Don't use cork strips top fill the gap!!

Some issues keep recurring in our inbox, on flooring forums: cork strips among them.

A few days ago we received the following email:

"I realise the importance of leaving an expansion gap around a wooden floor (oak parquet in my case) but can you tell me why we are told to insert cork strips around the edge? Surely the cork is only taking up valuable expansion room. Is it ok to  just leave a 10mm gap all around?" 

This was our (recurring) answer on this subject:

Thank you for your question. We are trying so hard do tell everyone exactly that: DON'T use cork strips to fill the expansion gap.

These were used many, many years ago to divide design parquet pattern and the block border and somehow ended up in the expansion gap. 

So, you are absolutely right. Leave your expansion gap 'empty' to cater for any natural seasonal movement of your wood floor."

The reply:

Many thanks, it's nice to be right for once!

Of course he was right, we still don't understand how the old-fashion cork divider strip ended up as recommendation to fill your expansion gaps.

Looking for more tips and tricks of the trade to install your own natural wooden floor like a pro? Look no further than the "Wooden Floor Installation Manual"

World Cup 2014 discount

During this years World Cup football, you can purchase the E-guide

"Wooden Floor Installation Manual" 

with a whopping 20% discount!

Valid up untill 13.07.2014

The E-version: instant access to the exact same content as the the paperback, plus includes all colour images and drawings.
This version can be:

• viewed online with multiple search-options,
• downloaded (PDF) and printed, and
• gives you even the opportunity to ask your own questions underneath every section, every chapter even.

Wooden Floor Installation Manual, everything you need to know about DIY wooden floors

This 160 page manual in plain English contains all the tricks of the trade we and other professionals use which will make your wood floor look like it was installed by a professional too.

High praise for Saicos by DIY Grandma

DIY-ers come in all shapes and forms and ages.

Mrs M. Lewis, a grandmother from Swansea, decided in June it was high time to restore the original parquet floor in her house. Gaining knowledge about the steps to take from the "7 Easy Steps to Restore/Repair your Parquet Floor" she became confident she could do all the works herself.

When she first contacted us, the hardest part - sanding the old finish off - was already done. She just needed to know which finish would be best for her tropical floor and we advised to use the "tropical combo" from Saicos.

Saicos doesn't call the combination of the two oil products this way, we baptised it ourselves last year when we had to look for an alternative for the thin oil (Euku oil 1) which, due to VOC regulations, was not longer being produced. Our own experience with Saicos Colour Wax Clear extra thin, followed by one coat of Saicos Premium HardWaxOil (or in lesser traffic areas with Saicos Wax-Polish) proved to us it was a very worthy if not better alternative.
(Side-note: Saicos' Colour Wax products are a thin oil and not - as the name suggests - a wax).

Tropical wood species are oily of themselves, which, when applying HardWaxOil as first coat, can result in patchy areas when the oil in the HWO can not penetrate the wood enough before the wax part of the HWO starts doing its work. Therefore it is better to apply a thin - single - oil first, which can do its work to penetrate the wood for long term protection undisturbed, followed by one coat of HardWaxOil.

Uncertainties gone

This week Mrs Lewis called us again with high praise for the "Tropical Combo". 
It had been so easy to apply, she told us, and brought out the original grandeur of the parquet floor in no time at all.

"And it is so hardwearing! I don't have to worry about the floor when my grand children visit, it doesn't show anything at all."

One worry she did have after applying the Colour Wax Clear was the fact it seemed to dry up a bit dull, not what she had expected. But after applying the coat of HardWaxOil the sheen of the original tropical floor showed up, dissolving her fear she had not applied the first coat correctly.

"You should explain this better in your guide! You know how people are uncertain about these things, doing this for a first time, and telling them upfront what to expect takes away these uncertanties."

Point taken, Mrs Lewis.

The reason Mrs Lewis called us was one little area of the restored floor stayed dull, she thought it might have had something to do with sanding this particular area more than others - closing the grain. Should she apply a second coat of HardWaxOil there?


