Engineered Wood Flooring Information

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Our discerning customers demand the most exceptional and innovative wood floor - some prefer a classic style whilst others prefer the most contemporary up to date chic look. Most importantly though, all demand the most exceptional standard and durability from their floors.

At Real Oak Floors we are specialists in the wide plank timber floors. The large selection of solid and engineered floors makes us one of the leaders in the market for exclusive beautiful wide plank flooring.

Due to the increasing popularity of under floor heating and the fluctuating changes in our climates our wood floors need to be crafted to precision to ensure durability and stability for years to come. Our bespoke finishing service can ensure that all boards are crafted to the exact precision of the customers needs.

We have taken time to investigate and test our floors to the extremes to ensure they are adequate to fulfill the demands of the most extreme projects that we have undertaken. The environmental changes of temperature and humidity can often put solid oak floors under duress and cause damage and stress - this in turn can lead to cupping, warping and extensive expansion and contraction in solid wood boards. Flooring under this strain can be ruined within a couple of years so we have ensured that all our engineered boards are tested against these elements.

What is a Wood Floor? There are different types of wood flooring but the current favourite is the oak floors. Due to the properties of oak they expand and contract depending on the temperature and humidity of their environment. The timber floor is derived from a living tree. During the life of an oak tree it adapts to its environment, expanding, contracting and growing with the seasons. Even after the milling process, the oak flooring still has these qualities and will expand and contract to match its environment. Our engineered boards are machined with precision computerised kilning to give the correct moisture content for an indoors environment. This is usually between 8 - 12%. Flooring that has not been kiln dried correctly can cause unstability in the flooring so to ensure that our boards do not react like this, they are tested and guaranteed by the manufacturer.

We have two different types of engineered structured boards available - we have a 3 ply and multi ply board. Our boards all have a birch ply centre which ensures that no distortion due to cupping and warping take place due to temperature or humidity fluctuations. The high quality precision engineering of our timber boards means that the softwood core can resist stresses and bending of the real wood layer without any movement taking place. This gives a superior wood floor in all situations and reduces large gaps appearing between each board. Our 3 ply boards are made from a top layer of hardwood timber, typically a real oak layer or other hardwood, which is carefully hot glued to the thicker layer of birch blockboard to ensure a stable board. The base layer is a thiner layer of birch ply which is laid at right angles to the main blockboard to ensure stability.

The multi ply board is made up of a layer of hardwood timber similar to the 3 ply boards, it then has a construction of several layers of cross birch ply backing - often between 10mm - 15mm thick. Each ply backing layer is laid at right angles to give an extra strength to the boards and minimise movement of the hardwood top layer.

Our vast range of engineered boards vary in the width and thickness but we have ensured that all engineered planks over 18mm thick are also suitable as a structural floor. This enables the timber boards to be laid directly onto joists or battens, eliminating the need for extra plyboard or chipboard flooring and raising the height of the overall floor. Our boards have been tested to the highest standards to ensure that even when placed on joists and used in conjunction with under floor heating they will give the same exceptional perfomance without movement or warping.

We have one of the widest ranges of engineered floorboards and can offer widths up to a staggering 450mm wide. These can also often be used as mixed width boards and the lengths are exceptionally long - to order we can obtain up to 8m in length. These boards are of the highest quality and milled to perfection mixed with the exact specification of the customers requirements. The extra wide planks are milled to our customers exact demanding specification for an exclusive look unique only to them.

The wide array of floor widths is coupled with our unique ability to produce almost any colour, texture or finish of the clients request. Basic finishing such as lacquered boards, natural oiled and brushed and oiled boards can be mixed with a hint of colour to produce the perfect environment for the clients home. The high gloss sheen can be achieved as easily as the natural matt finish. Distressed boards, antique, smoked and rough sawn boards also complement our full range of finishes. All our accessories are finished in the same high quality standards and are perfectly matched to the customers specifications of the floors.

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