Types of Wooden Floor
There are a number of different types of products on the market, but they can all be grouped into two main categories: solid wood and engineered wood floors.
Solid Wood
Solid wood is one piece of wood all the way through from top to bottom, regardless of width or length. It can be bought unfinished (without lacquers or oils) or pre-finished. An unfinished floor will need to be sanded after it has been installed, to bring the surface of the floor to a level of smoothness that will accept a lacquer or oil. A pre-finished floor will normally have been treated in the factory with several coats of lacquer or oil. It can come in various lengths, shapes, dimensions, etc.
The width of a solid floor will determine how the floor is referred to. Narrow boards up to 90mm in width are generally referred to as "strip flooring", whereas boards wider than 90mm are referred to as "plank flooring". The same applies to the thickness of the floor; 18-22mm thick floors are generally referred to as "solid floors", and the thinner 10-15mm floors as "overlays". Both strip and plank solid hardwood floors will normally be fitted with invisible nailing.
Industry standards state that a solid floor should be no more than 130mm wide (with no restrictions on length) unless face fixing is used to prevent the board from bowing or cupping. However, this is rarely adhered to by most companies, as the current trends are for long and wide planks. The Turgon ranges of planks come in a variety of species, with lengths up to 4 metres, and widths up to 150mm.
Engineered Wood Flooring
The image to the right shows the typical construction of a 14mm engineered floor. In general it will include:
[1] a real hardwood veneer (ranging from 3 to 4mm single strip, or a staggered three or two strip pattern); then
[2] a core layer, usually made from 9mm fir strips, (although it can made from strips of hardwood too); then
[3] the stabilizing base layer (which is usually a 2mm single piece of pine, although if the core layer is hardwood the base is usually hardwood too).
The boards will in almost all cases come pre-finished from the factory with either lacquer or oil [F].
Typical board dimensions can be anywhere from 125-205mm wide, 1250-2525mm long and 9-22mm thick. The 19-22mm thick engineered floors are manufactured using the principle described above. These products are considered 'load bearing' and can therefore be fixed directly to existing floor joists in place of traditional pine floor boards. In most cases the thicker the engineered floor the thicker the veneer; these can range from 0.5-6mm.
The Turgon range of planks come in a variety of species, with lengths up to a breathtaking 12 metres, and various widths up to 600 mm, so choosing the right look for your home or project should be easy, and the resulting floor unique.
The three layer construction of an engineered floor - with the grain on each layer running at ninety degrees to the adjacent layer - makes the board incredibly stable. This allows it to be fitted as a floating floor on top of one of any number of different kinds of underlay. Engineered floors can also be stuck down directly to the sub floor; this kind of installation is in fact the recommended method when certain types of under-floor heating are being used.