Description
What is Engineered Oak Flooring?
An Engineered Timber flooring is a multi-layered plank composed of a timber veneer surface layer sitting on a cheaper substrate of plywood, pine, or rubberwood. The top layer of the floorboard is a 4 or 6 mm thick, single-strip oak lamella. The surface of natural wood is a real feast for your feet. It is this layer that will wear, so the thicker it is, the more times you will be able to do the renovation process of your timber flooring. A special coating with varnish or oil prolongs the life of the floor. The varnish covers the engineered board with a protective layer that prevents scratching the floor itself, only the top layer of varnish wears. The top surface absorbs the oil by itself. It fills the pores of the surface, thus increasing the wood resistance to environmental influences, and emphasizing the beauty of the wood surface.
The second layer is multilayer wooden plywood. Plywood consists of several or more thin layers or “plies” of wood veneer. In this case, when the ambient temperature or humidity changes, the floor cannot expand in either direction, as solid wood floorboards can do. It is because of the stability of plywood, you can confidently choose wide parquet boards without fear of deformation.
Engineered flooring boards are produced in two options of connection. One of them is tongues and grooves and another can be a click-lock system.
Floating Floor Option
Timber Flooring can be installed in the floating floor method which is very comfortable when premises are for temporary use, like renting offices for business or retail shops. The floating flooring will be a good solution for rent term time. At the end of the rent, it will be easy to dismantle and dispose of.
The Click-lock system is for a floating floor option. Of course, the T/G system can be used for the floating floor option as well. But it takes additional resources and time. Tongue groove flooring has to be bond them together to each other using Timber adhesive or PVA glue.
Permanent Flooring
For permanent purposes such as private homes, prestigious offices, public places such as libraries, municipal offices, etc., the direct adhesion method is recommended when applying flooring adhesive, using a trowel to cover the entire surface to be bonded. Also, engineered flooring boards can be mounted by stapling them to the wooden base and applying flooring adhesive in bead applications.
The tongue groove design of floorboards has its own advantages against the click-lock system in the direct stick option.
Underfloor heating
Engineered flooring is well suitable to lay on a heated floor, due to good heat transmission. When choosing a floor covering based on heating, its thermal resistance is very important. Recommended not more than 0,15 m2K/W. The flooring transfers heat to the environment better due to its lower thermal resistance. We recommend choosing a 15 mm thick engineered oak flooring, which has a lower thermal resistance compared to 21 mm thick floorboards. In order to lay engineered floorboards on a heated base, it is necessary to make sure that the distribution of the heating is evenly throughout the whole floor area.
The main thing is to choose the right Flooring Adhesive for the flooring installation, which is intended for laying underfloor heating.
How to choose the right floor covering?
There is a large selection of floor coverings on the market. The price of engineered flooring depends on the type you choose. Material thickness, dimensions, finish, and quality of raw materials used in the production process.
Finding the cheapest price of the product doesn’t mean you win by saving your budget. It may be the other way around, it is highly likely that you have found a low-quality product. Only good specialists can indicate a low-quality product. The wrong choice can be expensive later when the flooring shows its endurance in use after a short time.
The biggest mistakes in flooring installation projects
- When choosing timber flooring, the customer only sees the price of the timber flooring planks. And he bases his budget accordingly only on that. The customer has absolutely no idea that the most important part of the whole process is the correct preparation of the foundation. Preparation of subfloors on which is expecting to lay new flooring. Sometimes the preparation of the sub-floor costs twice as much as the floor covering itself. This is especially true for vinyl-based floor coverings, which require a particularly smooth surface.
It is recommended to treat the ground floor concrete sub-floor with a vapor barrier (moisture barrier) to minimize the penetration of water vapor through the concrete slab. The new generation of MS Polymer-based flooring adhesives also has waterproofing properties. By choosing the right combination of vapor barrier and flooring adhesive, you will get maximum protection for your flooring cover.
- In all construction projects, it is common to leave the flooring installation at the last stage. Built-in furniture and doors limit the ability of floor installers to prepare the subfloor well.
- Improper sequence of works. The general purpose of the skirting boards (baseboards) is to cover the expansion gap between the floor covering and the wall. Most often, flooring installers find baseboards installed and painted. Therefore, use the additional element Scotia.
Professional advice
- Remember that improper preparation of substrate for the installation of a wooden floor affects the quality of installation of the wooden floor and its service life. Also, the floor manufacturer’s warranty is only valid if all the preparation work has been done in accordance with the floor installation standards. The floor in your home is probably the most important element of your home that you see and use every day. Improper floor installation for cost efficiency reasons can triple your costs later on.
- By choosing the lowest price, you are choosing the lowest quality product and a less experienced contractor. An experienced professional contractor will always cost you more, as will the flooring material for your home.
Remember that properly selected and laid Engineered Oak Flooring will last 25 years or more, as flooring manufacturers say. Saving flooring costs will make you pay twice as much in 5 years or less.
Adhesives & Sealants
Blades
Concrete Preparation
Fasteners
Miscellaneous
Other
PU Mounting Foams
Safety
Tools
Waterproofing Materials
