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What Is Solid Oak Flooring? Solid oak flooring is exactly what it says on the tin – wooden flooring where each individual board is made up of solid oak wood, milled from a single piece of timber. Solid oak floor boards are available in widths ranging from 120mm wide to 200mm+ wide. At Peak Oak, we are known for our long boards, with lengths from 2000mm to 3000mm. Our solid oak boards are 20mm thick with a grooved underside, designed to give maximum stability to the flooring. The boards are machined to give a tongue and groove structure, allowing the boards to simply slot together when being fitted. These boards can then be either glued, nailed or screwed to a sub-floor. Solid oak flooring is available in a number of different grades, which dictate how your finished floor will look. The grade of flooring you choose comes down to personal preference with such a wide range of styles available. Some of these grades include: Barn...
When we deliver oak flooring, we like to use our own transport whenever possible. This way we get to see our customers in person and discuss their project further. Recently, Adrian set off to deliver some solid oak flooring to a customer. He arrived on site to find a lovely, traditional home in the countryside. On arrival, he was greeted by the husband and wife owners, who were eager to see their new oak flooring. Whilst chatting away, the customers began to explain how the new flooring was to replace an existing oak floor they had purchased only a few years ago. “What?!?” Adrian exclaimed. “An oak floor should last a lifetime, why are you replacing so soon?”. The customers then revealed their previous “oak flooring”. They described how they had hated their floor from the start and how they had been sold something in stark contrast to what they had received. We thought this was a disgrace. With this in mind, we have produced this guide to show you what...
Introduction Finishing your oak flooring is one of the most important jobs in protecting your investment and achieving the desired look for your project. However, this can easily become a minefield, with so many different brands and finishes available. With this in mind, we have created this essential guide to available finishes for oak flooring. If you are looking for information on which particular brand produces the best finish, you can check out our Guide To Oak Floor Finishes by clicking here . Please Note: All of the images in this piece should be used solely as a guide. For a true representation, always test out the finish on a small offcut prior to complete application. ( To download a printable pdf version of this guide, click here ) Summary What Is The Difference Between A Satin And A...
Introduction With so many different floor finishes on the market at the moment, we thought it was about time that we sorted out which are best. We have created this guide to test out a number of different finishes. The finishes under test are: Treatex Hardwax Oil Traditional - Clear Satin, Blanchon Hard Waxoil - Natural , Osmo Polyx-Oil - Satin-matt , Fiddes Hard Wax Oil - Clear Satin and the Liberon Floor Varnish - Clear Satin. Here is the newly updated 2013 edition of this guide, with the Rubio Monocoat and the Blanchon Original Wood Environment tested and under scrutiny. This guide looks at which finish is the easiest to apply, which provides the best look, and which provides the best protection. If you're looking for information on how to apply the floor finishes, we please read our guide on How To Apply Osmo Polyx-Oil . ( To download a printable pdf...
Introduction Ever wondered how to fit an oak floor? With this in mind we have created this handy guide showing the different stages of one of our recent installations. Throughout this guide we have enlisted the help of one of our highly skilled floor fitters, as he shares some of his helpful tips and tricks from his experience in the trade. ( To download a printable pdf version of this guide, click here ) Glueing Method In this particular floor fit, the Hakwood Bonneval engineered oak boards were fitted by glueing them to the sub-floor, which had an underfloor heating system already installed. To make things extra tricky, one side of our room had a plastered wall which would eventually have skirting running along it. On the other side, there was a pointed stone wall, where the flooring needed to run clean up to the edge of the wall, and would therefore require some scribing. A timber frame...
Introduction Some of you choose to order your oak ledged doors in kit form and the following guide shows the typical assembly process. We got a skilled joiner to build up this door and some of his tips and wisdom are passed on here. An oak ledged door kit would usually take him between 25 and 30 minutes to complete - you may wish to allow a little longer! ( To download a printable pdf version of this guide, click here ) What You Will Need Level workbench with 2 or 3 softwood battens to rest the door planks on Tape measure Nylon hammer/mallet Steel hammer Screwdriver (quicker and easier with an electric screwdriver) Sharp 1 inch chisel PVA glue Steel cabinet scraper OR 120 grit sand paper and a sanding block 1. Unpack Door Components Remove the cellophane wrapping from the door kit and check that you have: 5 x oak door boards 4 x...
