pix

There are various types of wood flooring which can be referred to as either solid boards, engineered, laminated and parquet. These products are available in a wide range of species.


Solid Boards
May consist of either single plank machined boards or 2 strip staved boards in various thickness between 14mm – 22mm these are tongue and grooved and require fixing either by secret nailing to battens or fully bonding to suitable substrate. There are also proprietary clip systems available that allow installation of a fully floating floor over screed base.

Solid boards are supplied either factory finished in either lacquered or oiled finish or unfinished when they will require sanding and finishing on site once they have been installed.

The advantage of using a solid board is the number of times it can be sanded and refinished which has a direct effect on its life expectancy, a 20mm solid board can be sanded up to seven times which would give an expected life of 20+ years.


Engineered Boards
Engineered boards consist of 2 or 3 strip boards constructed of 2 layers of ply cross grain bonded with a hardwood face finish in various wear layers ranging from 2.5mm-4.5mm thick.

These products are tongue and grooved for traditional fixing or can be manufactured with a “clic” or locking design which eliminates the need for gluing the boards edges making this a very fast clean installation.

As they have a veneered wear layer engineered boards can also be sanded and refinished however the number of times this can be done is dependant on the thickness of the wear layer however a 4.5mm wear layer can expect to be sanded fewer times.


Laminated Boards
Laminated boards are constructed of an MDF bottom layer with a printed-paper or vinyl finish layer they are generally only suitable for light traffic areas and cannot be sanded or refinished due to the nature of their construction. Therefore they are not generally recommended for commercial use.

Parquet Blocks
These products are the more traditional type flooring seen in period homes and old school buildings. They are either rectangular solid blocks generally between 12mm-20mm in thickness or small squares made up from bonded “fingers” Installation is by fully bonding to a suitable substrate either concrete or plywood base with specialist parquet adhesive or bitumen. Parquet blocks can be laid to create intricate designs with mixtures of species and due to their construction and the method of installation they require far less expansion allowance.

As with all solid wood products they can be sanded and refinished many times and there are examples of original parquet block flooring still in sound condition that is over 100 years old.


The table below gives a brief overview of the species available and its suitability of use.

species resistance to indentation
(brinell rating)		 suitable for use in available finishes
oak 34N / mm2 Commercial / Domestic / Retail / Leisure Lacquered /oiled / Unfinished
beech 36N / mm2 Commercial / Domestic / Sport Lacquered / oiled / Unfinished
maple 35 / mm2 Commercial / Domestic / Sport Lacquered / oiled / Unfinished
merbau 41N / mm2 Commercial / Domestic / Retail / Leisure Lacquered / oiled / Unfinished
ash 34N /mm2 Commercial / Domestic Lacquered / oiled / Unfinished
hevea 40N / mm2 Commercial / Domestic / Retail / Leisure Lacquered / oiled /Unfinished
cherry N/A Commercial / Domestic / Retail / Leisure Lacquered / oiled / Unfinished
sycamore 35N / mm2 Commercial / Domestic / Sport Lacquered / oiled / Unfinished
jatoba 50N / mm2 Commercial / Domestic / Retail / leisure Oiled / Unfinished


*Please note suitability of use is based on our own commercial experience in tried and tested commercial installation for example we would be cautious about using a blonde wood in a Restaurant as it will be prone to showing dirt more easily than that of a darker species.

Contact us with queries.

Loughton Contracts Plc Grey Bullet Loughton House Grey Bullet 8 & 9 Loughton Business Centre Grey Bullet 5 Langston Road Grey Bullet Loughton Grey Bullet Essex IG10 3FL
Telephone Grey Bullet 020 8508 9394 Fax Grey Bullet 020 8508 0999 Email Grey Bullet info@loughtoncontracts.com