TYPES OF WOODS
Real Wood Floors
Real wood is also known as solid hardwood and there is very little substitute for this traditional hardwood style of flooring. If money and time were no object then real wood flooring would win hands down every time.
Real wood flooring is available in a range of wood types, such as Oak, Cherry, Steamed Beech, Maple and Ash and many other more exotic alternatives.
If you choose real wood, The Bespoke Flooring Company will generally offer you wood in a range of different thicknesses and width. These are most likely planks ranging from approximately 9mm to 20mm thick and 90mm to 200mm wide. What thickness you like or how wide you want your planks to be depends very much on your own personal taste.
That said, if you choose real wood planks, the main thing to remember is real wood flooring hates moisture, so you should NEVER lay it in any areas where a lot of humidity is present. This is because the planks are a completely natural product, thus the wood tends to swell and contract depending on the moisture in the air. In winter, the lack of humidity can cause solid wood floors to contract, leaving unsightly gaps between each plank, but in summer, when the humidity is higher, the wood planks could expand and cause bulging in parts of your floor.
Basements, cellars or parts of the floor which have concrete below are particularly susceptible to humidity, The Bespoke Flooring Company will examine your home carefully before selling you the product.
Call The Bespoke Flooring Company for samples 0800 880 6061
Engineered Wood Floors
Engineered wood flooring consists of a plank that is made up of several layers of different woods, which are topped off by a veneer top layer of your selected wood type such as Oak, Ash etc.
The top veneer of an engineered wood plank can be any wood you like - which means you can get an expensive wood finish for a competitive price. It's environmentally friendly too, as it doesn't require as much of a particular tree to be cut down. Engineered wood floors are just as durable as real wood, which makes them a popular - and cheaper - alternative.
Although they do not have the 'feel' of real wood, another bonus is the fact that engineered wood planks are treated specially so that they do not swell and contract like real wood. This means you can lay engineered wood almost anywhere in your home.
Longstrip or 'Floating' Engineered Wood Floors
It might sound like a magic trick, but 'floating' wood floors are simply engineered wood that sits in a raised position above the sub-floor beneath. These planks are known as longstrip wood and are safely glued or stapled down in your home.
Longstrip flooring 'floats' by being placed over an underlay grid which lifts them off the sub-floor below. The fact that the wood is 'floating' above the sub-floor means your floor is not susceptible to damp or moisture coming from below. This means you can install them above any surface, in any room, no matter how high the moisture levels may be.
Another main difference with longstrip planks is that they usually have the effect of a board that is three narrow planks wide and several planks long. Each longstrip plank looks like an entire section that has already been pre-assembled for you but, to the casual observer, your floor will appear to be made up of individual planks – an optical illusion!
Longstrip wood floors tend to be cheaper, even though they are constructed in much the same way as engineered wood floors and are usually available in the same numbers of finishes.
Call The Bespoke Flooring Company for samples 0800 880 6061
Laminate Flooring
Laminate flooring has become increasing popular in recent years. This is mainly because the technology surround laminate floors has improved, meaning better quality, durability and a low-cost, easy installation process.
Laminate flooring looks just like traditional wood flooring but is, in fact, a thin layer of decor paper placed under a tough-as-nails protective film. Decor paper is actually a photographic image of a certain type of wood. This picture is then glued and pressed to a high-density backing board. Despite appearances there is no real wood in a laminate board at all!
The main benefits of laminate flooring are its lasting durability and the ease of installation. Some laminate flooring is simply glued down to the sub-floor, but others sit on top of an underlay grid which lifts them off the surface beneath. Planks of laminate flooring simply click together, which enables the floor to be fitted fast, with no real mess, and you can walk on your floor straightaway. You don't have to compromise on style either, as laminate flooring comes in a massive array of different wood effects and finishes.
Laminate flooring has got bad press in the past for being cheap or naff but, in recent years, the quality of laminate flooring has improved so much that it can be almost impossible to tell from a first glance whether it is a hardwood or laminate flooring!