Level workbench with 2 or 3 softwood battens to rest the door planks on Tape measure Nylon hammer/mallet Steel hammer Screwdriver (quicker and easier with an electric screwdriver) Screwdriver bit Sharp 1 inch chisel PVA glue Steel cabinet scraper OR 120 grit sand paper and a sanding block
Introduction As many of you will already have seen, we have a guide available on How To Assemble An Oak Ledged Door . Once the door is assembled the next step is of course fitting the oak door into place. This step by step guide outlines the sequence for fitting an oak ledged door with wrought iron T-hinges and a Suffolk latch ( To download a printable pdf version of this guide, click here ) What You Will Need Assembled Oak Ledged Door Suffolk Latch & Hinge Set Spirit Level Screwdriver Screws Handsaw Plane Hand Drill 1. Install Door Frame Before you begin to fit your oak door, you need to ensure that the door casing or frame is perfectly perpendicular and square within the opening. Get this wrong and you will plant the seeds of much strife later on - you have been warned! 2. Measure The Door...
Introduction To keep your new oak flooring in top condition, you need to finish it with some form of protective coating. We think the best products for doing this are natural hard wax oils. One of the most popular of these is Osmo Polyx-Oil . This natural product is available in either a Satin or Matt finish, is incredibly hard-wearing, micro-porous (breathable) and also water repellent. We've created this mini guide and video to show you how to apply Osmo Polyx-Oil - it also applies to other hardwax oils like Blanchon. ( To download a printable pdf version of this guide, click here ) What You Will Need Osmo Polyx-Oil Satin Or Matt (A 2.5 litre tin will cover 30 square metres with two coats) Vacuum Cleaner/Dust Pan and Brush Natural Bristle Brush (Osmo Natural Bristle Brush used in example) Floor Brush (Osmo Floor Brush...
Your choice of colour for Oak flooring comes in all manners of styles, be it the darkest of tones or the lightest of whites.
To achieve a rainbow of colours, one of our more popular products of choice is the Blanchon Hard Waxoil - Colours.
Currently the Blachon Hard Waxoil - Colours is available in a number of shades: Light Oak, Golden Oak, Smoked Oak, Walnut, Black, Graphite, Metallic Grey, Light Grey, White Grey, White, Rough Timber, Old White and Weathered Wood.
In this guide we show you the process of applying the Blanchon Hard Waxoil - Colours. For this example; the Golden Oak colour has been applied to our unfinished European oak flooring.
Introduction A request we often receive these days is to provide a finish that will not only protect your floor, but will also keep it looking as close to its natural a colour as possible. The best product for this job is Blanchon Wood Floor Oil Environment . Offering the same great protection as a hard wax oil, this product is available in four individual finishes. These are: Rough Timber, Natural, Ultra Matt and Bare Timber. If you would like to see the differences between these finishes on an oak board, you can do so by clicking here . We have created this mini guide and video to show you step by step how to apply Blanchon Original Wood Environment. ( To download a printable pdf version of this guide, click here ) What You Will Need ...
Introduction Outdoor woodwork is heavily exposed to the elements. Making it hugely important that the right product is used to protect your wood. The Blanchon Advanced Decking Protection Environment / Blanchon Saturation has been designed to do just that. This product will naturally penetrate the wood, meaning the finish will not crack or peel. This provides major protection to your woodwork. This mini guide and video has been created to show you how to apply this product. In the case of this guide we have used the Oak finish. What You Will Need Blanchon Advanced Decking Protection / Blanchon Saturation Natural Brush/Roller 1. Cleaning The Wood Begin by ensuring that the wood is perfectly clean and dry, without any traces of resin, grease or previously applied products. If other products are present, it should be rubbed down to bare wood. For optimal penetration of the finish, there should be a minimum of three...
read more (How To Apply Blanchon Advanced Decking Protection)
Introduction You’ve laid your brand new oak floor, and applied a high quality finish. You are going to want to keep it looking just as good in the years to come. This can be easily achieved providing a few simple steps are taken to maintain your oak flooring. This guide has been created to show a few basic tips to keep your oak flooring looking in top condition. “Properly maintained waxed-oiled wood floors look better and better as time goes by” Hard Wearing Finish The most important step is choosing a hard wearing finish for your oak flooring. Whether you purchase pre-finished or unfinished oak flooring, you should ensure that the finish is of a high quality. Poor quality finishes will often mark much easier and protect your oak flooring less. Dependant on what look you are trying to achieve, there are a number of finishes available. An oil finish will generally give a very natural look and are very easy to maintain. One of the main products we recommend for the finishing of...
