Wooden Floors

ants09

We’re looking to install wooden floors in the living, sitting room and hallway, so we’d welcome some advice and opinions.

In terms of quality, are semi-solid or laminate flooring similar in quality?

What type of questions should we be asking when buying the floors?

Our existing floor base is concrete, so what would be the difference in terms of normal wear, tear and maintenance between laminate and semi-solid flooring?

We also need a floor that will take the punishment of a small house dog.

How much on average can one expect to pay?

I got one quote for €2041 for 10mm chestnut AC5 for the entrance hall 15’6’’ x 5’6’’, sitting room 15’6’’ x 11’0’’ and dining room 17’6’’ x 11’0’’, with 5mm sonic gold underlay and new skirting, including the supply and fitting, uplift and removal of the existing carpet.

When they’re fitting the floors, do they remove and resize the doors?

How long should the floors be left to acclimatize to the rooms before being installed?

Are there any brands of flooring (by PM please) that wouldn’t be recommended?

Lastly, can anybody recommend a few companies in Dublin (by PM) that done a good job for supply and fitting?

Big Nasty

Go laminate.

Looks just as good as solid / semi solid, is cheaper and more hard wearing.

Check out Woodies or B&Q for prices. Woodies had a 2 for 3 on packs of wood recently. Get foam underlay too.

It's handy enough to do yourself.

Woodville56

We did a similar exercise last year OP. Advice was similar so we went with an AC4 Balterio (brand) laminate on the "busy" areas - hallway & living room and an AC3 standard laminate for the bedrooms. I'm not advocating Balterio over any other brand laminate, it's just that the pattern and colour suited our room plans and it appears to be fairly reputable as far as we could ascertain. I'm sure there are other equally competent products so best suss out the various brands in a suppliers. We are satisfied that choosing the laminate over the semi solid from an appearance aspect and also in terms of the cost differential.

Sleveile

Go with laminate, have 6 mm all over the house, its easy to do and enjoyable. You can also get laminate with the underlay already attached.

Seen to much semi in other peoples houses, it always looks badly worn and marks easily. B&Q always have a good selection of laminate, it kills me to say that as I hate shopping there, but they always have a great range of laminate.

elanskid

I would not go with laminate as had it before and hated how cheap it looked, so we went with semi-solid and after a lot of shopping around got it for €15/sq m I think and got a fantastic guy to fit it who was so conscientious and reliable. Can pm you details of shop and fitter, but fitter was 1 in a million out of a load of guys who didn't turn up or never called back

maryjayne

Hi elanskid, can you pm me the details of the shop and fitter please.

MisseyB

Here is some information on timber floorings and the pros and cons of each type.
https://designa2z.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/timber-floors-wooden-floors/

In terms of quality, are semi-solid or laminate flooring similar in quality? - The quality of flooring varies depending on the brand / supplier, not just on the type. You should also consider what look you prefer, do you want it to soften with age or look pristine in 5 years time?

What type of questions should we be asking when buying the floors? - look at the section on installing timber floors in my blog post.

Our existing floor base is concrete, so what would be the difference in terms of normal wear, tear and maintenance between laminate and semi-solid flooring? - Semi-solid flooring is technically the same as laminate, although sometimes people tend use the term laminate when talking about the lower-end of the flooring market. As for a sample of what you're considering and then go to town on testing it's durability!

How much on average can one expect to pay? - It's a case of how long is a piece of string. Completely depends on what you choose and how you want it to be installed.

remove and resize the doors - it depends on the thickness of the finished floor and whether you want the flooring to go under the existing skirting or just butt up against it.

How long should the floors be left to acclimatize to the rooms before being installed? - 'A minimum of 2 weeks should be left between the completion of all plastering and the introduction of wooden flooring to a place. If you can leave it longer, so much the better, especially as damp weather can prolong the drying time. It is also important to have the heating on in the building for 2 weeks prior to bringing the wooden floor to site. The heating will help to dry out the plaster on site, otherwise the moisture will sit in the plaster and only get released when the heating is switched on.

Before a wooden floor is laid the boards should be stored flat in the space to receive it for a 24 – 72 hours, away from radiators and fires, and if possible raised off the ground. The room should be dry and heated to normal room temperature and the moisture level of the subfloor should be less than 4%. A concrete subfloor needs to dry out completely before receiving a timber floor. As a guide allow a drying time of a month per inch of concrete. A damp proof membrane should be laid between a concrete sub-floor and timber floor. A good preliminary indicator of whether a concrete subfloor is ready to receive a wooden floor is to leave a rubber car mat on the floor overnight. If there is condensation on the underside of this in the morning, then the floor is probably still too wet.'

E