Wood Flooring Getting its 15 minutes of Fame

Wood floors are finally set to get their 15 minutes of fame, as more and more interior writers are realising that wood flooring is no longer only for the wealthy.

The latest piece on the qualities of wood flooring is in the Deccan Herald, by an author called Chethana Dinesh. She highlights the benefits of wood flooring, which, she says turns a floor from drab to dramatic. According to Dinesh, the benefits are its beauty, versatility and ease of maintenance.

This followed an article last month in the Independent, which – after opening with a quip about the British love of pine panelling -- highlighted the use of modern and exotic woods, as well as reclaimed period woods can provide an excellent look in the home.

Of course, we at Mckay Flooring have our own experiences of this: we recently fitted a floor in the famous old Ayrshire hotel at Turnberry. They chose Wenge wood for their 600 square meter floor.

Wenge is a beautiful dark timber from West Africa, used both for flooring and cabinet making. It requires a lot of skilled workmanship and we spent many hours laying the intricate herring-bone pattern then sanding and sealing it.

Colin and Justin, the famous TV interior designers also chose the herringbone pattern for their wood floors earlier this year; with 10mm unfinished solid oak parquet battens.

For the environmentally friendly among us reclaimed wood flooring is very big at the moment as well. From reclaimed flooring recycled as a new floor, to reclaimed railway sleepers, and joists turned into floors, it is not lacking in choice either.

Keep it coming we say. Wood flooring is absolutely gorgeous, in fact I have never seen a wood floor that didn’t make me stop and go wow. Glad everyone is finally noticing.

Regular readers of this blog will have seen the flooring in focus series, which covered some of our favourite brand/species/stain combos, but here is a brief recap of our top 3:

• Junkers Sylvared Harmony / Classic
• Tuscan Big Earth Distressed Oak
• Tuscan American Black Walnut

Laminate Flooring, in a Mansion?

I have just read about a luxury mansion in Cardiff in Country Life magazine, nothing strange there, apart from the fact that one of the features mentioned is laminate flooring.

Those who know their wood floors know that laminate flooring is not the mind of exclusive product that you would want in your luxury mansion.

Those of us who know flooring also know that this laminate has been laid in the hallway because it is easy to keep clean and hard to damage but hey, it’s still a big yo for laminate flooring to get a mention in Country Life Magazine.

On a more serious note, when you walked onto a wood floor in a lush country mansion in the Welsh countryside, you would assume it to be real wood, and it would take a well trained eye, a well trained ear or both to know that it was in fact laminate flooring that you were walking on.

It is also perfect for purpose, it is easy to clean, and it is hard to damage, the perfect floor for a hallway, especially if you want something that looks and shines like a wood floor.

Wood Flooring Choice is Overwhelming, but Fun

I just read a great post on the Mckay Flooring Blog, about how Junckers has something for, and that people should focus on the Junckers brand to make their choice of flooring less daunting.

I agreed with the post to a great degree; the choice of wood flooring is overwhelming, however, if you focus on the Junckers brand, you will be missing out on so much, so many absolutely gorgeous floor coverings that you may well end up kicking yourself further down the line.

You would be missing out on the Clyde Estuary range, which I have previously covered on this blog, because it has some truly gorgeous finishes, especially in the oak range.

You would be missing out on the gorgeousness of the Walnut (below left), Lapachio (below middle) and Birch (below right) offered up by the Caledonian range, and the luscious chocolate or golden tones brought to us in the Tuscan oak range.

In short: you’d be missing out on loads of beautiful floors. But, back to my agreement with the post, the writer does suggest looking at all brands and focussing on the one with most of your favourites, or within your price range. Also, the Junckers range is the largest, and it does have my 2 favourite finishes of all time (Sylvared Harmony and Sylvared Classic), so I would need to focus on Junckers.

What brand is your favourite? Answers in the comments below please.

Flooring in Focus: Clyde Estuary Oak Range

The Clyde Estuary Oak range is some of the most beautiful wood flooring we have in our entire range. In terms of texture there are very few woods out there that can match Oak, with its versatility of being hand-scraped as opposed to traditional sanding.

We currently have 6 different finishes in Clyde Estuary Oak flooring, each as different and uniquely beautiful as the next:

Clyde Estuary French Oak:

I have started with French Oak because it is the lightest of our Clyde Estuary Oak range, Oak, of course being a darker wood in its natural state. French Oak is our personal favourite because the lighter finish gives the texture more of a feeling, you'll know what we mean when you see it (click here to request a sample).

Clyde Estuary Soft Edged Oak

This is not as light as French Oak, but nor is it anywhere near as dark as the darker finishes. This again allows the textures of the wood grains to really stand out and be noticed from afar. Beautiful.

Clyde Estuary Antique European and Hand-sawn Oak

Antique European is the darkest oak, and is hand distressed to give it a real rustic feel and a special sound and feel under foot as well (below left). There is also a distressed limed and oiled antique oak which has a citrusy look, which is something special (below right).

 

Hand-sawn oak is very similar in colour and texture to the Antique European Oak. Both are among the darkest of all the oak woods. The difference between the two is that hand-sawn oak comes in varied lengths, and has a unique look where the planks meet end to end.

Clyde Estuary Double Fumed European Oak

This is the darkest of all our Clyde Estuary Oak floors, but the double fumed effect means the planks differ in shade for a truly unique floor.

Clyde Estuary Oak (Toffee)

As you'd expect this has a rich toffee colour, which, like the lighter finishes makes the rougher textures of the oak really stand out.

