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How to buy wood flooring Types of flooring

Laminate flooring

What is it? 

Cross Laminate

The laminate core is made from highly compressed wood fibres

Laminate flooring is a compressed fibreboard plank, covered by a photographic image of wood, stone or tile and a protective overlay.

How much? 

Prices start at £3 a square metre, but the cheapest kinds are smooth and appear relatively unrealistic. 

Bevelled edges, a more varied set of photos and registered embossing of features such as knots give higher-priced versions of brands such as QuickStep (£6-£17 a sq metre) and Pergo (£14-£30 a sq metre) a more natural look and texture.

Where to lay it? 

Laminate

Click-lock laminate flooring planks

Living areas, studies and playrooms. Some products include a waterproof core, and manufacturers claim they are suitable for bathrooms and kitchens. Check the guarantee carefully before buying to ensure you won’t breach the stringent conditions.

Pros 

  • It’s cheap and hardwearing. 
  • Click-lock designs are simple to install. 
  • A wide variety of imitations of natural materials is available.

Cons 

  • Even the best laminate won’t look or feel exactly like the real thing. 
  • The joins wear over time, and once the surface is damaged it’s hard to fix. It’s easily swollen by moisture, and the damage can’t be repaired. 
  • Poorly laid laminate is a turn-off for house-buyers.

Engineered wood flooring

What is it?

Cross Engineered

Several layers fixed together keep engineered planks solid

Each floorboard consists of three or four layers of wood, glued together at right angles to create a plank around 14mm thick. It has a real wood veneer of around 4mm thick on top, which means it can be sanded back and treated to restore the original finish if it becomes scuffed, worn or damaged

How much?

Prices range from £11 a sq metre at Ikea to more than £70 a sq metre for expensive woods such as olive, maple, teak and walnut from national flooring chain Floors2go.

Where to lay it?

Anywhere it won’t be exposed to water or a humid atmosphere. It is time-consuming, fiddly and noisy to lay wood on stairs, and in some places it is hard to achieve a good finish – for instance, around toilet pans and pedestals.

Engineered

Pros

  • The way it is constructed makes it more stable than a piece of solid wood and less prone to changes caused by a room’s temperature or humidity. 
  • It is more attractive than laminate and cheaper than comparable solid wood planks.

Cons

  • There are very few cons, but tongue and groove is harder to install than click-lock. 
  • It can be a lot dearer than laminate.

Real wood flooring

What is it? 

Cross Wood

Solid wood planks are often thicker than laminate or engineered wood

Each board is made from a single piece of wood, typically 18-20mm thick. It is usually fitted using tongue-and-groove.All types of wood have a hardness score, which indicates how easily they can be damaged, dented or worn by everyday wear and tear.

Solid wood flooring can be sanded back to restore the finish – the number of times is determined by how deep the tongue is set from the top of the board.

How much? 

Prices vary, depending on the cost of raw wood, from £15 a sq metre for Parawood to £82 a sq metre for IPE tropical hardwood. 

Where to lay it? 

Wood

Natural, beautiful and unwieldy wood

Anywhere with a relatively constant atmosphere, particularly in hallways and living areas where you can show it off. 

Pros 

  • It looks fabulous and, provided it’s installed correctly, is an appealing feature if you decide to sell or rent out your home. 

Cons 

  • Solid wood swells in damp conditions and shrinks in dry ones. 
  • It’s the toughest to install because it has to be glued or nailed down, and fitting the individual boards together can be difficult because they change shape once they’ve been manufactured.
  • Highest price for entry-level products.