In these cases we recommend to treat the spot with wax or wax-polish first, 9 times out of 10 this solves the dullness and it rather quickly to do.
(Side-note: one of the advantages of using HardWaxOil over varnish/lacquer is the fact you can "repair" small areas locally without having to sand down the whole floor again. Varnish/lacquer applied only on a small area can result in a patchy appearance when new finish overlaps with old finish, this will not show when you use HWO.)

Now she experienced the great result of her first floor restoring project Mrs Lewis has changed her mind about buying new rugs to put on the floors of the bedrooms, covering the original parquet in there.

"They are too beautiful to stay covered up really and now I know how well and simple your Tropical Combo products work I'm more than confident I can bring back their grandeur too."

Who are we to argue?
In our secure webshop you will find everything you need to repair/restore your own original parquet floor too.

Knowing your way

There is a massive amount of information available online about wooden flooring and all things related. Where to start if you are looking for something specific?

Well, one point of access would be Wood You Like's information centre (online) where you will find various carefully put together information packs you can not go wrong with:
For instance if you are planning to install your own wooden floorboards there is the
Wooden Floor Installation Manual (160 pages)

or if you still are undecided on what type of flooring to have, the Buying Guide for Wooden Flooring is THE place to start

Perhaps you discovered an original parquet floor underneath old carpet? 7 Easy Steps to Repair/Restore your Parquet Floor will tell you all you need to know to bring it back to its former (valuable) glory.

And the Ultimate Maintenance Guide will help you keep your wooden floor - any wooden floor - healthy and beautiful in the most simple ways.

Or, all information problems solved in one go!

House Climate

House Climate: how to keep your home and floor 'healthy'

All homes have their own indoor climate. With that we mean the amount of moist in the air (humidity), the temperature, the type of heating and the amount of ventilation. Some factors you can control yourself, some are caused by outside conditions.
In a comfortable home with slight humidity variation through the seasons, wooden floors react by expanding and shrinking. These changes may be noticeable.
During warm, humid weather wood expands. During dry weather wood shrinks - usually during Winter. Just think of when you have the clearest views from a hill top: when it's cold - when the air can't contain much moist = low air-humidity = Winter. And since this is also the normal "heating season" your indoor climate can have an even lower humidity.
This seasonal movement is a normal characteristic of wooden floors and it never stops, regardless of the age of the wooden floor.

• If you notice gaps appearing between your boards in Winter then 9 times out of 10 there is nothing to worry about, these gaps will disappear again when the humidity gets higher.
  If your floor is expanding in a normally dry season, then you might have a moist problem (leak, large spillage of water or perhaps one of your pets had an 'accident').
  
• If your floor is shrinking in a normally 'wet' season then the problem might have been caused by the moist contents in the flooring itself: higher than normally allowed (standard Oak normally between 8 - 12%) or the wood hasn't been stored 3 - 7 days in the room were it is installed to acclimatise to the normal house climate.
  

Some types of wood react more than others. Beech is known as a 'very nervous' wood. It can expand or shrink 7mm per meter width. By 'steaming' beech (giving the floor also it's characteristic pinkish/salman colour) the reaction will be less.
Solid wooden floors react more than Wood-Engineered floors. The crossed backing of Wood-Engineered floors stabilises the reaction. This makes this type of flooring preferable in areas where there is more moist (kitchens, bathrooms), were temperatures can change quickly (conservatories) or on underfloor heating.
  
Most important to keep your wooden floor (and in fact also yourself) healthy is to allow for a stable humidity in the house.

• When humidity is higher (Summer, Autumn) wooden floors expand. A simple way to prevent excessive reaction is to open (a) window(s) every day, even for 10 - 15 minutes, to allow the cumulated humidity to disappear. Alternatively, when you are away for a whole day: keep a small window upstairs open and keep all other internal doors open.
  In Winter and early Spring, the heating season, try to keep the humidity between 50 - 60 %. This can be done by having plants in house, ceramic water containers on radiators etc. When the humidity in house gets very low (30 - 40%) you will notice this yourself (dry skin, lips and even sore throats). A simple 'trick' to increase the humidity rapidly is to place damp (NOT dripping wet) tea-towels on radiators.
  
