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Ideas about laminate flooring

Sep 7

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If you are looking for a simple, stylish and inexpensive way of giving your bedroom a little touch of class then laminate flooring is your most likely your way to go. There are many reasons as to why many people have decided to use this type of flooring over carpets, tiles and other means of flooring.

Firstly, it’s very simple.  Laminate flooring is an aspiring DIY enthusiast’s dream, with its easy to install click joint system that requires not glue to put together. This means that it may only take a few hours to update your bedroom, and not require previous experience in putting down the flooring. This can be a lot easier than having to put down a carpet or other flooring types and also means you have more time to enjoy your new flooring

Laminate flooring is also very easy to maintain, usually it only requires a simple clean with a mop. The advantage of this is very obvious over traditional carpets, that may leave stains and marks that show up every time you try to clean them. Carpets can have problems with attracting dust mites, as well as losing its original quality over time if not managed properly. With laminate flooring the likelihood of this happening is much lower, it also provides you with much more security when it comes to keeping your room clean and tidy.

This leads on to the durability of the flooring, allowing many of the panels to last for years with fading, wear and tear is less likely with laminate flooring. Providing you keep good care of your flooring, you shouldn’t need to purchase new floor panels, for a very long time. Some companies also provide levels of durability ratings that will show you exactly what type of flooring is recommended for the amount of use it sustains.

There is also a wide variety of choices with the many companies and ranges this means you can get the exact style that you desire with minimum fuss. If you’re looking for that perfect style to fit in with your furniture, then there is always something for everybody. Also, because of its diversity, it can be used anywhere in the home, in a variety of rooms and styles.

Laminate flooring is also very cost effective and there are some great deals to be found, that provide quality flooring without breaking the bank. There are many styles, and depending on how luxurious you want the flooring to be, it can also be very good in terms of saving your money.

Many people see laminate flooring also as a good way of keeping a room warm and thus saving on heating bills. This is done by using under floor heating that keeps a room warm and can help with a good night’s sleep, especially in those cold winter nights.

Laminate Flooring is becoming the key choice in many homes for all these reasons, and with all these advantages over traditional carpet it is easy to see why. There are many great deals on laminate flooring out there to be found, and with a vast variety of style, there is surely something out there for everyone.

How to get rid of squeaky floors

Sep 6

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When it comes to wood floors in your home, you might find them at some point starting to squeak, you will mainly find this on stairs. Now other than the annoying sounds they create, a squeaky hardwood floor can indicate more under laying problems. Floor squeaking is a sign that some gapping has occurred between the hardwood boards and as a result of the wood drying out and shrinking over time. When these dried out floorboards are walked on, they rub against one another and a squeaking noise is produced. While the damage to the floor might not be visually apparent, the tell tale squeak will give it away.

It is important that you tend to these squeaky floorboards as soon as you can, because not doing so could cause your home to depreciate in value over time.

Methods to Prevent Squeaky Floors

Lubrication:

Sprinkle some talcum powder of some powdered graphite, (this is available at hardware stores or on the internet), make sure you place it along the seams of the floorboards. You will then want to cover the powder with a cloth and step on the boards. This will ensure that the powder will work its way into the seams. The powder should then provide enough lubrication to keep the boards from rubbing against one another. This though is only a temporary solution.

If you have access to the underside of the floor

Another tactic you can use is to check the cross bracing (this is when boards are nailed diagonally across studs or other boards to make the framework more rigid) between the floor joists, if it’s loose then reattach it using screws. Also place shims on top of the floor joists directly under your floorboards. Then firmly but very carefully push the shims in. You may also want to fasten the floor joists with screws driven in at an angle through the floor joist to the subfloor.

If you don’t have access the underside of the floor

Install 2” or 2 ½” flooring nails at least ½ inch from the edges of the floorboard and drive them in at an angle. You will also want to pre-drill holes slightly smaller than the nail shanks through the floorboards (make sure you don’t go through the subfloor). This will ensure that there is a good hold and prevents the floorboards from splitting. You will then want to use a nail set to drive the nail heads below the floor surface; you can then fill the holes using colour matched wood filler. You may also use screws instead of nails if you prefer, over time screws generally hold better than nails. Countersink (this is the process of making the head of a screw or bolt sink into a prepared depression, this ensures that it is flush with or below the surface of the floor) the screws and patch the holes with wood floor filler.

If you have carpet over your hardwood floor

You will want to roll the carpet back to access the floorboards. If this isn’t an option you can hold the boards together by nailing through the carpet. A stud finder can help you located under laying joists to drive your nails through. Don’t attempt this with screws as they will just end up being tangled up in your carpet.

