the lounge and have been really happy with it. It has something like 8mm of real oak on top of some kind of ply. The boards are the click together type so you don't have to fix it to the floor, and I put a thermal barrier down first so there's zero draughts coming up from underneath.
Should last out my lifetime and I like the worn in look so should gain plenty of character as it wears in. Although its been down over 12 months already and is still looking virtually like new - the layer of oak is thick enough that I could sand it back a few times and re-stain if ever needed
At our last house we had the whole of our downstairs done with 3/4" solid oak. We got it professionally done and it looked fantastic. From my own experience I'd say get someone in that seriously knows what he's doing. The guy we got does nothing except solid wood flooring and he really knows his business (he has a 6 month waiting list!). Things like edging around fireplaces, steps and thresholds etc... this guy was damn good; for example he'd do proper carpentry to cut and machine the wood where needed. He doesn't like engineered wood (reckons you can never get the surface joints 100% smooth) and only does raw wood. After it was laid he spent two days sanding it all flat and then several days filling knots (using the sandings), resanding, and then multiple coats of varnish. It wasn't cheap and you couldn't stay in the house whilst he was on site; he advised we go on holiday for two weeks and leave him to it and also nail up the letter box to stop letters hitting the wet varnish! We came back after hols and it was breathtaking when we opened the front door.
In our current house we investigated doing the same again but it was going to be 5 to 7 grand so we chickened out :-(
Quick and simple use Amtico vinyl on top of a decent finish.
The dents, digs and scratches in my solid high gloss oak floor does my head in.
B
It was expensive (for me) at about £35 sq/m, but I put in a cork floor (floating) in my study/work room. I like it. I put in an additional 5mm cork underlay just to even things out a bit, and for additional sound deadening (room is on the 1st floor).
Best wishes,
Bob
Last edited by rfrazier; 20th September 2016 at 17:13.
Not a dog owner but I must say, that is one very fine looking dog!My Dog, clumsy, big claws etc. Polished floor is fine but morks are visible in certain light.
You can get engineered wood floor with an unfinished surface, ready for sanding and varnishing once laid. I would think that would give the best long term finish as you will get less shrinkage and movement on individual planks.
Thanks for the pointers chaps. Spot on, and very knowledgable as always. High gloss, or lacquered finish shouldn't really be a problem to us, as NO SHOES or pets are allowed inside.
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