Streatham Homeowners Keep Asking Us This Exact Question

Streatham has undergone a lot of changes since the last ten years. Many new cafes popped up all along the high road, the terraced houses have been re-done and families moving in from more expensive postcodes exist all around us. This resurgence brings us to the question we hear practically on a weekly basis: engineered wood or solid wood? Check vinyl fitters near me.

Short answer: It depends on your house. Long answer: continue reading.

We’ve put both time and again at Streatham for over 20 years: garden flats around the Common, Victorian conversions up near Streatham Hill, new-build pads just a little further down the road-and each has its own distinct reason for pushing us toward a certain suggestion, and here’s why.

Want it done before winter? Call 020 3322 7001 while we still have some availabilities.

What Solid Wood Actually Gives You

Solid wood represents exactly what you think it is. One piece of timber, from top to bottom, with no layers underneath to make it look like a different product.

It just feels solid underfoot. Also, sands down nicely if it were to get scratched in centuries to come. A lot of the original houses in Streatham had good quality hardwood floors underneath their carpets. Take up the carpet and underlay and you could just find a certified beauty mother they’d rather keep than chuck out.

But down here, the solid wood does move. Humidity fluctuations make it grow and shrink, which can be noticed with time. That’s why most bathrooms and kitchens are not fitted with solid wood floors.

Underfloor heating?

Better avoid it unless you’d like to see the seams in February.

Engineered Wood Solves Problems Solid Wood Can’t

Manufactured wood appears the same on every surface. Genuine timber veneer is applied over it. Beneath, you can see layered plywood or high-pressure fibreboard laid up to keep the thing in balance.

That design helps to make engineered wood a lot more tolerant of humidity variations. Places like kitchens, conservatories or even rooms with underfloor heating rooms can be used. For floor-level flats with damp-prone subfloors around Streatham, that is of the highest importance.

Cost falls somewhere between laminate and solid wood, generally. You’re paying for real timbers on the top, just constructed intelligently underneath so it behaves itself.

Which One Suits Streatham Properties Specifically

Original joists in Victorian terraces, zero dampness below the board due to breathable subfloors and good ventilation: a solid wood floor is ok. Those houses were designed for it.

Newer conversions, flats above shops in the high street, anything with concrete subfloors or underfloor heating, engineered wood generally pips everything else. Long term concrete and solid wood simply don’t get along. Moisture travels up through the concrete through subfloors in a way that destroys unprotected solid boards.

We consider this at each and every appointment. Your floor type, subfloor, where you use each room, even how you keep warm in the winter-all influence our suggestion. To be honest-about half our job is simply wondering aloud about things before wood has been cut.

Why Wood Floor Fitters London Get This Wrong Sometimes

Loads of London based floor fitters sell whatever’s in their van that week. Solid wood in stock? If you’ve got a concrete, wooden or even a sand and cement subfloor we will recommend solid!

That’s incorrect. The property should be controlling the product and not stock levels.

We have both engineered and solid ranges in stock so we’re not limited to only recommending one solution to all our Streatham customers who call us up. If it’s insullating your flats that require engineered wood then that’s what we will try and fit. An if your Victorian terraced London quarter requires solid oak then that’s exactly what we’ll offer.

Budget Considerations Worth Knowing

Solid wood is a much more expensive material initially. Front loading more money at the start, but giving the option of sanding and refinishing this can be stretched for a very long time.

Engineered wood is generally cheaper and can be installed quicker. Click-lock engineered systems can be laid in a day, for the majority of Streatham’s living rooms. Less man hours involved often results in a cheaper fitting cost for you.

Neither choice is “wrong.” The choice is about using the right product for your own situation, and at the right price range for you, rather than finding the most exotic sounding new gadget on a showroom floor.

People Also Ask: What’s the cost difference between laminate versus engineered wood? Should I even be comparing the two?

Yes significantly more affordable and for most certainly worth serious thought with regard to many a Streatham property.

Laminate offers a very life like color and pattern of wood by means of a photo layer underneath a top clear coating, being, no wood veneer at all. According to the naked eye, modern laminate is very convincing, and more hard wearing than most people give it credit for.

Cost-wise, laminate usually works out better than the engineered or solid options for renters, landlords and anyone working to a budget on a renovation. Getting the look of wood without the cost of wood, in other words.

Most our work in Streatham is Laminate fitting we do a lot of engineered wood jobs throughout a week,. Having been in the business for 20 years we know you can and should put laminate in most rooms but we also know when you should put genuine timber under your feet.

What About Other Flooring Types?

Not all rooms does one want wood, laminate or else. Some rooms, like bathrooms and kitchens that are exposed to a lot of moisture, may be better suited to vinyl or tiles. If you do want to consider other options, do a search on where to get vinyl fitters near me along with us, since we also install vinyl, and you will also get help regarding what surface in different spaces is right for you.

Mixing flooring types is quite common. Wood/engineered wood in lounge/kitchen, vinyl in bathrooms, laminate in bedrooms (where prestige is of less importance than cost). We do the whole mix ourselves, not farm it out to sub-contractors who haven’t even seen your house.

Booking Your Consultation

Streatham’s renovation season gets started in earnest early in spring-by then all the appointments are booked up weeks in advance and nobody gets in at the last minute.

Don’t leave your home or office to whichever fitter answers their phone. Dial 020 3322 7001, or visit flooringfitterslondon.org.uk now to make a fair assessment. 20 years spent in the flooring trade. Honest product recommendation.

Professional fitting work.

Against which time only makes the quality better.