Real Oak Floors Wood Floor Blog

Real Oak Floors have over 20 new Egger laminates in their laminate flooring selection including:

• 6mm Egger Euro Laminate flooring available in 4 decors £4.99 per square metre (£3.99 per square metre on pallet of 141.83 square metres.)
• 8mm Egger Emotion tiles available in 5 decors £12.75 per square metre (£11.75 per square metre on pallet of 151.8 square metres.)
• 8mm Egger Natural Life 4 way groove laminate flooring available in 6 decors at £9.99 (£8.99 per square metre on pallet of 118.8 square metres.)
• 10.5mm Egger compact available in 7 decors at 12.99 per square metre (£8.99 per square metre for pallet of 78 square metres in 134mm or 61.04 square metres in 195mm.)

Our Egger laminates range from the inexpensive Egger Euro to the higher quality Egger Compact.

Also new to our laminates is the 7mm Euroclic, which is available in 8 decors and priced at £7.95 per square metre.

Electric underfloor heating can be tricky to install with certain types of flooring – with thanks to James Ewing of Flexel we have explained the carbon heating film and how it solves many of these problems.

Traditional methods of installing electric underfloor heating systems in rooms with laminate flooring or carpeted floors involved utilising cable systems covered with difficult to use and time consuming liquid levelling compounds. These tend to be messy and extend the installation time and costs because of drying and curing times.

Flexible carbon heating film is the ideal solution for providing an economic electric underfloor heating solution for a variety of floor coverings. Flexible carbon heating film is ultra thin, robust and is a completely dry lay system for heating under laminate or timber floating wooden floors and even carpet and luxury vinyl floor coverings.

Flexible carbon heating film is supplied in three different widths (300mm, 500mm and 1000mm) and standard lengths between 2m and 10m in 0.5m increments. These mat lengths come pre-wired with a simple two wire mains connection. This means that the heating mats can be installed and the chosen floor covering can be laid long in advance of the electrician providing the 230V mains connection. This saves time and money.

Installation of carbon heating film involves no special skills. Installation is completely dry and is a simple unrolling process. It can be laid on most concrete or timber subfloors when used in conjunction with the correct thermal insulation.

Flexible carbon heating element is ultra thin. Even with the recommended floor insulation layer of closed cell polystyrene the floor build-up is only 6.5mm. This avoids potential problems with skirting boards and door thresholds.

Carbon heating elements are reliable, safe and robust. With no moving parts they are completely maintenance free. Brands of carbon heating film like Ecofilm from Flexel International are fully approved to the relevant electrical safety standard IEC60335-2-96 and comply with the 17th Edition electrical wiring regulations. Ecofilm comes with a 10 year guarantee.

Carbon heating film can be used as an effective direct acting radiant heating system. It can be used as a substitute for traditional convector radiators by providing primary heat or just be used to warm a cool floor surface and provide background heat.

Flexel Carbon Heating Element has become a firm favourite with installers and users because it is simple and economic to install and creates gentle under-foot warmth that heats the entire room, leaving no overheated or cold spots. It offers clean balanced heat distribution at the lowest possible temperature, resulting in high user comfort levels and improved economy. Totally safe, even under wood floors, its radiated heat provides overall warmth and comfort without the usual dust carrying convective air currents of conventional radiator systems.

This form of heating, easily controlled by room thermostats is particularly suited to new build, extensions, hard-to-heat areas, conservatories, hallways, kitchens and bathrooms. It becomes invaluable in many other locations where the absence of radiators is a distinct space-saving advantage. This electric underfloor heating is ideal for use with any of our engineered real wood flooring. (Thanks to James Ewing of Flexel).

Real Oak Floors discerning customers demand the most exceptional and innovative wood floor - some prefer a classic style whilst others prefer the most contemporary up to date chic look. Most importantly though, all demand the most exceptional standard and durability from their wooden floors.

At Real Oak Floors they are specialists in the wide plank timber floors. The large selection of solid and engineered wood flooring makes them one of the leaders in the market for exclusive beautiful wide plank flooring.

Due to the increasing popularity of under floor heating and the fluctuating changes in our climates our wood floors need to be crafted to precision to ensure durability and stability for years to come. Real Oak Floors bespoke finishing service can ensure that all boards are crafted to the exact precision of the customers needs. We have taken time to investigate and test our floors to the extremes to ensure they are adequate to fulfill the demands of the most extreme projects that we have undertaken. The environmental changes of temperature and humidity can often put solid oak floors under duress and cause damage and stress - this in turn can lead to cupping, warping and extensive expansion and contraction in solid wood boards. Flooring under this strain can be ruined within a couple of years so Real Oak Floors have ensured that all their engineered boards are tested against these elements.