A squeaky floor is not match for a gang of nails and screws, but any of the above methods should get rid of the squeaking. Of course you should consult a professional for their advice on the gapping that is occurring.

Renovation with vinyl

Sep 5

Posted by admin in Flooring, vinyl flooring | No Comments

If you have always wanted a polished wooden floor in your house but it’s just not practical, there is still a solution in vinyl flooring. No longer associated with horrific patterns, vinyl flooring can offer you a similar look to a real wood floor with a realistic texture.

There are an extensive range of vinyl floor patterns available, replicating many different styles of wooden and mineral floors such as slate and stone.

Vinyl flooring is also now available in a range of different sized planks which need to be glued down to the floor – there is a new range of vinyl which can be clicked into place, facilitating the installation process.

Of course, you may not want a wooden floor design when you choose vinyl, and there are certainly many more options. Developments in the vinyl flooring industry mean that you can pick from finishes such as leather, slate, sandstone and metallic stone.

Choosing the right vinyl flooring company can also mean the benefits of installing the floor is significantly increased. Vinyl flooring is simple and easy to install, similar to a laminate floor, laminate planks can now be slotted and clicked into place. The risk of the flooring being scratched due to footwear is also significantly less, if you choose the right vinyl floor with a protective wear layer; your floor will be virtually scratch resistant and is more likely to withstand indentations.

Spills and stains will also be less stressful as they can be easily wiped or mopped clean. With a vinyl floor, you don’t have to worry about re-varnishing or waxing as you would with a wooden floor. If you live a busy lifestyle, caring for a wooden floor can be time consuming, and so vinyl floors can provide you with many benefits- replicating wooden floors with less hassle and maintenance.

If you are worried about the wet weather in the winter, you don’t have to worry about water, snow or dirt been trodden through onto your floor, as it can easily be mopped or wiped up- not something that is so easily done with a carpet floor. If you have pets, vinyl flooring can also be better suited to your family, if your pet runs through with muddy paws; stains are far more difficult to remove with a carpet.

A vinyl floor can easily be kept on top of by sweeping and damp mopping regularly. It can also save you on vacuuming time and carpet cleaning costs.

If you would like to take a look at some examples of vinyl flooring why not take a look at:

Vinyl Flooring

What is the best flooring for playrooms

Sep 4

Posted by admin in Laminate Flooring, Solid Wood Flooring, Wood flooring, vinyl flooring | No Comments

When it comes to your children you might be thinking about making a playroom for them. Flooring in a playroom is not always dependent upon factors such as space, size or house and income. You will also want your kids to enjoy the flooring in their playroom so you may be tempted with the most cost effective, child friendly, colourful designs and types of flooring. Therefore different types of flooring will have their own advantages when it comes to look and feel.

Carpet tiles and carpet are the most popular choice when it comes to playroom flooring. This is because they are cheap, easy to lay and durable. Carpets with colour will also help disguise any stains, and in most cases will be preferred by your children. When it comes to carpet tile the best one to use is nylon, this is because it is one of the best resistors of stamping feet, and it is also long lasting and quite strong. When it comes to your child’s safety the soft surface will cause less damage if your child falls or slips.

Vinyl flooring is also another option, and is increasingly growing in popularity. Its surface makes it easy to clean spillages and is also padded; this means that it will be more comfortable for your younger children who like to crawl about or for children who are susceptible to falling down often. Vinyl flooring also allows you to choose fun designs that your children may like, which means they could even help with the choice of flooring design they want. Popular designs include roads and towns.

Hardwood flooring adds some structural strength to your floor. It also lasts for a lifetime, which means it will be there to help as your children grow up. It can also match your interior design across the rest of the room or house. Because of the structural strength you will not need to worry about any falling objects or stability as its hard surface allows for greater safety.

Laminate Flooring may well be the best option when it comes to wooden flooring. It is not only easy to clean and cheap but it can also be laid down by yourself. It is also durable enough to withstand the dropping of toys or heavy stamping. It can also accommodate mats or rugs easily which can also provide another safety element. The colour variations can also be child friendly. Due to the fact that laminate flooring is hard pressed together it can also survive and wear and tear that is likely to occur.

Solid wood flooring is great for allergies as it prevents any dust from gathering. It is also easily installed and lasts a life time. It can also adapt to its surroundings during seasonal changes; it is also great at insulating your room, keeping it warm during the winter months.

