WALNUT FLOORS + KIDS?

Rawhead

Hello all,
Another quick question. As i mentioned in my earlier thread we are planning on timber floors in kitchen/diningroom. We really like walnut but I have been reading that they are very easily marked. Anyone have any experience or advice about alternatives. The floors will be engineered boards.

gummibear

HI there am in same boat. looking at walnut or acacia but tending towards oak as we worried about damage. are you going to float/nail/stick. I have UFH so hoping to float. looking forward to hearing lots of people hopefully say they had no probs with walnut... love the look of it.....

gsxr1

it not so much the walnut itself. Its the lacquer or varnish on top. It shows up scratches on top of the dark timber beneath.
the semi's dont show up as bad as soild timber floors.

Get a tough wearing one. Great deals to be had right now.

Xcellor

I'd consider carefully putting real wood in a kitchen area where spills, leaks etc can occur. Wood does not cope well with moisture and the glue is not always water resistant. If you get a leak or something and water gets under the boards which is quite likely your floor will literally be "floating". Also a kitchen is a high traffic area. Scratches, dents, score marks etc would appearvery quickly.

I have solid walnut in my sitting room that is floated. Its really nice and warm. Its hard wearing but like you say the coating can get scratched easily.

Heatherview

Hi Rawhead
An engineered floor is a very strong flooring as compaired to solid wood. The structure is manufactured differently as following.

It has a plywood backing onto which a 8mm hardwood surface is compressed. This makes the floor very durable. The plywood back also stabilises the surface. A solid floor is solid timber and scratch and dint easily as does timber. The warelear surface of engineered flooring is very strong.

Heatherview

jerryg

Has anyone any ideas on the best deals in solid floors for kithhen and living room area ?I would appreciate any replies.

gsxr1

jerryg wrote: »

Has anyone any ideas on the best deals in solid floors for kithhen and living room area ?I would appreciate any replies.

Try mc cartys in Prosporous for pre finished 19mm soild Oak.
think its around 25 euro a meter.

gsxr1

handyman247.ie wrote: »

Solid floors in the kitchen..Your Mad!
Honestly I use to work at flooring, seen so many solid floors suffer badly from water damage. By far 'engineered' or 'semi solid' floors (same thing different name!), is a far superior floor. Most often an engineered floor will recover from water damage but almost never a solid floor. Anyhow semi solids are easier to install, no height problem because they are laid floating and just do not give trouble! Walnut by the way does tend to be little soft but is a very nice floor, especially in a wide plank. Oak is probably the most popular and easiest to keep.

agreed .

I think it may be ok though as long as you have your dishwasher/washing machine in a utilty room.

RKQ

We have oak semi-solid in our living dining area off the kitchen - open plan. We have ufh so its great for kids. If I was doing it again I'd probably tile the whole floor.

It does scratch on the surface laquer. You can walk in high heels if you have too (breaks my heart) but sitting down and getting up off the sofa, wearing high heels will mark the floor!:eek:

Maple seems quite hard wearing but to be honest you can't beat porceline tiles in a kitchen area. Easy to sweep & mop, great shine and extremely difficult to mark or scratch. Also excellent for ufh.

We have solid walnut upstairs - no problems. Walnut skirting to match is excessively expensive and not worth it.

denisor

All good advice posted, for underfloor heating you would be well advised using a glue to fix the floor down as opposed to floating the floor, the heat needs to contact as much of the finished floor as possible to be effective, with the floor floating a lot of heat can run to the edge of the floor and up the back of your dry lining, with glued, the glue can carry the heat into the finished floor more effectivley. Be sure your installer weights down half the floor he has laid with the packs of floor for the second half to ensure good tight contact between finished floor and sub floor.

If your worried about maintinance, you could try an oiled floor as opposed to clear laquered, with an oil floor you can do local repairs etc, you can buy pre oiled, and if you do go for UV sealed, its a better seal for the oil.

An engineered oak floor with white oil looks fantastic.

Avoid solid floorboards, they all cup (bow) in time, and not always in the same area, engineered boards with a 6mm top layer will allow 3 sandings on average, and assuming you do this once every 5 to 10 years, you really should get plenty of life from the floor, engineered boards are by far the better especially in an open plan kitchen living space, we use an ikea rug in the wet area around the dishwasher, sink, cooker to avoid over time too much splashing of food cooking, or the dishwasher door being opened mid cycle etc, and its fine having the the wood.

stairs

Walnut is relativly hard wood and it can be a nice floor.
You should know that the hardness of the wood is one factor the second one is the finish use . If you think of having your floors in the kitchen make sure you use high quality , maybe commercial grade finish. use oil based if you don't mind longer drying time and the smell for the first week. The finish is very important.
if you have kids that's ok. hardwood floors are very warm floors and for kids better then carpet and tiles. Carpet keep dust and makes the allegries tiles are cold. You can have the floor heating and then tiles might be a good idea.
If you like wood make sure to put felt pads on all chairs, stulls, tables, armchairs and so on i the legs are sharp this will scrach any hardwood floor even ipe ;-)

Good luck.

cossworxenergy

recently just paid 36 euro per sq meter for canadian walnut. Absolutely stunning quality. Beuatiful solid timber with beautiful grain. Doubt you could get it for that price around dublin. All other prices came in at minimum 400 dearer. Got it in headford galway.

gsxr1

cossworxenergy wrote: »

recently just paid 36 euro per sq meter for canadian walnut. Absolutely stunning quality. Beuatiful solid timber with beautiful grain. Doubt you could get it for that price around dublin. All other prices came in at minimum 400 dearer. Got it in headford galway.

thats a fantastic price you got there. Cheapest I seen

KeiCia

Hi Cossworxenergy,

can you let me know the name of the supplier for that Canadian Walnut?

I would be very interested!

Tks,

Keicia

gsxr1

I laid a Quickstep Laminate floor yesterday for someone.

It was oiled Walnut. Top class floor . It went together very tight and is said to be a lot harder wearing. It looed fantastic. I was surprised how real it looked. It was expensive though. 65 euro a box in Des Kellys

coley

@Cossworxenergy
Can you PM me details of the supplier you used in Galway.

thanks
-Coley.

Joey the lips

For my 2 pence worth you have 2 choices on flooring with kids buy cheap floors that will mark very easy peal as a result and need replacing in 2-4 years or buy good quality solid or semi sold which will mark but can be repaired and recoated after 2 -4 years

The first floor produces a lot of waste the second a lot of dust in redoing.

The second was my prepared option,

for the benefit of the posters my floor is like the surface of the moon just not made of cheese!

Zzippy

cossworxenergy wrote: »

recently just paid 36 euro per sq meter for canadian walnut. Absolutely stunning quality. Beuatiful solid timber with beautiful grain. Doubt you could get it for that price around dublin. All other prices came in at minimum 400 dearer. Got it in headford galway.

Was that in Joyces?

brightkane

anyone ever laid elka as opposed to quickstep flooring and how did u get on?

robertc4022

hi layed elka last week very easy to put down, and a very nice laminate that looks real. used it up stairs becuse it was cheaper than quickstep,but will use quickstep down stair it is a top class floor that looks like real wood brought mine from ncs flooring in uk alot cheaper than ireland

brightkane

Cheers for that, much of a difference in quality between the quickstep and the elka? we would be putting the elka downstairs, hall and sittingroom

triona d

Can you let me know the name of the supplier in headford please