What is a Wood Floor? There are different types of wood flooring but the current favourite is the oak floors. Due to the properties of oak they expand and contract depending on the temperature and humidity of their environment. The timber floor is derived from a living tree. During the life of an oak tree it adapts to its environment, expanding, contracting and growing with the seasons. Even after the milling process, the oak flooring still has these qualities and will expand and contract to match its environment. Engineered boards are machined with precision computerised kilning to give the correct moisture content for an indoors environment. This is usually between 8 - 12%. Flooring that has not been kiln dried correctly can cause unstability in the flooring so to ensure that our boards do not react like this, they are tested and guaranteed by the manufacturer.

Real Oak Floors have two different types of engineered structured boards available - a 3 ply and multi ply board. All boards have a birch ply centre which ensures that no distortion due to cupping and warping take place due to temperature or humidity fluctuations. The high quality precision engineering of our timber boards means that the softwood core can resist stresses and bending of the real wood layer without any movement taking place. This gives a superior wood floor in all situations and reduces large gaps appearing between each board. 3 ply boards are made from a top layer of hardwood timber, typically a real oak layer or other hardwood, which is carefully hot glued to the thicker layer of birch blockboard to ensure a stable board. The base layer is a thiner layer of birch ply which is laid at right angles to the main blockboard to ensure stability.

The multi ply board is made up of a layer of hardwood timber similar to the 3 ply boards, it then has a construction of several layers of cross birch ply backing - often between 10mm - 15mm thick. Each ply backing layer is laid at right angles to give an extra strength to the boards and minimise movement of the hardwood top layer.

Real Oak Floors vast range of engineered wood flooring varys in the width and thickness but they have ensured that all engineered planks over 18mm thick are also suitable as a structural floor. This enables the timber boards to be laid directly onto joists or battens, eliminating the need for extra plyboard or chipboard flooring and raising the height of the overall floor. These boards have been tested to the highest standards to ensure that even when placed on joists and used in conjunction with under floor heating they will give the same exceptional perfomance without movement or warping.

Real Oak Floors have one of the widest ranges of engineered wide plank flooring and can offer widths up to a staggering 450mm wide. These can also often be used as mixed width boards and the lengths are exceptionally long - to order they can obtain up to 8m in length. These boards are of the highest quality and milled to perfection mixed with the exact specification of the customers requirements. The extra wide planks are milled to the customers exact demanding specification for an exclusive look unique only to them.

The wide array of widths of wood floors is coupled with a unique ability to produce almost any colour, texture or finish of the clients request. Basic finishing such as lacquered boards, natural oiled and brushed and oiled boards can be mixed with a hint of colour to produce the perfect environment for the clients home. The high gloss sheen can be achieved as easily as the natural matt finish. Distressed boards, antique, smoked and rough sawn boards also complement a full range of finishes. All Real Oak Floors accessories are finished in the same high quality standards and are perfectly matched to the customers specifications of the floors.

Real Oak Floors have further expanded their range of products this month, their range of wood flooring tiles has just got even better! There are are many different great looking designs made from different wood types such as Oak, Maple and Walnut. These engineered parquet flooring tiles are all 19mm thick which makes them all very durable and hard wearing. Also to go with the parquet flooring tiles are blending borders and corner squares to match.

Also new in are two brand new ranges of flooring! Real Oak Floors now have the Majestic Wood Flooring range and the Prestige Wood Flooring range. The Majestic range covers the finest wood flooring we have, it is very high in quality and looks great! The prestige flooring range on the other hand is also very high in quality, each floor is individually crafted in the UK by master craftsmen with years of experience. This range like the Majestic Wood Flooring range covers both Engineered Wood Flooring and Solid Wood Flooring. It is brought to you exclusively by real oak floors and can be found nowhere else!

If you want a really extra wide plank flooring look no further than this new product we have just got in, 350mm oiled or brushed and oiled wide board! This flooring is 350mm wide as standard but is available up to 450mm! This is one of the widest boards available on the market at the moment. It has a 20mm thickness and is supplied in random lengths from 4 - 5 meters.

Real Oak Floors were specifically chosen to be flooring suppliers to ITV’s 60 Minute Makeover! They supplied Armstrong contract Vinyl Flooring to the show for one of their makeovers which will air in late September!

On top of supplying to 60 minute make over real oak floors were selected to supply wood flooring to the Palace Theater in London, owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber! They supplied their 180mm Barnwell Antique Oak Flooring for the theatre. This flooring is excellent for use in a traditional setting such as the theater or traditional home! It has a hand scraped micro bevel to enhance the planked look and is available with either a 6mm or 4mm real wood layer.