• Monitor the typical average air-humidity in your home by using an indoor minimum-maximum Hydrometer
  

When you have underfloor heating you might notice these conditions during most seasons. To help minimize the effects we recommend the use of a humidifier (preferable with humidity monitor).

Installation Manual

(UK's first)
Wooden Floor Installation Manual

Everything you need to know about
DIY wooden floors

Having a quality wood floor in your home is a real asset: it’s durable, anti-allergic, easy to clean and very, very beautiful. Many before you have discovered it adds more value to your home than any other flooring option, including tile or wall-to-wall carpeting. And unlike other options, wooden floors not only maintain their value over the years, but effectively retain and improve their elegance and their beauty.
You can have your natural wooden floor professionally installed, an increasing number of DIY-ers opt to “go-it-alone” with mixed results. Wood You Like’s 160 pages Manual higly increases your chance to achieve a guaranteed great, if not professional, result!

Install your floor like a pro

• Learn how to tackle underfloor problems
• Know what to look for when purchasing your materials
• Use the check-list before you start with the job:
  • the correct preparations
  • the correct tools and materials
  • the correct schedule of works
• Discover the Tricks of the Trade that will make seemingly difficult obstacles easy to execute
• Finish your floor to the highest quality
• 160 pages, all in plain English with product recommendations - products used by the professionals
• Written by genuine floor fitters, not by academics or so-called diy-experts
• With extra (online) bonus filled with colour images and drawings

The Wooden Floor Installation Manual - rated 5 stars on Amazon.co.uk!

See here for all purchase options, including how to claim the purchase price back!
Wood You Like's Wooden Floor Installation Manual is first in its kind: written by experts who deal with wooden flooring and all the different situations imaginable on a daily basis, situations and circumstances you can encounter too but with the Manual at hand are no longer an obstacle for diy-ers.
"How do I install the last row?"..... "My room is part chipboard, part concrete. What do I do?".... "Can I install a wood floor in a kitchen?".... “I've got underfloor heating, can I have wood flooring?".... "Do I glue or float my wood floor?".... . "The pack says to glue it, the supplier says nail it. Now what?".... "I've got two dogs and four kids, my wife likes wood flooring, what do you suggest?".... "How do I know how much wood to buy?".... "There are Marley tiles, can I glue a wood floor on them?”....
Just a small collection of questions that has found its way to Wood You Like's inbox over the last 5 years.

Read Feedback we received from (DIY & Professional) floor fitters

After answering question after question for three years we decided to create a simple but comprehensive installation guide, and to make this not only available to our own DIY-clients, but to anyone planning to install a wooden floor in the best possible way. This guide (in a simple PDF format, delivered by email) was launched in December 2008, and was an instant success.
It also triggered more questions. So we kept adding to the guide, which became more and more a collection of questions and answers grouped in a few logical categories. Late in 2009 we decided it was time to completely overhaul the guide, and make it available not only as a PDF, but also as a proper paperback. So you can have it handy by your side while you're working on your floor. The end result (160 pages) is what you can have in your hands right now.

Installing a wooden floor isn't rocket science - all it needs is some common sense, patience, the right preparations at the right time and of course quality materials and the right tools. Wood You Like's Installation Manual for Wooden Flooring covers it all: including tricks of the trade to install your own floor like a professional!

Underfloor Heating (UFH) and wooden floors

Underfloor heating is nowadays more and more used as main heating source instead of an additional heating system (in tiled bathrooms or kitchens). The advantage of underfloor heating over normal central heating with radiators is exactly that: no radiators on walls, allowing you as home owner to use all the available wall space in the most practical way.
But underfloor heating comes with some disadvantages also:

• it can take a while for the room/rooms are 'warming-up' because of the layers of 'insulation' the heating system has to 'work through' (concrete or sheet materials, floor covering on top of the water/electrical system) and visa versa. During a cold-snap this could mean that before the system is truly 'heated-up' again, warm weather is back with us, because you can't use underfloor heating the same way as central heating with radiators.
  
