Oak flooring is the most popular hardwood in North America, due to its hardness (which translates to durability), availability, and affordability. A distressed oak will look quite a bit different than a factory new oak, so you may want to decide which look you’re going for before you start to shop. Oak flooring is know for its high permeability which makes it easier to stain and as a result oak flooring can be purchased in a variety of colors to suit any room in your home. Oak flooring is not real stable and is subject to a considerable amount of movement due to the changing humidity level in the house. You may experience buckling or cupping if installing hardwood on top of existing hardwood.

Oak flooring is most versatile because it takes stains most evenly. If you choose an oak floor you can stain it anywhere from white to black and any brown in between. Oak flooring is a great choice for your den, bedroom or just a family room. Oak Flooring is renowned for its durability, and resistance to both insect and fungal attacks. Once cut, oak has an attractive grain which makes it ideal for flooring.

Pre-finished oak flooring is merely oak flooring that has been sanded and stained at the flooring mill prior to importation. All of the flooring in issue is tongued and grooved on all four sides. Pre-finished antique oak flooring can be chosen for its durability because the surface has been treated and protected with polyurethane. It can be fixed on top of the existing floor – similar to a laminated floor floating on top of a sub-floor.

When setting up the flooring of formal rooms like offices or parlors you may stain the white oak floors dark. This way you will be getting custom-colored white oak flooring installed. Aged wood flooring adds style to any part of the house, especially in older properties. Again, because the material is easy to handle and work with, many do-it-your-selfer’s do a quality job.

Red oak for hardwood floors is a dense, beautiful wood that resists wear like no other wood. The color ranges from white cream color to exquisite warm, pale brown tinted with red. Red oak tends to be reddish brown in color. Both are known for their utility across all kinds of applications. Red oak flooring is soft and its grain pattern is open.

Red or white oak are the standard species used. Red and White oak hardwood flooring are very popular, as the red and white oak trees are the most abundant U.S. The qualities of the oak tree make it perfect for carpentry use and Oak hardwood floors are extremely strong and durable. Red Oak is widely used for wood flooring in North America where it is revered for its warm, pink hues and versatility. The tree grows along the entire east coast from the Southern States up into the wilds of Quebec.

Oak flooring can add value to your home, and is a well known thermal insulator. This means that heating your home will cost less. Oak flooring can add such beauty and value to your home. However; it should not be over done and put in too many rooms.

Wood flooring started out as three quarter inch thick wood, unfinished. Now we have plenty of options in the wood flooring department, one of the most common being used today is called engineered wood flooring.

The flooring today has been pre-cut, doesn’t require finishing and has a decreased thickness. The thickness of the engineered wood allows it to be bent into place and will then click into place with a little glue to hold it there.

The benefits of using this engineered wood flooring are plentiful and we will look at those before we example the range of flooring you have to choose from.

The engineered wood flooring lasts longer than regular wood flooring used for more than a century. We have already mentioned that it comes finished, so rather than having to stripe the wood and then place a lacquer on it you don’t have to be concerned. The wood is treated in the shop, finished, and ready to bend with a rubber like quality.

The last two advantages to using this flooring are the ease of use and not to mention the quickness.

As we mentioned above you just need to snap it into place and then make sure there is a little glue to keep it securely in place.

This method of ‘snapping in place’ is easier and you could potentially have every floor in your home finished with wood flooring in one day due to its very quick installation.

There is a large range of products in the engineered wood flooring category.

To start off you have beech rustic wood flooring. This is a mild colour, with a natural wood appearance.

There are several types of oak flooring available as well. Oak is by far the most popular flooring used in a home.

You have different widths as well as different grains with oak to choose from.

Boen oak is one choice that has a bit of a darker finish than the natural oak.

Walnut is the other choice. This is going to be one of the darker grains available in wood flooring. While there may be a little light wood throughout it is mostly a black walnut.

You can also buy oil, lacquered, or brushed oak offering a bit of a darker appearance for the wood.

One last benefit to mention regarding the engineered wood flooring is the cost. The cost of the flooring can range anything from £27.95 up to £132, but this depends on how you are going to purchase it. If you are buying the flooring per square meter you will pay less than the per pack price.