When it comes to selecting the flooring for your child’s playroom there a several things to consider. It needs to be long lasting, it also needs to be child friendly, relatively colourful and comfortable, protect your child’s health when it comes to allergy protection, it also needs to be able to withstand heavy objects and protect your children from accidents. If the flooring is cheap and easy to self install then you might find yourself opting for flooring that incorporates all of these features and there are plenty of excellent choices to choose from.

Wood Flooring vs Carpet

Sep 2

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When it comes down to making sure your home is as eco friendly as possible can be sometimes down to just the type of flooring you choose.

The old debate about whether it is better to have a carpet or use wood flooring is still around, but quite often the need for a “wow” factor in any room more often than not can be the major factor when it comes to decided, rather than if it can save you any money on your monthly heating bill.

These days carpet are become increasingly out dated with more and more home owners choosing solid wood flooring, this is due to the increasing variety on the market to choose from. Wood flooring can also be bought in a variety of colours, this can add warmth and texture to your room, with the flooring quality getting better over time it also adds character and value to your home.

Everybody loves the feeling of soft carpet underneath their feet, but there are a few things that we need to consider when it comes to choosing a carpet over wood flooring. Apart from the fact it attracts dirt and dust mites they can very quickly become unattractive if they are not taken care of correctly, and those with children might want to consider the wear and tear the carpet could receive.

If keeping your rooms warm is one of the main factors that you use for deciding against wood flooring, then you need to think again. With the state of the art under floor heating systems that are now available, it is possible to save money and keep your house warm.

The only way you can do this is if you install wood flooring, and it is also becoming the perfect way to have a low maintenance heating system in your home. Due to the fact that under floor heating is so simple there is no working and the chances of it breaking down or failing is minimal.

In conclusion to this we can clearly see that the argument is leaning greatly in favour of wood flooring, with is bonuses of being economical, better looking, easier to maintain and makes no difference to your home heating.
For some great examples of wood flooring take a look at these links:
Hardwood flooring
Solid wood flooring

Chevron Herringbone Parquet As Featured In Living etc

Jul 20

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Chevron_Parquet_Flooring
One of Real Oak Floors most popular ranges has appeared in this month’s addition of Livingetc – one of the UK’s leading home design magazines.

“Solid, reclaimed or even engineered wood flooring is always a desirable feature” said Claudia Baillie, Living etc features editor.

Herringbone parquet flooring is being installed more and more in private houses around the country. It has regained popularity and is the current best seller at the moment.  The Aged parquet gives the floor an original look so it can suit both contemporary and traditional style homes.  We offer the parquet floor range in both 16mm thick board and 20.5mm board, and what makes them even better is that they can be laid as floating floors. The flooring used in the article can be found here http://www.realoakfloors.co.uk/chevron.php

www.realoakfloors.co.uk

New Flooring from stock

Jun 15

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Real Oak Floors has now received the latest shipment from the Creative Collection.  Most sizes are now available from stock and can be finished to any of the Creative range colours – all are UV oiled finish with a choice of styles, colours and finishes to suit your requirements.

With our new shipment we have accessories to match and can provide you with the full maintenance products and advice you need to keep your new wood flooring in pristine condition.  We can assist you with tips and advice for cleaning your wood floor, even help with installing tips and the accessories or profiles you will need to finish off the complete wood flooring job!  If DIY is not your strength or you do not fancy the idea of laying the wood floor yourself, you can always call us to arrange for one of our in-house fitters to install your flooring for you.  Real Oak Floors really are a one stop shop for all your wood flooring needs.

New folding sliding doors – Trufold

Jun 14

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We are pleased to announce the eagerly awaited new range of folding sliding bifold doors – the Trufold.  These folding sliding bi-fold doors are available for external doors and new for this year is a range of internal doors to help partition off larger open plan spaces.

The range is available in oak, hardwood and white, all coming sealed to a high factory finish with 3 coats of UV protection for a long lasting finish.  There is also an option of unfinished oak which requires finishing on site whilst being installed.  The doors are now fully in line with all building regulations and compliance, including better thermal performance in the glass and thicker doors to help with insulation.  This fantastic new range is now available from stock and comes with FREE DELIVERY throughout mainland UK.  With a choice of sizes – 4ft, 5ft, 6ft, 7ft, 8fr, 10ft, 12ft, 14ft and 16ft there is a size of door to suit all projects.

The door sets come fully equipped with all precision engineered hardware required for installation.  They are also faster to install with pre-drilled holes – just attach the hardware and hang!

Contact us for prices for this full amazing range of new bifolding sliding doors for all installations – Real Oak Floors are one of the official distributors of the Trufold door range so you can be assured of the best price on the market.