Call The Bespoke Flooring Company for samples 0800 880 6061
Real wood is also known as solid hardwood and there is very little substitute for this traditional hardwood style of flooring. If money and time were no object then real wood flooring would win hands down every time.
Real wood flooring is available in a range of wood types, such as Oak, Cherry, Steamed Beech, Maple and Ash and many other more exotic alternatives.
If you choose real wood, The Bespoke Flooring Company will generally offer you wood in a range of different thicknesses and width. These are most likely planks ranging from approximately 9mm to 20mm thick and 90mm to 200mm wide. What thickness you like or how wide you want your planks to be depends very much on your own personal taste.
That said, if you choose real wood planks, the main thing to remember is real wood flooring hates moisture, so you should NEVER lay it in any areas where a lot of humidity is present. This is because the planks are a completely natural product, thus the wood tends to swell and contract depending on the moisture in the air. In winter, the lack of humidity can cause solid wood floors to contract, leaving unsightly gaps between each plank, but in summer, when the humidity is higher, the wood planks could expand and cause bulging in parts of your floor.
Basements, cellars or parts of the floor which have concrete below are particularly susceptible to humidity, The Bespoke Flooring Company will examine your home carefully before selling you the product.
Call The Bespoke Flooring Company for samples 0800 880 6061
Engineered Wood Floors
Engineered wood flooring consists of a plank that is made up of several layers of different woods, which are topped off by a veneer top layer of your selected wood type such as Oak, Ash etc.
The top veneer of an engineered wood plank can be any wood you like - which means you can get an expensive wood finish for a competitive price. It's environmentally friendly too, as it doesn't require as much of a particular tree to be cut down. Engineered wood floors are just as durable as real wood, which makes them a popular - and cheaper - alternative.
Although they do not have the 'feel' of real wood, another bonus is the fact that engineered wood planks are treated specially so that they do not swell and contract like real wood. This means you can lay engineered wood almost anywhere in your home.
Longstrip or 'Floating' Engineered Wood Floors
It might sound like a magic trick, but 'floating' wood floors are simply engineered wood that sits in a raised position above the sub-floor beneath. These planks are known as longstrip wood and are safely glued or stapled down in your home.
Longstrip flooring 'floats' by being placed over an underlay grid which lifts them off the sub-floor below. The fact that the wood is 'floating' above the sub-floor means your floor is not susceptible to damp or moisture coming from below. This means you can install them above any surface, in any room, no matter how high the moisture levels may be.
Another main difference with longstrip planks is that they usually have the effect of a board that is three narrow planks wide and several planks long. Each longstrip plank looks like an entire section that has already been pre-assembled for you but, to the casual observer, your floor will appear to be made up of individual planks – an optical illusion!
Longstrip wood floors tend to be cheaper, even though they are constructed in much the same way as engineered wood floors and are usually available in the same numbers of finishes.
Call The Bespoke Flooring Company for samples 0800 880 6061
Laminate Flooring
Laminate flooring has become increasing popular in recent years. This is mainly because the technology surround laminate floors has improved, meaning better quality, durability and a low-cost, easy installation process.
Laminate flooring looks just like traditional wood flooring but is, in fact, a thin layer of decor paper placed under a tough-as-nails protective film. Decor paper is actually a photographic image of a certain type of wood. This picture is then glued and pressed to a high-density backing board. Despite appearances there is no real wood in a laminate board at all!
The main benefits of laminate flooring are its lasting durability and the ease of installation. Some laminate flooring is simply glued down to the sub-floor, but others sit on top of an underlay grid which lifts them off the surface beneath. Planks of laminate flooring simply click together, which enables the floor to be fitted fast, with no real mess, and you can walk on your floor straightaway. You don't have to compromise on style either, as laminate flooring comes in a massive array of different wood effects and finishes.
Laminate flooring has got bad press in the past for being cheap or naff but, in recent years, the quality of laminate flooring has improved so much that it can be almost impossible to tell from a first glance whether it is a hardwood or laminate flooring!
Call The Bespoke Flooring Company for samples 0800 880 6061