Have you been over to the real oak floors website lately? If not then you should! You may remember our last blog post where we told you they had just put up a range of Atkinson Kirby wooden flooring, well things have been expanding further since then!

If your looking for something a little different to wood flooring then why not look at the brand new range of stainless steel flooring! There is a wide range covering many different innovative designs and it has been developed to meet the high standards of residential and commercial markets. The main benefits of stainless steel flooring are that it is very easy to clean and very hard wearing, in fact this flooring is virtually indestructible!

In other news if your looking for something to complement your oak flooring very well in the kitchen then real oak floors have just cut the prices yet again on there oak worktops to clear! These worktops are now selling from £100 so get in there quick because at this price there not going to last much longer!

There is also now a few new sections to look at! There is now a new flooring products section so rather than hunting down the new ones you can now look in one place to see whats fresh on the market!

If your in need of skirting, architrave or door frames then take a look at the range of veneered skirting at real oak floors! They have skirting available in profiles such as Ogee, Torus and Pencil Round. Vennered adjustable width door casings are available either standard of fire resistant! Mould resistant veneered bullnosed window boards are available in three different depths.

The range of atkinson kirby flooring covers both solid and engineered wood flooring with options of being supplied unfinished, oiled in a great choice of colours or fumed and oiled. These floors are of the highest quality and are available in a range of different widths.

If your looking for wood flooring then real oak floors have all you are looking for! Our flooring range covers both engineered wood flooring which is ideal for use with underfloor heating and solid wood flooring. Of course our floors are available finished with a wide range of colour oils to suit your room. You can have your floor supplied unfinished which leaves you to finish it to your desire.

Our oak flooring is our speciality with the range covering narrow and wide plank boards, finished, unfinished, rustic, smoked, bevelled, unbevelled and much more!

The range of wooden doors at real oak floors is always expanding and improving. The very popular selection of Oak Doors comes in many different styles and types such as Internal and External and even Fire Check! They also have wooden flooring and oak skirting to match the finish of the doors.

For all your flooring needs get in touch with real oak floors!

Not Checking Moisture

Moisture is the number one cause of problems when it comes to installing wooden flooring. With this in mind it need not be, take the proper procedure to handle it and it will not be a problem. The problem is that a lot of flooring installers do not take this into consideration.

What quite often happens is that wood flooring is delivered straight to the job site in the winter. The flooring came from a reputable supplier and the wood was stored in a climate-controlled warehouse. After arriving at the job site delays happen and the wood ends up sitting around for a while. Not knowing the affects on solid wood flooring the temperature is increased by the heating in the building. The flooring is fitted and everything is fine, the next winter the customer rings to say that the flooring has gaps between the boards.

The cause of the problem is that the flooring acclimated to the conditions of winter when it first arrived, when it then acclimated to the hot summer humidity it swelled up and the edges of the board was damaged, the next winter the swelling reduced and the gaps were much larger than they should be.

Prevention

The best way to avoid this happening is to install the flooring when the moisture content is at a good medium, between the two seasons. The other way to solve the problem would be to not nail the flooring as tight as you normally would and leave “washer rows” to allow some swelling in the winter months without damaging the flooring.

• Make sure any controllable moisture affective work on the house has been completed such as installation of windows and doors.
• Measure the temperature at the job site. It should be at what is considered as normal living conditions.
• Make sure that gutters are in place and correctly installed so that all water drainage is going to go away from the house and not to the foundations as this will increase the moisture.
• Use a good moisture retarder for your wood flooring. If moisture is of real concern to you an engineered wood flooring may be of better suit to you as it is a
  lot more tolerant to heat and moisture changes.

Unprepared Subfloor

Subfloors should be clean, flat and dry. Not doing so can lead to many problems with the flooring its self. These problems can be seen as loose flooring, squeaky joints, deflection and uneven surface.

The dry part of the Subfloor equations come from the moisture content in the air as discussed in the earlier point “check moisture”. The clean part means that all debris and general dirt from the work site must be clean and cleared away from the subfloor and also that anything that may interfere with the adhesive that is going to be used with the flooring is cleaned off. The floor must be flat to industry standards, subfloors that are not flat enough should be flattened before the flooring is installed. Many problems stem from
using an inappropriate sub floor for the flooring used, it is crucial to get this right the first time!

Rushing into it

The main aim of this point is to get across that you should not jump straight into the job and start laying the flooring straight away. Take the time to plan out the job exactly.

While it may work for some to just start laying the flooring straight away it can cause major cosmetic problems. As you move from room to room angles can change as rooms are never perfectly square this leads to crooked flooring spreading through the rooms, a slight change in angle from the required 90 can have major consequences leading trouble for the fitters having to trim down flooring and as mentioned earlier the cosmetics of the flooring will be harmed.

