Wood flooring comes in different shapes and sizes and some formats are better suited to certain situations than others.
Solid Oak Flooring
A solid wood floor is essentially a piece of a tree that has been sliced, dried in a kiln, machined and lastly sanded into a floorboard.
Our Solid Oak Flooring is 20mm thick and strong enough to span joists without needing additional support.
However wood is a natural product and if it gets wet, it will swell, and if it dries, it will shrink and it is for this reason that we don’t recommend Solid Oak boards to be fitted over Under Floor Heating.
Any movement normally manifests itself across the grain more so than with the grain meaning that a Solid Oak floor will often ( and over time ) settle with charmingly irregular gaps between the boards.
For many this is part of the beauty of Solid Flooring.
For a wooden floor that is dimensionally stable and can be used over Under Floor Heating, Engineered Flooring should be used.
Engineered Oak Flooring Construction
This comprises a โwear layerโ of the desired wood bonded onto a stable substrate. ย Because the wear layer is thinner than a solid board, the lower forces can now be contained within the board making it significantly more stable.
Substrates can vary but are frequently made of either plywood or a cross laminated softwood.
The bonded construction means that the finished and machined board is now dimensionally more stable than a solid board, accordingly it is better able to cope with some of the stresses and strains that might be placed upon it by the likes of underfloor heating.
Different constructions have different limitations. A thinned board does not have the structural integrity of a thicker board and so is unsuitable if being laid directly onto joists. However if the floor is fully supported either on a concrete screed, on floorboards or on Chipboard, then the floor only has to contend with forces of compression and a thinner construction works perfectly.
A thicker board can be laid directly onto joists and has the necessary structural robustness.
They are also frequently better where the screed is irregular as they can span any troughs and peaks better. (This does not mean that surface preparation isnโt necessary. The better the surface preparation, the better the floor!)
Please see our article on “What is an Engineered Wood Floor?”, where we explain the importance of the thickness of the wear layer.
To discuss the matter further, please call Upton Wood Flooring on 01491 628765 or visit us at:
Unit 5,
Manor Farm,
Peppard Common,
Henley on Thames,
Oxonย RG9 5LA