Ever Changing Technology in Engineered Wood Flooring

Jun 13

Posted by admin in Engineered, Engineered Wood Flooring | No Comments

Engineered wooden floors have evolved a lot in the recent decade, which has enabled them to be the preferred choice of most customers due to the ability to use wood in places where solid wood floors would have simply buckled and warped.

The first “manufactured” engineered floors were made of a basic blockboard backing or small staves of softwood glued together.  Although these were good floors, they did not always withstand the rigours of heavy duty homes.  The wear layer was often very thin (between 1 – 2mm) and the boards themselves were usually 10mm – 15mm thick so they could never be used as a structural floor (ie over joists).  The width of the first engineered floors was usually up to 90mm, or was made up of 3 strips on the width of the board and therefore a wide plank look could not be achieved.

In the last 5 years the wide plank engineered oak floors have become a massive hit.

Board widths have now grown from 90mm to a staggering 450mm as a plank board and the thickness of the boards can be up to 22mm thick, suitable for structural use.  As the thickness of the overall planks has increased so have the top layers – commonly available in a 4mm or 6mm top layer of real wood.

With the emergence of the variety of board size, the fitting methods have also improved.  Initially, the boards were all tongue and grooved on all 4 sides and had to be glued together as a floating floor (gluing the tongue and groove so the floor is floating over the original floor – an underlay is normally used to dampen down the echo), but as the boards have evolved new fitting methods can now be used.  The cross ply boards can be nailed in a similar way to nailing solid wood boards – even 15mm thick boards can be nailed when the backing is cross ply.  This has meant that boards can now be nailed directly to the sub floor, or to the joists, without the need for adhesive.

The latest new fixing method is a click style fitting.  This has been adapted from the laminate floor fittings and works well for contractors and DIYers who just want a quick installation.

The latest update of the click style is the emergence of the G5 locking system.  This click lock system ensures that the ends of the boards are locked tightly in place and give a snug fit which will not work loose.  This is achieved by a rubber insert attached to one end of each plank.  This rubber acts as a seal and presses against the groove of the next plank.  As the next board length is laid in, it presses the rubber insert into the groove so the board cannot come apart.  It can easily be unlocked again if the plank laid next to it is removed.

It is only a matter of time before new technologies will move the fitting methods on again, however there is an abundance of choice with engineered boards currently so there is something to suit all tastes.

Miss Ruth Shann-Watt

Real Oak Floors

UV Finishes for Wood Flooring

Jun 12

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Wood finishes have come a long way in the last decade.
The original finishes on flooring would be a choice between a factory lacquer, a natural (usually Danish) oil or a wax – both of which needed to be applied after the floor was installed which would add an extra couple of days onto the whole process of getting a new floor.

The Lacquered floors were a very smooth clean finish, however they scratched easily and could often look worn in a short amount of time due to scuff marks which took off the top layer of lacquer. In more recent years the factory finish lacquers have improved greatly so the finish is much more durable, it is also now available in silk matt, gloss or matt sheens which give different looks to the boards.

Natural oil is a well known finish for wood floors, however it has always been known as a “back breaking” process as the oil needs to be worked into the floor, often by hand if done by the homeowner, which would be a long laborious process for most. This was also the same for the wax finish which also required buffing afterwards to give the floor a sheen. Luckily, these two process have been refined to create a much easier to apply finish.

The most recent finish to the market is the UV cured finish. It is available for both lacquered and oiled floors and was originally brought on to the market for the manufacturers to speed up the drying process of the wood floor finishes, as the flooring could be packaged straight away.

Here we will explain the UV oil finish.
The UV oils have a natural oiled finish to them – this is in part to the fact that they are made from a natural oil. The natural oil is mixed with a chemical which, when combined together, become instantly curable under a UV light source.

The combination of the chemical creates a scratch resistant floor – much higher resistant compared to a natural oiled floor. It will also last longer than a naturally oiled floor although the UV oiled flooring will need more maintenance due to the open pore character of the oil.

It is also possible to spot repair a UV oiled floor due to this open pore character – it means that the wood can still breathe like a natural oiled floor so the coating over the top will blend with the original UV oil finish.
As with standard wooden flooring oils, the UV oil is available in a choice of different colours from pale, white tones to dark, even black looking finishes. It can also be applied to all types of timber, from oak, walnut to Maple and even pine. There is also a choice of sheens for the UV oils – matt finish, silk matt and gloss are all available in the whole range so your floor can be finished to your specifications more than a natural oiled floor.
Real Oak Floors has its own manufacturing line which includes a UV finishing system meaning that all the floors available in the collections can be UV oiled on request.