10/08/2021
Timber Flooring
Solid strip timber flooring can be fixed direct to joists, to sheet
subfloors of particleboard or plywood over joists, plywood or battens
over concrete slabs and in some locations, direct fixing to the concrete slab is common. The traditional timber floor is renowned for its strength, durability and character. Throughout its life, solid strip timber floors can be rejuvenated to near new condition by sanding and refinishing. It is ideal for new houses or to match existing floors in renovations and they can
be top (face) nailed, or secretly fixed in combination with adhesives.
Prefinished solid strip timber flooring combines natural solid timber flooring with a factory finish. Similar to prefinished engineered flooring, there is no sanding and finishing after installation. Boards may be square edged, arrised to a fine rounded edge or bevel edged to provide a ‘v’ joint at board edges. Prefinished solid timber floors are usually installed as an overlay floor.
Engineered flooring is manufactured with a decorative layer of timber (called a veneer or lamella) bonded over layers beneath which is often timber. This not only provides some additional stability but also maintains the appearance of solid timber flooring. Various factory coating systems are now used that can highlight colour and grain together with other techniques to texture the surface for a stunning appearance. Most engineered flooring is pre-finished although some are designed to be sanded and finished after installation. Engineered floors may be laid as floating floors, glued to a subfloor as an overlay and in some cases fixed as a structural floor on battens. Products
are available with both glueless jointing systems and tongue and groove joints. Pre-finished engineered floors are ready to walk on once installed.
Parquetry comes in two forms, block parquetry and the less common mosaic parquetry sheet. Parquetry provides many options of combining block orientation, size and species to transform floors into an outstanding feature. They can be laid to various subfloors and, similar to solid strip timber floors, they can easily be rejuvenated throughout their life.