The Boen Oak tends to be the most expensive option in the range of flooring that you have, where as the Natural finish Oak will be the least expensive.

The cost is dependent on the type of wood and the finish you are looking for. With the range of different types of engineered wood flooring, you can find just about anything you need.

Many solid and engineered floors can be laid using wood flooring adhesive. . There are two main techniques for installing using adhesive, which will both be explained. Please remember that solid floors should always be glued down, not using the floating method.

Floating Floor Method

Gluing the tongues and grooves of the floor together does the floating floor method of fixing the wooden floor. This creates a new floor, which is “floating” over the original floor. Engineered floors can be floated over any solid sub floor and it is the preferred method for laying engineered floors.

It is a good option when the sub floor moisture content is unknown, because a damp proof membrane can be used between the floor and sub-floor to prevent moisture rising into the new flooring. When floating a floor, an underlay must be used to cancel the effect of any echo and also provide a leveling effect to the sub-floor.

This echo is caused by the two hard surfaces together which have a space between them. The noise echoes in this void. The purpose of underlay is to prevent any echo, as the two hard surfaces will not be adjacent with each other. The choice of underlay is huge for use when floating the floor all of which are adequate.

A good quality underlay is advised, as this ensures there is less sound echo from foot traffic. Generally the denser an underlay the less noise!

To float the floor:

Lay out the damp screen ensuring that the edges of the membrane continue up the side of the skirting. And overlap the seams by 100mm Lay out the underlay ensuring all areas of the floor are covered. Any areas left uncovered with the underlay will cause a bounce in the new floor and will be noisier.

A D3 rated PVA wood adhesive is used to glue the boards together.

Fit the floor by placing two beads of adhesive along the upper and lower sides of the “groove” joint. (It is a common mistake to think that the boards need to be glued along the “tongue” – this will simply push the adhesive too far into the joint and not create a firm bond between the boards.). Glue the complete length of the board| all the way down the planks as this prevents the board from creaking.

Leave the joints and glue to dry before walking on the floor. Any PVA glue, which has spilled or oozed onto the boards can easily be wiped off a lacquered or oiled board, or sanded off an unfinished floor. It must be noted that thermo treated solid oak has less density therefore water based pva will not adhere to the timber as well as normal oak.

The Glue Down Method

The glue down method of fitting a floor consists of using a specified adhesive applied directly to the sub-floor such as F Ball B92 enabling the new floor to stick directly to the original floor. This is a very stable method, which is the recommended option for most solid wood and parquet floors.

To install wood flooring using an adhesive, you must first ensure that the sub-floor is dry, level and structurally sound.

When laying onto concrete it is best to prime the area first using a PVA based primer to ensure a good bond to the floor. Old concrete should be checked for moisture and or contamination before the boards are laid. Both engineered flooring and solid flooring can be laid using the glue down method.

Installing:

The first thing to do is ensure the sub-floor is completely flat, free from dust and dirt and if necessary has been primed. | in a satisfactory condition (see above) Working in an area just large enough to complete within 30 minutes, apply the adhesive to the sub-floor using a trowel with the specified notch size ensuring the whole sub-floor surface has an even amount of glue.

Install the new floorboards ensuring all boards have been pulled tight and have not been moved out of place as other boards have been fitted. It may be advisable to clamp up any slightly bent boards at this stage.

Leave the adhesive to cure for 12 hours and do not walk on the floor until it is fully set.

Unlike PVA adhesive, flooring adhesive is very difficult to remove from the surface of the boards. Ensure that any spills on the boards are wiped off immediately before the boards have dried.

Other Adhesive based fitting methods:

The are other adhesive based fitting options used to fit flooring:

Adhesive backed underlay. The underlay has a sticky side covered in a plastic film, which is peeled back as the floor is laid. Envoy multi, Elastilon and Acoustalay adhesive 300/1000 are all types of adhesive backed underlay.

Precautions

It is imperative that wood is given adequate chance to acclimatize before being bonded to the sub-floor. Allow at least two weeks for a solid wood floor and 48 hours for an engineered wood floor.

Take a thorough moisture check of the sub- floor for latent or rising damp. If in any doubt an application of an epoxy resin damp screen is advised