Wood Floor Blog

Real Oak Floors guide to wood flooring

Archive for September, 2009

Installing Engineered Wood Flooring in Winter

Sep 30

Posted by admin in Engineered Wood Flooring | No Comments

Even though installing a wood floor can be a relatively painless task if you have the right tools and expertise, for the discerning home owner it is essential you forsee any additional circumstances that prevent getting the most out of your hardwood floor. Winter is on its way and for wood flooring this causes a slight problem – a lack of warmth underneath your feet. However, with good planning and these great tips, you’ll be on your way to covering all the bases.

Electric underfloor heating has probably become the most effecient and cost-effective method of heating your floors and can even act as the primary source of heat in your home. Most people, however, may want to combine radiators and underfloor heating as their main sources of heat and doing so can have its benefits.

In this instance, it is much more cost effective to place an underfloor heating system in areas where someone is going to stand for some time. The most obvious place is in the bathroom near the basin, although you need make sure whatever type of wood flooring you use is waterproof.

Going one step further, laying larger areas of underfloor heating where you may reside more frequently, such as a living room will help to make efficient use of heat where it is most needed.

A large amount of good quality engineered flooring should always have the option of electric underfloor heating and should ideally be placed when the engineered hardwood planks are being laid themselves. At this stage it is imperative that you have drawn up a plan your room and where you want the heating system to be placed:

Downstairs flooring plan for underfloor heating. Original flooring plan by designbasics.com

Downstairs flooring plan for underfloor heating. Original flooring plan by designbasics.com

As you can see, all the main areas are covered, catering in places where people will be stationary for a period of time. If you have installed a floating engineered floor in areas such as the garage or porch, you will have a much easier job laying underfloor heating than if the floor was stuck down.

Ovverall, planning your underfloor heating installation is essential to ensure all the areas you need are covered and that you are making the most out of heat dissapation. Engineered wood flooring is a great type of flooring to install during the colder months and will make just as lasting an impression as a solid wood floor.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Style Your Home This Autumn

Sep 14

Posted by admin in Wood flooring | 3 Comments

Browsing through some of the home style mags can really get your imagination going, especially when these well-designed rooms work with their contents so well. However, if you don’t get the decor right in the first place, any addition to your room won’t work to the best of its ability.

House & Home, the Canadian style magazine, has a great gallery of contemporary rooms that make use of both old and new to create interest in a home. What stands out the most is the type of flooring used in each room, something which has a deciding effect on a room’s overall aesthetic and spatial quality.

There are so many different types of wood flooring that can make a difference to your home, each with its own texture, colour tone and feel. Here are a few different types of hardwood floor and what makes them work so well with the rest of the room.

Bevelled Flooring

bevelled-flooring

Bevelled wood floors have a small v-groove between each plank, giving the wood a rustic more akin to traditional, age-old wood floors. Oak is a great material for this, especially in a rustic grade, and will definitely stand out in whatever environment you place your wood floor. In this modern kitchen, the rustic bevelled wood flooring contrasts the neutral kitchen walls, avoiding the clinical feel that flooring tiles may suggest. In order to add depth to the room, the wood ceiling mimics the floor’s rustic feel but at the same time adds interest by placing the staves horizontally across the room.

Square-edged Flooring

square-edged

In this more familiar, conservative setting, the hardwood floor this time plays a more subdued role, merely complementing the striking rough-cut oak doorway, suggesting the door has been ripped away. To bring a sense of harmony into the room, this lacquered floor is a balance of colour between the white walls and the deep, tan-brown colour of the doorway.

Long, thin staves

long-staves

Thin-stave boards can add loads of space into your room, especially where the ceiling is quite high – you get that sense of expansion. The blue lighting really works well with the dark brown wood floor and still retains its warm character.

Popularity: unranked [?]

240mm Wide Creative Wood Flooring

Sep 11

Posted by admin in Engineered Wood Flooring | No Comments

Already available in a massive range of sizes, our Creative Wood Flooring collection has a new addition – 240mm widths! Our bespoke engineered creative flooring is unique in its selection of sizes and finishes. Prices start from £26.35.

Popularity: 5% [?]

How Does Foot Traffic Affect Engineered Wood Flooring?

Sep 11

Posted by admin in Engineered Wood Flooring | 1 Comment

When fitting hardwood floor it’s always a good idea to think about how much use (and abuse) it will get. Kitchens and other high volume areas of a house will need flooring designed to withstand sudden high pressure (e.g. drops, high heels, jumping) and water resistance (spilliages etc.).

Unless you are going to lay high quality  Krono laminate flooring, it’s probably a good idea to avoid laying laminates. This flooring type is made of synthetic materials that really won’t hold solid like a real wood floor.

So, in order to prepare yourself for high volumes and tough types of floor traffic, hardwood flooring is the way to go but the type of resistent flooring you go for really depends on your budget. All is not lost, however, thanks to engineered hardwood flooring, a superb choice for ease of laying and attaining a high quality finish.

For those of you who don’t know, engineered boards are made up of multiple layers of wood with the bottom layers usually consisting of poplar wood or birch and the upper layer made of hardwood. Exotic engineered wood flooring is probably one of the thickest engineered planks around with its 21mm hardwood layer. Unlike 6mm (or less) thick boards, you can easily sand and refinish these exotic woods when marked or dented without weaking its structure. In turn, the life servicve of the floor will prolong over many years.

