Why stain a tropical floor?

Sometimes a question arrives which we truly have to anser according to our own principles:

"We got a reddish coloured floor in our house and want to lighten the colour - how do we go about this?"

 To be honest, more often than not we tell them it would be a shame to change the wonderful natural colour of the wood-species. Once we inform them of the nowaday prices of tropical wood floors most are then (although some reluctantly) changing their minds.

 

Restoring a original tropical wood floor will add value to your property and we can highly recommend Saicos Tropical Combo as the best finish.

For those still wanting to change the appearance of their tropical floor: think about adding a light rug to the floor which keeps the value of your floor intact (for instance when you sell your property the new owners could appreciate the original floor more than a stained one) and gives you more of the "design-style" you were after at the same time.

Which floor finish is the best?

Which of these two wood floor finish options would be best: Oil or lacquer?

One of the hardest questions to answer is: what makes a better finish, lacquer or oil/HardWaxOil?
First of all it’s down to personal taste and secondly to what is expected of the floor, e.g. easy maintenance, shiny look or natural appearance of the wood.

Historical the wax floor is still seen as very labour intensive to maintain, who doesn't have memories of caretakers buffing away endlessly week after week after week (be it your “Gran” or the school caretaker). Then came the ‘modern’ lacquer (and synthetic and affordable wall-to-wall carpets) and the original wax floor almost became extinct.

For many decades most of the wooden flooring in the U.K. were pre-finished lacquered or lacquered/varnished on site. Maintenance became simple, buffing on hands and knees a thing of the past and there is a choice between high gloss and matte appearance. The newest innovation in lacquer even has the same appearance as an oiled floor to make the wood look more ‘natural’.

The biggest disadvantage of a lacquered finish on a wooden floor is that it ‘sits’ on the floor.
When damaged with a sharp object or due to the long term abrasive effect of dirt (‘dirty’ shoes ‘sanding’ away in heavy traffic areas or under chairs, tables) the lacquer doesn't protect the wood any more and dirt/moist will make the wooden floor look ‘grey’ regardless of maintenance efforts. In fact, cleaning damaged areas with a moist cloth will make things worse.

The only proper solution would be to sand the complete floor and to apply a new finish. Applying a proper lacquer layer is a job for the specialist, lacquer is not very forgiving to mistakes made.
The labour intensive maintenance of the old-fashioned wax-floor has now become a thing of the past:
oils replaced the many layers of wax. The oil penetrates the wood deeper than lacquer and makes it moist resistance, but allowing the wood to ‘breathe’. A hardwax layer is applied afterwards to make the wear and tear layer water repellent.

Nowadays most oiled floors are pre-finished (or finished on site) with HardWaxOil, combining the natural oil (long term protection) and the carnauba or bees hardwax (wear and tear layer) in a two-in-one product. It’s very easy to apply and a very forgiving product when some mistakes are made, in fact an ideal DIY-finish (but we strongly recommend you read the instructions thoroughly and use the right equipment).
It has a great surface density and therefore very resistant to abrasive movements. Besides that, any (small) damages are very easily repaired with some wax or maintenance oil without the need to sand the whole floor.
The appearance of the finished wooden floor is satin-mat with the advantage of making the floor look warmer, deeper in colour over the years.


An oiled-waxed or HardWaxOiled wooden floor requires slightly more maintenance than a lacquered floor, but not on the level of the old-fashioned knee and backbreaking wax floor, the modern maintenance products have taken care of that.
And on the other hand: wet shoe prints (think rain, Autumn, incoming traffic in hallways) don't show up immediately, like it does on a varnished or lacquered floor.

You can request our maintenance tips by popping in your name and email address in the form below (we hate spam as much as you do and your details will never be forwarded to any one else!)

Have we answered the question of what makes a better finish? No, sorry we still can't. Ultimately it is still down to personal taste, we're afraid.

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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.

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!

Quality, a point of view

This website constantly talks about quality products.
However, what exactly do we mean with quality I hear you asking. Often all businesses promote their products and services being of quality, high quality even, so how can you - the ultimate buyer, user - determine the things on offer really is a great and long lasting product?
We know - from experience, reading and answering many questions weekly - the trust in so-called quality offerings is waning, due to the tremendous use (and misuse) of the term itself.
So why would you trust us? We thought to show you with a few simple images. These images will also explain why we are very reluctant to stock "quality" products manufactured in China.
  
The first image shows you an Oak multi-layer wood-engineered board, 20mm total thickness with a 6mm solid top layer. The second images show you this board again, next to another same like board (keep with us to hear why first appearances don't always tell the whole story).
The board in the first image is a sample given to us by a rep from an European wooden flooring business. He explained this European business is working together with a manufacturer in China and due to the lower labour costs can offer it at low prices. On first sight it looks a high quality board, doesn't it?
The neighbouring board in images 2 is a cut-off from an European Oak multi-layer, manufactured in Europe (in The Netherlands to be precise). It looks awful - doesn't?
The main reason for this appearance is the fact this board has been left outside for over 7 months already and has had all kinds of weather thrown at and over it.
Price-wise, the multilayer produced in The Netherlands costs more - but this is not just due to the "higher" labour costs (seeing as how automated the manufacturing of wood-engineered floors is). It all bears down really to the quality in the manufacturing process, the quality materials used - backing, adhesive for bonding, the plants itself - and the knowledge of/in manufactuering quality products.
  
A closer look at the China-made product shows the backing is delaminating - imagine this happening when you've just installed your floor. Looking at the weather-worn sample - as said above, rain, snow, hail, wind and even sunshine has been thrown at it - there is nothing amiss with this board's construction even after all that time being exposed to the weather elements.
Is is quite easy to believe that "lower labour costs" is the main contributor to the low (much lower in some cases) prices of wooden flooring manufactured in China (be it on their own or in cooperation/in order of European businesses), the truth of the matter is the use, or more the lack in use of quality materials and knowledge that brings the price down. Even if products from China comply with the European Timber Regulation, it has become very hard and difficult to trust these types of low-cost offers.
And although we are just a small business, we know where we stand in quality matters. So we say a wholehearted NO to the cheaper product and continue to offer you high quality, both in materials and production methods, wood-engineered products "made in Europe", such as Hattan, Venture and Duoplank products.
Remember: the bitter taste of poor quality lingers long after the sweet taste of low price is forgotten

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