Engineered Oak Flooring from Hackworth Sawmill

Fitting Engineered Floors - Case Study

We were contacted by a customer who wanted to install a hardwood floor in his existing conservatory. His initial thoughts were that he wanted a solid oak floor because the boards would be wide, and he didn�t like the feel of engineered boards which he had come across in shops and offices which he thought were �too soft and didn�t feel like real wooden flooring�. The room in question was South and West facing. It had an existing tiled floor, glass walls and roof. Although there were blinds throughout which were used as sun-shades, the room was very hot and humid in the summer, and because the heating was electric radiators which were only switched on in cold weather when the room was in use, much cooler at night and in the winter. This would have caused problems for solid flooring with inevitable movement due to expansion and shrinkage.
We explained the obvious reservations about fitting solid oak flooring, and in any case to fit battens to the existing tiles, or to the concrete underneath if we decided to take them up, would have raised the level above the kitchen which opened onto the conservatory, with added problems of clearance for existing doors including the patio doors which gave access to the garden. The obvious solution was to fit a good quality engineered oak floor, using a wide, single plank product.
It became clear that the customer had doubts about the feel of engineered oak flooring stemming from his experiences of floating floors and so it was agreed to glue the floor direct to the existing tiles. We used our own 160 mm by 21 mm engineered oak flooring which we glued down using Rewmar adhesive and finished with three coats of Granglaze sealer.
The ultimate test for the floor came on Guy Fawkes Night in 2008 when our customer arranged a firework party for 60 people in the garden, with refreshments in the conservatory. The rain was torrential, fireworks abandoned, people dripping wet in and out of the patio doors, customer convinced that the floor would be ruined. The floor was dried off with dry towels, and the next day it was as good as new, as it still is almost a year on.