Mental to swap solid floors for laminate?

Thumpette

Hi Guys,

Just bought a new house, moving in a few months and just making a plan for what we'd like to do. My biggest dislike of the house is the floors. I love darkwood floors, walnut especially or dark oak. The house has maple through the ground floor at the moment.

I've read that since maple is so dense it's impossible to get a good finish with staining is darker.

We might put up with it, but I'm thinking we might get new floors down. I was told oak and walnut are quite soft, I wonder would laminate or semi solid be a better option in terms of being hard wearing? Worked it out on the AE measurements and it looks like we need about 480 ft sq

How much would this cost? Any ballpark ideas?

Thanks!

MisseyB

A semi-solid walnut or oak floor will dent just as much as a solid floor. Semi-solid and laminate floors are generally more dimensionably stable than solid floors, i.e. they expand and contract less, but they're aren't necessarily harder wearing.

What you might want to look at is the surface protection over the timber. Some brands of semi-solid and laminate flooring have layers of very hard wearing lacquers or varnishes applied that protect the wood underneath. In my opinion though they can give a very 'plastic' feel to the timber but it's a personal choice. Some people prefer that pristine and perfect look to the natural patina that you get with oiled or waxed flooring.

Re price it's all about shopping around and picking the type of product that you prefer. Laminate flooring typically starts from 10euro per yard and semi solid ranges from 25euro to 80euro per yard.

Solair

We have oiled beech floors and so far they've lasted 12 years before their first sanding and they look fantastic without any amazing special care. The only thing we've ever done was to use the correct types of cleaners (oil-based very mild soap) and a microfibre mop. In between times, they get hoovered with a wood-floor brush.

It depends on how pristine you want the floor to look, but a lot of the damage that is visible on hardwood floors tends to be damage to the lacquer itself. A decent hardwood won't really be damaged much by normal walking around. (Obviously if you drag furniture across it or something, you may have problems).

If you want some kind of ultra-high shine, you'll have no option but to use lacquers to achieve it.

After 12 years, ours were looking a bit tired, so they were sanded and re-oiled. They look brand new again.

I think if you're going to go with hardwood floors, read up on some of the Scandinavian and German systems such as oiled finishes. I don't think Ireland's all that 'well up' on hardwood flooring.

Regardless of what type of finish is on the floor though, hardwood has the huge advantage of being capable of being sanded and brought back to new. You can never sand a composite / laminate floor so once it's damaged, the only possibility is replacement.

I would honestly think if you've hardwood floors down, you'd be nuts to change them for laminates. It's like changing solid wood furniture for veneer !

Try and track someone down who really knows how to deal with hardwood floors.
Maple's probably not the best as it's not necessarily suitable for some finishes, especially oiling as it will absorb the oil unevenly. It's also not the hardest of hardwoods.

I'd still say it's superior to a laminate though.

If you're not too keen on the colour, you might be better off investing in some really nice expensive mats instead?

56hb

Hi help advice needed....

I am renovating and my builder has sourced solid beech , narrow strip variation, at a really good price for my floors. The only problem is that I was thinking of oak laminate and had that in mind as I thought solid was way out of my reach.

What should I do?? go with what will be a really good solid floor in not my ideal color and look
or stick to my original plan for oak laminate????

belcampprisoner

just sand them and stain them

56hb

Could do but for 80 sq y how much ?