ABOUT HARDWOOD FLOORS

There are three main types of hardwood floor: solid, engineered, and parquet. Solid hardwood floors are made from a single thickness of wood, and may be supplied in narrow or wide strips. Engineered wood floors are of sandwich construction. They have a surface of solid hardwood; a support layer, typically made of pine strips; and a backing layer, typically of veneer. Engineered wood floors are more stable than solid hardwood floors, with less tendency towards twisting or warping. Parquet hardwood floors are make of solid blocks of wood, typically 20mm thick, which may be laid in herringbone, basket weave, or ladder patterns.

Oak is the most common type of wood used in hardwood floors. Other timbers include Ash, Birch, Beech, Cherry, Iroko, Jatoba, Kempas, Mahogany, Maple and Merbau. Hardwood floors may be supplied stained in a variety of tones, with lacquered finish, oiled finish, or unfinished.

SPONSORED LINKS

LEADING UK SUPPLIERS OF HARDWOOD FLOORS

The following UK suppliers of hardwood floors have comprehensive and informative websites, with information on types of hardwood floor, and laying of hardwood floors.

Arden Heritage: Hardwood Floors. Arden Heritage is a leading UK supplier of hardwood floors. The most popular timber is oak, which may be stained to various tones. Other timbers include Maple, Beech, Ash, Birch, Cherry, Merbau and Jatoba. Thickness is either 14mm or 20mm. Available finishes include unfinished, satin lacquer, hand finished distressed, matt lacquer, and oiled.

Henry Venables Timber Merchants. Henry Venables Timber Merchants, which has been trading as a leading timber merchant for 140 years, supplies both pre-finished and unfinished hardwood flooring. Timbers include American Black Walnut, American Ash, American Palimino Oak, American Buckskin Oak, American Chestnut Oak, and American White Oak. Their website includes an interactive room planner.

Hardwood Floor Store: Hardwood Floors. The Hardwood Floor Store is an internet-only retailer of hardwood floors and underlay, including flooring from Kahrs, Junckers and Arden. It supplies both solid hardwood floors and engineered hardwood floors. Timbers include Ash, Birch, Beech, Cherry, Iroko, Jatoba, Kempas, Mahogany, Maple, Merbau, Oak, Rhodesian Teak and Walnut.

Junckers: Hardwood Floors. Junckers of Denmark is a leading manufacturer of hardwood floors and flooring. Junckers hardwood floors are available as strip boards or wide boards, in a wide range of timbers. The surface can be lacquered, oiled, or untreated. Junckers hardwood floors are available in thicknesses up to 22mm.

Kahrs: Hardwood Floors. Kahrs of Sweden was founded in 1857 and is a leading supplier of hardwood floors. It patented a multi-layer parquet board in 1941, and is a pioneer of engineered hardwood floors. These are made up as a sandwich, with a top layer of hardwood, a support layer of solid pine strips, and a back face of spruce veneer. This provides a strong, stable flooring.

Real Oak Floors: Hardwood Floors. Real Oak Floors is an online retailer of solid and engineered hardwood floors. The Real Oak Floors website contains sections on Oak, Ash, Beech, Cherry, Hevea, Maple, and Walnut hardwood floors. There is also a section on hardwood parquet; this is available in 20mm thickness, and can be oiled, lacquered, or stained.

Useful links relevant to hardwood floors:

Contract Flooring Association

Forest Stewardship Council. Accreditation of wood from sustainable forests.

TRADA. Timber Research & Development Association.

DETAILED INFORMATION RESOURCES ON HARDWOOD FLOORS

We recommend the following websites, with building product information including manufacturers' specs, standard specifications, and CAD details: Barbour Compendium, RIBA Product Selector Plus, ASC Bricsnet, Building Products Index, British Board of Agrément, British Standards Online.

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Publisher: Abacus Construction Index is a professionally edited directory of recommended construction websites, published by Extonet Ltd which also publishes Lives Retold. It is financed only by Google advertisements; no payment is received from included websites.