Introduction Over time no matter what oak floor finish you use, the floor may begin to show areas of wear and tear. These are often caused by excess traffic over a particular area of your floor and may vary in size from small patches to whole rooms. With this in mind, we have created this guide to show how you can restore your oak floor finish and bring it back to its original, like new condition. If you require information on the initial application of either of these finishes, you can check out our Hard Wax Oil and Blanchon Original Wood Environment guides respectively. Summary General Maintenance Recoating Restoring A Hard Wax Oil Restoring Blanchon Original Wood Environment
Introduction Would you believe its 16 years from the time of writing since our showroom opened its doors and our main oak flooring area has been in use. We’ve welcomed literally thousands of you through our doors to take a look at everything we have to offer. Throughout this period, this showroom floor has simply been maintained and cleaned, as per our guide on How To Maintain Your Oak Floor Finish. Oak flooring will naturally darken over time as areas of wear and tear become more present, which is what has happened inside our showroom with such a high footfall. The main area this occurred was the entrance into the showroom. This section got the most wear as wet, dirt, grit, snow and even animals enter the showroom - we’ve had it all! Other areas have also worn - but to a lesser extent. After 16 long years of heavy use, we recently decided that now is the time to sand down the finish to the bare timber, recoat, and bring the area back to life! In this guide, we take you through our...
Introduction Disaster has struck. Your beautiful oak floor has been damaged by water and is therefore completely useless right? Traditional solid oak flooring is susceptible to movement caused by changes in humidity and so you should not use solid oak flooring in areas such as the kitchen and bathroom. High humidity can result in solid oak boards cupping and warping as they expand. Engineered oak flooring is much less prone to these changes in humidity and therefore more suited to areas such as the kitchen and bathroom. But what happens to engineered boards which have been completely water-damaged and battered? Are your boards still salvageable? In this test we look to discover just that... Please Note: The purpose of this test is to demonstrate what we would do if the option of replacing the boards was not available. Generally in a situation such as this, we would recommend replacing any damaged boards. ( To download a printable pdf version of this guide,
Introduction A Traditional Hard Wax Oil is the perfect way to finish off your oak flooring. Offering extreme durability and resistance, these oils are also micro-porous and water repellent. As a natural oil and wax mix, hard wax oils are safe for humans, animals and plants. As standard these oils can give either a natural satin or a natural matt fish, which is beloved by many. As you may have already seen from our guide to oak floor finishes , there are a number of different brands available many of which we stock, including Osmo Polyx-Oil , Blanchon Hard Waxoil and Fiddes Hard Wax Oil . Although all of these are Hard Wax Oils, the different formulas used mean that they will of course produce a slightly different final finish. As a supplier, we are asked various questions in relation to their...
read more (Can I Apply One Hard Wax Oil Brand Over Another?)
20 Comments
We need to fix solid oak flooring probably Barn Oak to a Limecrete screed. Can you recommend a permeable adhesive which would be suitable to maiintain the breathablity of the floor.
Alan Kingston October 6, 2016 at 5:22pm
Hi Alan,
If you intend to fit our barn grade solid oak flooring to your subfloor, for the glue down method we would not recommend a board any wider than 120mm in width. For wider boards, we would recommend opting for engineered oak flooring.
With regards to the adhesive, our usual MS Polymer would not be suitable for this because of its rubberised nature. If you wanted to give us a call we could perhaps discuss in more detail the various fitting methods available.
Peak Oak October 7, 2016 at 1:14pm
I'm thinking of laying a solid oak floor on a first floor with underfloor heating - is this a bad idea? - I'm worried about warping etc. I know that engineered plank would be better, but could I nail that to the joists?
Chris March 5, 2017 at 10:29am
Hi Chris,
For laying over an underfloor heating system we would recommend using engineered oak flooring rather than solid. Engineered oak flooring is designed to be more stable in changeable conditions.
As for fitting, yes engineered can be fitted in same ways as a solid oak floor. We would normally recommend our Spax 3.5 x 55mm Screws for fitting into joists.
Peak Oak March 6, 2017 at 11:42am
Hi. I want to replace the pine ground floor floorboards in our Victorian house and wondered if solid or engineered oak would be better and if either/both would require a ply subfloor and membrane over the ventilated void (about 40cm deep)?
Also, I'm not sure if this falls into your area of expertise (so feel free to ignore!) but one possible complication is that the interior hall walls actually sit on the floorboards rather than on foundations! Any experience of what folk do in these circumstances?!
Thanks in advance!
Dr Neil Gascoigne September 11, 2017 at 10:09pm
Hi Neil,
As long as the area is ventilated and insulated between the joists, both solid and engineered oak flooring could be used in this situation. 20mm thick boards would need to be used and screwed to the joists.
As for the second question, this is not something we can particularly comment on and would be the job of a building inspector to take a look at.
