The London Wood Flooring Specialists
If you're new to wood flooring, these FAQ's may be helpful.
Yes, absolutely. Dark patches generally indicate moisture or humidity issues. If left untreated this could have severe consequences.
We do provide wood flooring repair services if you need someone to assess the damage. The best advice we can give you is to seek help immediately to limit the damage.
Most surface scratches can be repaired by either re-sanding the floor back to bear wood, thereby removing any dirt that may have entered the surface of the wood, and refinishing the floor, or by treating localised areas. If the scratches are light and don’t penetrate the finish, the floor can simply be resealed which should cover any evidence of them being there in the first place.
The type of finish you choose for your floor depends on two things. Firstly, the amount of traffic the floor will be exposed to and secondly, the look and feel you are trying to achieve.
An oil finish will leave the wood with a more natural look and feel, however oil finishes do wear through quicker and require a little more maintenance. A lacquer finish will give a durable finish, but it won’t look as natural an oil finish.
Bona has recently brought to market a new primer (called Bona Classic) for lacquer finishes that give you some options in regards to how the floor will look. By using Bona Classic it is possible to have a slightly more natural looking floor if that’s what you’re after.
Gloss finishes have the tendency to show dust more than matt finishes. Matt surfaces tend to hide dust accumulation, and scuff marks and will generally hide wear in high traffic areas better than gloss finishes.
Installation time it mostly dependent on total job size. Another contributing factor is installation complexity. The more complex the area/layout of the floor, the longer it takes. As a rough indication we usually allow for 1 day per 15-20 square meters.
If time is a major limitation, it may be advised to choose a pre-finished floor to reduce the overall time it takes to install the floor. With pre-finished products, sanding and sealing times are eliminated which will help speed up the process significantly.
Installing a wood floor over underfloor heating requires a little more care and preparation to avoid excessive shrinkage after the floor is installed.
Depending on the width of floor you would like, it may be advisable to use an engineered board to reduce lateral movement. Floorboards on the narrow side are fine to use with underfloor heating though.
It is very important however to give the flooring ample time to acclimatise with the underfloor heating running. This will limit any lateral movement after installation.
You will need to check the building regulations before installing a wood floor. Some body corporate’s have stringent regulations when it comes to wood flooring due to the sound that travels through the floorboards. In most cases, this can be overcome by using high-density sound insulating material to stop the sound travelling to the floors below, however you will need to ensure that you have enough room to install this type of underlay, as it can measure up to 25mm thick.
Be sure to check that the total height (sound insulation + board thickness) is sufficient to allow the installation to take place. Traditional floorboards are generally 18mm to 20mm thick.
Restoring a floor will generate some dust. Unfortunately there’s not way to completely eliminate dust spreading throughout the premises.
We do however take care to limit the amount of dust generated by using:
A restoration job is entirely dependent on the size of the job, as well as the condition of the floor and the finish of choice.
For flooring in a reasonably good condition, a guideline would be 30 square meters per day excluding and finishes.
For flooring in a bad condition, a guideline would be 15 to 20 square meters per day excluding and finishes.
Softwood floors generally take longer than hardwood floors due to a higher sap / wax content in the flooring.
Acclimatisation is the process of preparing the wood for installation in the area where it is being installed.
Without allowing the wood to acclimatise, it is possible that gaps will open along the joins after the installation has taken place
To properly acclimatise the timber, it is recommended to unwrap any packaging material and stack the wood in lattice format with spaces in between to allow the air to circulate. Acclimatisation should be carried out for 7 to 10 days before installation can take place.
We cover predominately:
We also carry out work further afield depending on the size of the job.
Typically, we would not take on a job smaller than 30 to 40 square meters outside the areas listed above.
Maintenance is dependent on the amount of traffic the floor is exposed to. It is always best to treat the floor before the finish wears through completely as this will mitigate the need for a full restoration job.