Which Floor?
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Which floor do I want?Simple. Choose the one you like the most. It is usually the right one. If you are not sure, after eliminating what you definitely don’t want, ask yourself a few questions and plan your design around a few basics:- |
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Take into consideration the age of your building;
After that, it’s a matter of personal taste, bear in mind, a well installed hardwood floor can last at least a lifetime and possibly several. Hardwood is also a very slow growing material, it can take over a hundred years to grow. If you are going to replace it every time you change your curtains, you don’t deserve it. Get a carpet. Limitations Personal taste is subjective and not getting it right is not the end of the world. On the other hand you must be aware of a few practical limitations of hardwood flooring in certain situations. Wood is inherently unstable. Unlike brick, stone, concrete and steel etc, wood expands if in contact with moisture. If the amount of moisture is excessive, the floor will expand and possibly buckle. In extreme circumstances, the floor will fail. This is not a fault of the flooring, just the laws of physics. 95% of problems associated with hardwood flooring stem from this simple fact. To a lesser extent, lack of moisture can also affect timber adversely causing the flooring to shrink. Although probably not as serious, you can be left with unsightly gaps in the flooring. Oddly enough, gapping can also be a consequence of too much moisture. The flooring will expand when in contact with excess moisture. This displaces the boards from their original positions. If the moisture is temporary then dries out due to the central heating kicking in for instance, the flooring can shrink back leaving gaps. When making a choice of flooring, pay attention to its end use. Rooms with high average humidity such as bathrooms are not recommended as suitable for wood flooring. This recommendation is ignored so often that some qualification is required. If you must floor a bathroom or en-suite etc. then try to use narrow width boards to minimise any movement. Overlay or thin battens pinned and glued are even better. Even if pre-finished seal with lacquer or oil. Choose the species carefully, some are more susceptible to moisture than others. Conservatories offer a slightly different problem. Wildly fluctuating temperature and humidity, plus lots of direct sunlight can make this a harsh environment for wood. If you have a sun-room with a conventional roof which is used as a regular type room, then try to use narrower boards, well fixed or engineered flooring. If you have a room that looks like a posh greenhouse with a fully glazed roof, then just don’t. It can be done but it is best tackled by an experienced floor nerd who won't need to read this. Rooms with under-floor heating will have low humidity at floor level. Conventional hardwood kiln dried for use with normal C.H. systems will shrink. If you have to have wood flooring over UFH, use narrow boards of a very low moisture content well fixed if solid, or an engineered hardwood, thinner is better. Kitchens should be floored with something that is easy to clean and is moisture resistant. If it is a commercial kitchen or a heavily used domestic one, then wood is probably not the first choice. Old damp draughty houses. Pay extra attention to minimising any moisture ingress through walls and under existing floors. Preparation is everything. Unless you are prepared to have the job done right the first time, make sure you have enough money to do it twice. Holiday homes. They take a lot of hammer and will probably need be cleaned more often than normal. Unless it is exclusively for your own use, treat as a commercial floor. Having said that, there in not a room in the house that can’t be floored in hardwood if it has to be. If you are unsure, please enquire. Cleaning. A quick word on maintenance: more damage can be done to a wooden floor by looking after it than neglecting it. Over washing them is the chief culprit. Using household bleach or scourers etc can damage the natural oils or react with lacquers. This will cause subsequent washing to penetrate the wood. Just vacuum regularly and wipe up spillages. Dry mopping with a vileda or similar will take up day to day dust and fluff. Every now and again if needed clean with a proper hardwood floor care cleaner, put the correct mixture into a spray bottle, spray sufficient onto the floor, wipe with a clean cloth then polish it dry. Once in a blue moon give it a boost if needed with the parquetoil, if an oiled floor. See our Lecol maintenance products tab. We use them on our showroom floor. |
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