Tel: 01233 - 713725

WWW =
Who we are
Where we come from
Why we do what we do the way we do it
4th W

Wood You Like Ltd has two very 'hands-on' directors - both of Dutch origin:

Karin Hermans - Managing Director
Karin will welcome you in the showroom in Charing, discuss the floor, wood and finish types that are suitable for your situation and will answer any of your enquiries and questions.
She also in charge of our marketing projects, from the informative website you are on now to writing specific wood flooring related articles and is co-author of the DIY-guide: "Wooden Floor Installation Manual" - everything you need to know about DIY wooden floors. (Available from Amazon.co.uk or direct)

Ton Slooven - Director of Operations
Ton is responsible for our quality control, planning of the installation jobs, logistics and is our most experienced professional installer - with Design Parquet as his specialty.
Co-author of the DIY-guide: "Wooden Floor Installation Manual" - everything you need to know about DIY wooden floors. (Available from Amazon.co.uk or direct)

From July 2010:

Barry Thomas Bayat - Head Floor Restore Service
Barry takes care of bringing your original Parquet floor back to its authentic lustre and grandeur. He loves wood flooring, is an expert with the heavy professional sanding equipment we use and knows all the tricks of the trades on installing new wooden floors too.
Ton and Barry have worked together on many projects before - from 2001 onwards - and form your dedicated team, no matter if you have a new (design parquet) floor installed or original parquet floor restored.

Where we come from

Both directors originate from the historical (medieval) town of Bergen op Zoom in the South-West of The Netherlands close to the Belgium border. It's a traditional town filled with many historical buildings and treasures many historical traditions.

Bergen op Zoom also has many traditional industries: sugar refinery, cast iron, farming and fishery, but also wooden flooring

Bruynzeel flooring was founded beginning 1900, and another parquet factory in the early 60’s: Inpa parket, still going strong. The Bruynzeel factory closed down in the late 70’s, making many professionals redundant. A whole other type of industry was born: traditional wooden flooring retail shops and professional - independent - installers.
Both Ton and Karin have learned the ins and outs of the wooden flooring business from the most respected professionals there, including apprenticeship in installing design parquet floors.

Beginning 2000 they were employed by a new Dutch company that had plans to get a strong foothold in the domestic UK wood flooring market. However only two (rather large) retail showrooms were ever opened and within 3 years the mother company decided to close both shops and focus their attention solely on the wholesale market.

After being made redundant and strengthened by the ongoing support of their existing clients and business advisors Ton and Karin decided to 'go-it-alone' and launched Wood You Like Ltd. First from their home-office until in August 2005 the showroom in the lovely village of Charing opened and the company continues to grow from strength to strength. In July 2010 their former colleague Barry joint forces with the two owners to fulfil the increasing demand in restoration requests.

In our showroom we not only welcome many clients from the Kent area, natural wooden flooring fans from London and beyond looking for quality products and quality advice find their easy way to Charing village near Ashford, located very close to the A20 and right in the middle between Junction 8 and 9 of the M20.

Why we do what we do the way we do it

We are passionate about quality and only source high quality products from ‘passionate about quality’ manufacturers. Manufacturers with own FSC certified forests, with own policies on reforestation and own quality control systems on producing quality products time after time after time, every time an order is placed. And we only work with 'passionate about quality' installers and other essential team players.

In July 2008 FSC-UK.org has issued Wood You Like Ltd an unique ID code: FSC-GBR-1019.
This unique ID-code guarantees you that the products we label FSC certified are genuine and authorises Wood You Like to use the FSC-trademark. In order to receive this unique code any retailer selling to domestic clients has to prove their purchases really do come directly from a FSC-certified company/manufacturer.
(FSC: The wood in this product comes from well managed forests independently certified in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council.)

Time after time you will find special products and services at our company, special in the way the product is constructed or proven its
quality and method. We will discuss these construction and installation/restoration methods with you if needed. Even standard products, like Solid floorboards, are treated as special, we know why a 180mm wide board only 15mm thick will cause problems and how wide is wide enough to prevent problems.

Wood You Like will personally deliver your wood floor if you live in the Kent area and if you - as DIY-er - require this we can tell you all the tips and tricks of the trade we know from personal experience to give you a head-start and trouble free installation/restoration of your wooden floor.

We are members of the recently established BwfA - British wood flooring Association:

The British Wood Flooring Association represents the interest of professionals specialising in the wood flooring sector. Installers and suppliers of wood flooring have united within BwfA to ensure that quality standards in this growing sector meet the expectations of consumers.

The aims of the association are:

• The establishment of an industry code of practice to be adopted by all BwfA members
• Recognised training and accreditation standards
• Assistance and support for installers in their business
• Continuous and influential dialogue with the wood flooring market
• International representation for the industry and involvement in development of standards
• Promotion of the benefits of real wood flooring to the consumer

This means that no matter where you are in the U.K. we can always bring you in contact with an BwfA accredited installer nearby - and the number of accredited installers should be growing rapidly - who will install our quality natural wooden flooring for you according to the same quality standards and practice we install our wooden floors with in the East Kent area.

That's us and our three W's: who, where and why.
One more very important 'double u' you should know about:

Choosing Wood You Like as your dedicated wooden flooring supplier has its own benefits: Your unique circumstances, unique interior design style and budget ask for a quality wooden floor that is most suited for u (you). Not for someone else, not for what is suitable for the average customer, for u (you).

And that is in very simple words our aim: supplying u (you) the most suitable for u (you) high quality natural wooden flooring.

We are looking forward to meet you, either in our showroom or here online. Which ever way you prefer we are only ever one visit or one email away.

Voted Best Flooring Retailer (1-2 shops)

Details here

Wood You Like's
FSC-UK Identification code:
The FSC products we sell are genuine FSC certified.