Hope this helps.
Peak Oak September 14, 2017 at 3:43pm
Hello,
Do you have any advice for laying your 14mm solid boards to a plywood subfloor as found in an upstairs bedroom and landing?
Could this be done as a floating floor installation on top of fibreboard underlay or would it need to be nailed or screwed down?
If fixed to the subfloor what measures are there to reduce noise transmission through the floor?
Thanks,
Matthew.
Matthew September 25, 2017 at 3:12pm
Hi Mathew,
For laying a Solid Oak Floor onto a plywood subfloor we would recommend the secret screwing method of fitting. A solid oak floor should not be laid using the floating floor method.
For acoustic value an underlay such as our sheep's wool insulation could be used.
Hope this helps
Peak Oak September 27, 2017 at 5:00pm
Hi. I wish to replace the softwood boards in our hallway with oak. The void beneath the suspended floor is about 800mm. I have fitted Celotex between the joists level with the top of the joists. Could I fit either engineered or solid oak boards directly to the joists? If so, the best way of securing the boards?
Many thanks
Jerry Marsden April 8, 2019 at 3:28pm
Hi Jerry,
For laying over joists, both solid and engineered oak boards could be used. These would typically be fitted by either secret screwing or secret nailing, 45 degrees through the tongue of the board.
For solid oak flooring boards which are wider than 160mm, we would also recommend that the boards are surface fixed using either the screwing and plugging method or by using a traditional floor brad.
Peak Oak April 8, 2019 at 3:51pm
We have a lovely oak floor which was already laid when we bought the house. It’s finish is starting to dull. Is it better to redo or to put oil on it. Have maintained with hoovering and cleaned with special soap.
Tricia Adams May 6, 2020 at 1:45pm
Hi Tricia,
It does depend on the level of wear, but if the finish has only recently started to dull and are using a floor soap it may be worth taking a look at a maintenance oil. The maintenance oils are designed to bring some life back into the floor. If you are unsure which oil was originally applied, we would recommend the Blanchon Universal Maintenance Oil (https://www.peakoak.co.uk/wood-care/cleaning-maintenance/blanchon-universal-maintenance-oil/) which is designed for any oiled floor finish.
Hope this helps
Peak Oak May 28, 2020 at 5:20pm
Hi,
What width T hinges would you recommend fitting on oak ledge doors measuring 78 x 30 in?
Thank you.
Penny Lees June 4, 2020 at 4:40pm
Hi Penny,
Typically for this size door we would be recommending at least a pair of 18" T-Hinges are used.
Many Thanks
Peak Oak June 5, 2020 at 6:11pm
Hi
I’m afraid that we have applied too much Blanchon Original Maintenance Oil on our floor several months ago. It is quite sticky. Can you advise me on what I should do?
Jenny
Jenny Wright August 28, 2020 at 5:54pm
Hi Jenny,
This issue is not something we have come across before but will try to assist nonetheless. To remove the sticky surface, it may be worth looking at the Blanchon Powerful Cleaner. As a strong degreaser, this product should help to remove this. The flooring can then be reapplied with the maintenance oil or the original product.
Hope this helps.
Peak Oak September 1, 2020 at 5:14pm
Hello,
We have our wonderful flooring delivered (140mm rustic engineered). We will be installing g via the floating floor method and gluing the t&g joints. Is there a specific glue we should be using?
Stu Buxton November 11, 2020 at 12:39pm
Hi Stu,
When floating engineered oak flooring, we would recommend gluing the tongue and groove using a PVA wood glue (such as the Soudal Pro 30D Adhesive: https://www.peakoak.co.uk/wood-care/adhesives/pva-wood-glue/).
Many Thanks
Peak Oak November 20, 2020 at 11:35am
Hi , I am considering having solid European oak floor fitted in a 40 sq m room . I am rather confused with the different grading used by suppliers .could you tell me the difference between classic , cottage and rustic . I will be contacting you on the phone to get more info . Many thanks Taff
Taff el-sayed February 26, 2021 at 4:16pm
Hi Taff,
Each individual supplier does use their own different terms for the grading of the timber. Our main grades are the Barn grade, Character grade, Select grade and Prime grade.
Barn grade boards feature the most knots and holes. The Character grade is the middle ground with some knots and cracks - combined with areas of clean board. The Select grade features smaller tighter knots with larger areas of clean board. Finally the Prime grade is the cleanest grade of timber available - with the absolute minimum in terms of knots.
Hope this helps, if we can assist any further please give us a call.
Peak Oak March 2, 2021 at 3:55pm
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