• using underfloor heating can reduce the humidity in your home rather significantly, and have a drying effect on your skin (causing irritation/itching and even increasing eczema and other skin problems).
  

A good alternative for losing radiators and gaining more room space without the disadvantages underfloor heating can bring with it could be installing a skirting heating system.
Types of underfloor heating systems:
Maine source of heating: Electrical wires (DRY-system) or water pipes (WET-system).
With warm water underfloor heating there are 3 methods of preparing/creating the subfloor (subfloor is the base for wooden floor):

• Dry method: between the water pipes battens are placed on underfloor and sheet material (chipboard, plywood) is installed on the battens to create smooth subfloor for installation of wooden floor
  
• Wet method: concrete/screed is laid over water pipes to create smooth subfloor for installation of wooden floor
  
• Direct method: the water pipes are placed in special modular sheets, battens are glued between modular sheets and wooden floor is nailed (secretly) on battens or even installed floating. (Direct method is not possible with all types of warm water underfloor heating, please ask you Under Floor Heating supplier).
  

Wood is a natural product and reacts to the surrounding climate. Please keep that in mind when selecting your wooden floor and make sure the type of flooring or wood-species is suitable to be installed on UFH (Maple and Beech are for instance NOT recommended: both are know as a 'nervous' - unstable - wood which can shrink/expand up to 7mm per meter wide).
We recommend Wood-Engineered flooring because the cross-backing of the boards do not react to temperature or humidity changes in the same way as solid wood does.
If you decide to install solid wooden flooring then choose a narrow board, the narrower the better. If your heart is set to have a wide floorboard that really gives you that 'old-fashioned' plank-look we recommend the Hattan European Oak engineered boards (180mm wide, 6mm solid top layer on 15mm water-resistant plywood) which are guaranteed for installation on Under Floor Heating.
Case-study "Duoplank on Underfloor Heating"
Most manufacturers of Wood-Engineered flooring recommend to glue down your wooden flooring on UFH and to use a suitable parquet adhesive (flexible adhesive) in order to avoid any air pockets between the subfloor and the wooden flooring.
Be careful with placing rugs and/or large pieces of furniture (like dressoirs or floor standing cupboards/bookcases); they can (locally) trap the heat underneath it.

With the maintenance of wooden flooring on underfloor heating Wood You Like recommends maintenance product is applied before the real heating season (Autumn) start to keep the wood healthy and 'moist'. After the heating season, when the temperature of the system can be reduced to a minimum level your wooden floor will benefit from a maintenance service to counter-balance the effect of the dehydration of the wood caused by the higher temperatures of the months before.
All types of underfloor heating have their own specifications for how to install and how/when to start the first sequence of heating. Please read the instructions supplied with your underfloor heating system carefully before deciding on wooden flooring and please make sure all steps for the first sequence are completed before the installation of wooden flooring takes place.

The Ultimate Maintenance Guide

The Ultimate Maintenance Guide

everything you need and must know about keeping your wooden floor healthy and beautiful

 Welcome to Wood You Like's comprehensive maintenance guide, filled with tips, examples, advice and videos to show you how easy, simple and necessary wood floor care is.

 Every wood floor needs - simple - care

A wooden floor is a wonderful lively and natural floor covering, more and more home owners are installing (or restoring) this type of flooring:

• it's beautiful
• it's eco-friendly
• it's anti-allergic
• it's clean
• it's healthy
• it's long lasting
• it's practical
• plus it can add value to the home

But no matter what type of wood floor or finish you have, the surface of the wood floor needs a bit of TLC once in a while to keep its healthy and grand appearance. The best comparison you can make is with your own skin: to keep this important part of the body healthy we often - daily - treat it with feeding and moisturising creams or lotions etc. A flaky, dry skin doesn't look good plus it will not effectively protect your body against outside (harmful) influences.
Just like you want to look great and healthy, your wooden floor will look at its best when it's been taken care off regularly.
What this guide will show you

A splash of lotion on your skin is easily applied, and so is treating your wooden floor! That's one of the things this guide will show you - and we'll be using videos to really show you how easy this is.
This guide contains:

• what absolutely NOT TO DO
• why floor care is important
• a maintenance plan
• stain removing tips - just in case
• how to restore your parquet floor without sanding
• images and videos
• recommended high quality products and tools
• vouchers to use in Wood You Like's secure online shop
• and more

Order the guide now!