Bad Racking

There are many many mistakes that are commonly made when racking flooring here are some common mistakes that are commonly made.

• End joints being too close together is one of them, the ends of the boards should be at least three times the width of the flooring apart.
• H-Joints happen when end rows line up with one row between them.
• Lightning Bolts/Stairsteps are joints that happen in the flooring in even steps for a number of neighboring planks.
  This often happens when flooring is supplied in even lengths.

A common mistake to make when racking is not to look at the bigger picture of how the floor is panning out and likely to look when it is finished in the current state. This does not just mean the problems described above but it also means observing the wood that is getting laid, for example light and dark planks, after all wood flooring is not going to be perfectly the same since its wood, but who would want it to be anyway.

Since variations can happen between packs it is often a good idea to open up a few packs before you rack and use them at the same time using planks from each box to get some variation.

Not nailing enough

Not nailing the floor is a common problem with some floor fitters, often they may only put a few nails in per board or even only nail every other board. Saving cost is most likely their reasoning as the customer can’t exactly see the difference straight away or even see the nails them selves a lot of the time.

The short fall of doing things this way is that the wood flooring
will be loose, which will allow them to move around and make a lot of noise when they are walked on.

There is a flip side of this which is of course adding too many nails which can cause cracked
tongues and also loose floors this is a problem in oak flooring or any flooring for that matter. The basic rules to nailing is that there should be a minimum of two fasteners per board and that each fastener should be 1 to three inches from the end of the board for. Standard strip flooring the fastening space should be around every 8 to 10 inches and every 4 inches for plank flooring.

The Queen walked on WOCA oiled flooring

The Eurostar is a train of up-to-date design and performance. It competes well with any of the airlines uniting Europe. So its new St Pancras International Terminal was built in luxurious fashion comparable to airport standards.

For the flooring in the Eurostar departure and arrival halls, the 800-million-pound project used approximately 6, 000sqm of FSC accredited solid Jatoba wood flooring which is quite likely to be the largest, single space, solid wood flooring installation in the UK in 2007.

The architects chose to use surface treatments and maintenance products manufactured and supplied by WOCA in Denmark. The project thereby also sets a new quality standard for wood floor finishing in Europe.

On November 6^th, 2007, Her Majesty the Queen opened the new St Pancras International Terminal in London. Queen Elisabeth II. Highlighted the importance of attention to detail and the quality of the completed terminal through which millions of people are expected to pass each year.

WOCA’s contribution
WOCA Denmark (known in Denmark as Trip Trap) is one of the world’s leading suppliers of real wood flooring treatment and maintenance products, in particular for heavy traffic projects such as St Pancras International. Before WOCA became the surface finish supplier, the architect team visited Copenhagen Airport with the design team, where a similar floor has been in service for nearly two decades, and which has been treated with the WOCA oxidising oils, and has been since maintained successfully using a variety of WOCA maintenance products, speciality chosen to meet the arduous traffic conditions.

WOCA UK, with the support from its Danish technical teams, and the UK oiled floor treatment specialists worked with the experience from Copenhagen Airport, and formulated an oil treatment and protection, and maintenance procedures for meeting the needs of the St Pancras project.

Surface treatment at St Pancras
After the solid FSC Jatoba solid wood floor had been machined to the customers exact specifications, and fitted. The ladder bordered patterned floor was belt sanded with 100 grit abrasion. The cross beams were then hand abraded to eliminate sanding marks and to achieve the fine finish required on the cross beams. Then two coats of High Solid natural WOCA Master Oil were applied, and finished off with the final coat of WOCA Maintenance Oil. The high quality finish demanded on this prestigious project required the development of a unique oiling and buffering technique using Dane Care special discs on the 2^nd and 3^rd wet coat to produce the fine, hard wearing quality finish.

Inevitably there were several weeks between the final floor finishing work and the opening date, and given that other trades were on the floor until the last minute, a complete re-oiling became necessary to achieve a perfect finish. So another WOCA innovation was introduced, which is the unique WOCA oil refresher product, applied the same way as traditional wood floor WOCA master soap, but having a two in one ability to remove the dirt from the surface and at the same both restore the floors natural appearance and ensure the appropriate protection.

The team was able to hand over the completed Jatoba flooring, dust free and in perfect condition in time for the Queen’s arrival. According to the WOCA team it was tremendous to see and hear her majesty confirm in her speech, how impressed she was with the attention to detail, after she saw and walked around the completed new St Pancras International terminal.

WOCA Denmark, of course, has also developed the future maintenance procedures for the project. With the use of the WOCA formula, the railway station floor will be perfectly maintained and remain in good condition and appearance for decades to come.