Generally, the thicker the engineered hardwood layer the more resistant it will be to damage.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Follow us on Twitter for the Best Deals!

Sep 10

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Real Oak Floors are now twittering their special wood flooring offers to all that follow. Follow us at @realoakfloors and keep an eye out for some interesting deals in the coming weeks! Not only that, we will post short tips that will make installing and maintaining your wood floors even easier.

Speaking of deals, check out our beautiful (and cheap) kitchen worktops. A wood worktop is a wise decision to make, especially when it is oiled with an FDA-approved Woca oil. Coupled with a Patina disc finish, the work surface will last an age and stay in great shape. For ultimate maintainence, you can resand and oil the worktop to get it looking like new.

Finally, all of our range is probably the cheapest around, especially our oak, beech and wenge worktops.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Are Kitchen Worktop Upstands a Good Idea?

Sep 7

Posted by admin in Kitchen Worktops | No Comments

Solid wood kitchen worktops area a great addition to any kitchen, but it is important to know how to look after your worktop for it to last. In this article, we will be taking a look at how a solid wood upstand can not only complete the look of your kitchen, but also resist moisture and help reduce grime and dirt marring the quality of your solid wood worktop.

What does a wood upstand do?

Kitchen upstands run along the back of the kitchen worktops where the wood work surface meets the kitchen wall. It provides a neat way to hide the gap between the wall and the end of the square edged worktop required for the wood to expand and also hides any unevenness between the worktop and the wall.

Common Worktop Problems

One of the common issues with upstands for both joiners and DIYers is the risk of trapped moisture, which over time will lead to mould and an undesirable black line along the bottom of the upstand. Traditional methods of installation is to use silicone where the worktop meets the upstand. Although simple, this method is prone to water damage – especially if the glue is not waterproof.

Alternative Ways of Fitting an Upstand

Basically, you are trying to create the best seal possible between the solid wood worktop and your wood upstand. The following techniques will help achieve this!

First of all, make sure you use a completely waterproof glue to join the wood worktop to the upstand and also cramp them together to create a tight seal. The traditional method of simply gluing the upstand on top of the worktop is therefore not the best method even though it appears to be the easiest.

Secondly, sink the upstand into the edge of the work surface (see fig. 1) to create an even tighter seal. The join will fit much more securely than if you stuck the edge of the upstand onto the top of the wood worktop.

Finally, to stop any water retention in the join, fit a rounded or triangular fillet so the water does not get trapped.

Fig. 1: Sink the Upstand

Fig. 1: Sink the Upstand

Done properly, an upstand can make any kitchen worktop look amazing and blend into the rest of the room much easier. However, you need to plan ahead when using wood worktops in a kitchen environment – remember that wood and water generally do not mix very well. Consult your joiner or kitchen fitter and ask them how they are going to ensure a tight fitting solid wood kitchen worktop.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Buy Engineered Prestige Wood Flooring

Sep 4

Posted by admin in Wood flooring | 1 Comment

Prestige Wood Flooring by Real Oak Floors

Prestige Wood Flooring by Real Oak Floors

Engineered flooring is very diverse and comes in many different flavours. Real Oak Floors has just revised its Prestige Wood Flooring collection and now offer engineered wood floors with a 21mm top layer in 189mm widths. What makes their Prestige range really special is the type of oils and finishes they customise with the wood.

For example, most of the collection have multiple coats of one colour oil which is then enhanced with at least one coat of clear oil. This allows the wood to absorb an even deeper finish that really makes your wood floor stand out in your living room, kitchen or any other living space!

The prestige wood flooring range is a great concept by Real Oak Floors that must be considered when you are looking for high quality but cheap wood flooring!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Kitchen Worktops at Competition-Busting Prices

Sep 1

Posted by admin in Kitchen Worktops | 2 Comments

Kitchen Worktops can make all the difference to your kitchen, old or new. Real Oak Floors have a massive selection of solid wood worktops at competition-busting prices in 11 different species.

Oak is one of the most versitile woods that delivers unsurpassed quality. White kitchen units with matching oak floor will work extremely well with an oak worktop, in either prime, natural or character grade. Choose prime for the most consistent texture, whilst character grade adds depth and charisma to your kitchen.

Beech is a light, almost netrual wood that makes it great for contrasting elements in your kitchen. Coupled with great value from Real Oak Floors, Beech kitchen worktops is a popular choice!

Bold, rich and dark, Wenge worktops are one of the most sought-after solid wood worktops around. This close-grained, extremely hardwearing wood is very durable and will withstand heavy usage in the kitchen and stands on its own with its dark brown, almost red tone.

Pre-Oiled and Finished

All of the kitchen worktops from Real Oak Floors are pre-oiled and finished using a 150-grit Woca Patina Disc technique, delivering extremely high quality smoothness.

Cheap Kitchen Worktops

Doing your research can make all the difference. However, we have done the hard work for you and can reveal that Real Oak Floors have the best kitchen worktops prices. It’s important to check on the suppliers website directly, however, since prices may change at any time! One of the highlights are the oak worktops – a saving of around 30%: Now that’s what we call cheap kitchen worktops!

Kitchen Worktop Price Comparison

worktop-price-comparison

Popularity: 4% [?]