 

Wood Grades

How to recognise most wood grades, without the brand-jargon

Excellence, Elegant, Diamond, Harvest, Cottage, Exquisite or even Cambridge, Copenhagen. Grade names to inform you about the characteristics of the wooden floor you are choosing? Or why one so-called grade costs more than the other?

Wood You Like applies and promotes the 'KISS' (Keep It Simple Sweetheart) principle. We don't use fantasy or grand names. We use, as much as possible, the classification in grades most of the manufacturers use and which tell you what characteristics you can expect in the floor you buy.
Tropical wood normally comes in two grades: Prime or Rustic.
Prime here means hardly any colour differences between/in the floorboards; where Rustic in Tropical wood means that (many) colour differences between/in boards are allowed (like the yellow streaks in Rustic Merbau). Only some of the tropical woods have knots and if any are found in the boards it's normally in the Rustic grade.
For Oak flooring we use four different grades to distinguish between the typical characteristics of the boards/blocks:

Prime - Nature - Rustic and Industrial.

As with Tropical wood one of difference between these grades is the colour variation but here also the amount and width of knots determines the grade of the floor. And how the log has been cut (see below).
Quarter sawn (Radial)


Log is as much as possible cut at right angles to the heart. Sap canals (medullary rays) show as ‘mirrors’ or 'flecks'. There is a lot of saw-waste in this cutting-process, which translates in the price, but the planks are very stable.

The medullary rays are very specific to Oak and it is one way to distinguish Oak from Chestnut also called "Poor men's Oak" because of the stark resemblance in appearance with Oak. Chestnut is however softer than Oak and doesn't have any medullary rays in boards cut radial.

Half-Quarter Sawn 

Log is cut headlong and afterwards cut in planks. One side of the plank shows one half of the grain. Lower in price than quarter sawn, medium stability.

Dosse Sawn (Tangential)

Log is simply cut in planks, like most pine boards are. Very pronounced grain. This type of cutting can react more to changes in humidity than the two above. Is lower in price and stability.

Side-note: frequently used in 'cheap offers' in solid or wood-engineered Oak floors. The finished result is rather dull in character because there is hardly any variation in the boards. Our own Oak floors always contain a mix of all cutting ways to give your floor the true, authentic and characteristic appearance you expect of it.

PrimeHardly any colour differences; no knots or sapwood (= lighter, sometimes even white colour along the grain). The floor contains mostly quarter sawn and half-quarter sawn boards, some dosse sawn boards.
This grade is frequently used for herringbone and other patterns that uses small blocks. In the U.K. not very popular in floorboards because of price and look (most U.K. customers find this floor too 'neat' and resembling Melamine Laminated flooring instead of real wood).
NatureSome colour differences; some closed knots not larger than 15mm, some sapwood. The floor contains mix of different sawn boards.

RusticColour differences, closed and open knots up to 60mm, some sapwood and tiny dry-cracks are allowed. The floor contains mostly half-quarter and dosse sawn boards, some quarter sawn board possible.
Most popular grade in the U.K. because of its 'lively' character.

IndustrialColour differences, large open and closed knots, sapwood, beetle holes, manufacturing mistakes/damages and size differences (width) allowed. The floor contains all sawn methods with these characteristics in the boards.
Frequently used for mosaic tiles when used as subfloor for herringbone or other pattern floor. Some suppliers/manufacturers sell this grade as the so-called 'Wagon-boards'.

Some floors have a mix in grades. In our Wood Floor Ranges you will find that every floor has a grade classification consistent with the descriptions above.