Flooring in Focus Part V: Kahrs Oak Sienna 3-Strip

I know I’m gonna have to stop saying this but on this occasion I just can’t help. I thought I had found my favourite floor covering but I was wrong, Kahrs Oak Sienna 3-strip  is absolutely magnificent.

Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know that this must be true – Kahrs oak flooring is engineered, whereas this series has previously focussed on solid wood floors.

That however, is not the only difference between Kahrs Oak Sienna and the other floors covered in this series; it has a completely different look to any of them – not least because it has a completely different look to most of the other floors on the market.

It is hard to put into words: rustic, with a kind of granular feel. It looks modern, but has has a depth of texture to it that any solid wood floor would be proud of. Oak Sienna is the perfect floor for a home, an office, a museum, an art gallery or an office. Don’t agree? Post your thoughts in the comments at the end of the post, don’t decide on the image alone, click here to request a sample

On top of that, a Kahrs oak floor is a floor for life. Kahrs engineered flooring is slightly more expensive than the lower priced brands, because it has a thicker wood layer, which means it can be sanded and refinished numerous times. This means that if it is looked after properly, to keep the need for resanding and refinishing as far apart as possible, the floor will last you a lifetime.

Laminate Flooring Vs Engineered Flooring

This is a common question: which is best engineered flooring or laminate flooring. No, I am not going to say… Well we have put them to the test in the head to head wood war to end all wood wars, who knows maybe that will be a feature down the line.

This time it is going to be based purely on theory. The immediate answer to the question is that both of them are equally perfect in their own way and for their own use:

Both are very inexpensive. both are highly durable, and both give the effect of a solid hardwood floor for a fraction of the price. That is where the similarities end.

What laminate flooring is:

Laminate flooring is basically a photograph of a hardwood plank, laminated and stuck onto composite wood material, yes, underneath it is real wood.

The benefits of laminate flooring are:

The price: laminate flooring starts from as little as £11.52 per square meter.

The Durability: whilst a real hardwood floor is vulnerable to damage from things like high heels etc, laminated flooring has a much harder surface, and scratches do not ruin the effect either – within reason.

The Range: laminate flooring can be a picture of anything. This means that you can have a marble-like palatial floor, on the budget of a palatial servant.

Easy to Install: laminate flooring comes in tongue and groove, snap=together and glue together, all can be laid very easily and quickly, because laminate is a floating floor, meaning it does not need to be nailed down.

The downsides of laminate flooring are:

It is not real wood. A fake wood floor, even if it replicates gorgeous £5000  Tuscany wood flooring is still a fake wood floor.

Non-Repairable: Laminate flooring cannot be sanded down and refinished. Thus laminate flooring is unlikely to be a floor for life.

What engineered flooring is:

Engineered flooring is a hardwood plank, laid on top of ply-boards. The hardwood plank comes at a barying

The benefits of engineered flooring are:

The Price: enginered flooring is priced from about £30 per square eter, which is slightly more expensive than laminate, but still a lot less expensive than solid hardwood flooring.

The Durability: Engineered flooring is practically a hardwood floor. It can be resanded and refinished a varying number of times (depends on thickness of wood layer) to prolong the life. It can also be waxed or lacquered to protect it from damage, which also prolongs the life. The life can also be prolonged by caring properly for the floor, which is the same way as one would care for a solid hardwood floor.

In fact engineered flooring is even more durable the solid wood in a certain set of circumstances: in areas of high humidity and frequent changes between hot and cold temperatures, engineered flooring is much more pliable, so it can expand and contract with changes in the air, without being ruined.

Looks Like Real Thing: as you have probably gathered by now, engineered flooring is about as close as you can get to a solid wood flooring on a lower budget. in fact, to the untrained eye it is practically impossible to tell that it is not the real deal.

So, which wins the Laminate Flooring Vs Engineered flooring battle?

As I said at the beginning, both are perfect in their own ways for people with different circumstances:

For people who have dogs, are on a really limited budget and/or do not own/plan to live in the house forever, then laminate is going to be their best option.

Meanwhile for someone who has their heart set on a proper hardwood floor, but can’t afford it, and who doesn’t have dogs, then engineered flooring is the perfect package for you.

Reclaimed Opepe Floorboards a Designers Dream

Reclaimed Opepe Floorboards are an interior designers dream. Opepe flooring, for those that remember it, is the type of floorboard we all used to run, jump bounce and fall on in physical education lessons throughout our school days. Yes, that's right Opepe is what they used to make the sportsfloors in school halls and gymnasium's.

A hard but springy wood with a satin-sheen, Opepe was finished with a thick, hard setting lacquer. This means that the life expectancy of Opepe reclaimed floorboards is about the same as the life expectancy for when the wood was new.

Once an Opepe floor has been laid, sanded and refinished it is one of the most beautiful floors known to man.

Reclaimed Opepe is a designers dream, because it is cheap, and because it instils nostalgic feelings, designers want people to be happy in their rooms, and nostalgia is a trigger for floods of happiness in most people. Opepe is also perfect for the kind of retro look that is so popular at the moment (not that I know much about it of course, being a grunting male).

Although it is a stereotype; people with the kind of personality traits found in interior designers, are also found within those of us who have been among the first to embrace green or greener lifestyles. Reclaimed flooring is an excellent way to go green, because obviously it is saving the forests.

Finally, another benefit of Opepe reclaimed floorboards is that the product is no longer being manufactured. Therefore stocks are not limitless, so interior designers can give their customers a limited edition floor. Of course the £10 per square meter price tag is also a massively plus in the Opepe box.