Case-study: bespoke Hackfort tiles

Our bespoke parquet design comes in at least 30 different 'standard' patterns - in many combinations of wood types - and even then our manufacturer (Lieverdink Parket) can make bespoke even more bespoke by altering the chosen pattern at the request of our clients (when possible of course).
Below is an 'adapted' Versailles panel (or adapted "Hackfort") - a whole block in the middle instead of the 'standard' two wood strips -  in Prime Oak and this is the story we received from our delighted client:
"Hi Karin,
Having trawled the timber suppliers in the UK and Europe, plus the so called timber floor experts in the South my wife and I were on the brink of giving up on finding a supplier who could help.
Having spoken to Karin on the phone we decided to drive down to Wood You Like's premises in the wilds of Kent. We decided if she couldn't help we would give up. Our aim was to find a supplier that knew what a Versailles panel was, at a reasonable price, and a short delivery.
Karin knew exactly what we wanted, spoke to her factory in Holland whilst we were there, in Dutch (of course). Stated that it would be no problem, gave us a very competitive price and confirmed delivery would be about 10 days.
At last, so within 10 minutes of meeting we placed our order. Had confirmation the next day, and hey presto a very large lorry showed up 10 days later with our beautiful Premium Oak panels, exactly as promised.
Many thanks Karin for your excellent service from start to finish. A real pleasure, the photographs do not do the floor justice."
 
Kind regards
Kevin Beasant
(Senior Manager The Wilton Carpet Factory Limited, Wilton Wiltshire)

Case-study: Duoplank on Underfloor Heating

"As self-builders, we are very involved in specifying the materials used in our house.  We wanted the look and feel of real oak planks but without too many of the difficulties associated with the shrinkage of natural oak.  We quickly identified the Duoplank product through its UK distributor Wood-You-Like in Kent. This is an Engineered Board made with a wide top solid layer of natural oak and a high-quality birch ply substrate, critical to us because we were installing on concrete with UFH embedded in the floor.
We visited the showroom near Ashford and received plenty of good advice from thecompany and felt we were dealing with people who actually installed the product, as well as supply them. 
From the wide range of oak qualities available we selected the 'Rustic' range as being closest to the effect we sought to create in our new-build, which is a Georgian-style farmhouse of brick and tile exterior.
Installing the product was easier than we expected, the longest task being the selecting and cutting of the planks.  As we tackled each room, we initially placed them in position 'dry' on the floor to check for colour-match and fit.  The planks slot together using a tongue-and-groove formation.  The Duoplank manufacturer had taken care to chamfer the bottom edges of the planking, avoiding any chance of surplus glue seeping into the tongue-and-grooves.  We used a chop-saw to cut each edging plank to length.  This made light work of the cutting task; the engineered product seems as dense as working with solid oak. We glued the rows of board to the floor, three or four at a time.  Wood-You-Like had given us a clear fact-sheet on how to pre-condition the boards and the temperature of the floor during the installation.  This ensures that the boards have a normal amount of humidity on installation.  Unlike a conventionally heated house, using UFH wood flooring shrinks slightly in the winter whilst heat is drawn up through the floor.
Wood-You-Like advised us on the size of the gap to leave around the wall edges - 15mm in our case  - and we used chipboard spacers to maintain this gap and hold the edges firm whilst we glued and fitted each successive row.
We found a notched trowel to be the best tool for spreading the glue evenly.  It was important for us to eliminate air gaps under the boards to maximise heat transfer from the screed into the wood.  We managed this by spreading the glue 'notches' at 90 degrees to the board lengths, which enables one to see better where the boards are not fully seated, as glue oozes out slightly at the working edge.  We used bricks as a temporary method of holding down any 'high' areas of board during setting; this task certainly showed up minor inadequacies in the flatness of the screed subfloor!  Fitting the 25mm wide skirting board around the rooms to cover this gap has completed the finished appearance.
The glue sets in 24 hours and we followed the detailed instructions for gradually applying heat into the flooring to slowly dry out the wood.  During our first winter heating season this has opened up a 1mm gap at many of the board long edges - or about 0.05% total shrinkage compared to the summer state, when we expect the gap to close up again.  We are more than happy with this result over UFH, and our choice of Engineering Board to provide the visual effect that we sought."
John and Julie - West Berkshire