Over the month of March we have on offer a quality Engineered Autumn Oak Floor that has been hand scraped, stained and finished with several coats of UV Lacquer. This is manufactured by Atkinson & Kirby who have had over 100 years of manufacturing Traditional Wood Flooring. The Engineered Flooring is 14mm thick and 165mm wide.
We offer a free sampling service, simply click on the image below to go directly to the Engineered Autumn Oak Floor page.
LivLoc is a new Click Vinyl Flooring made by Atkinson & Kirby, whilst being experts in the manufacture of Solid Wood and Engineered Wood Flooring, they have applied their knowledge and craftsmanship in producing a truly Luxury Click Vinyl Flooring.
Being 5mm thick as standard, you are getting a commercial grade product, cheaper than other manufacturers residential 4mm thick click vinyl flooring. With a water resistant and anti-slip coating, click vinyl flooring is the perfect choice for kitchens, bathrooms and any other environments were wood is not advised.
Thanks to the Click System, installation is a breeze, simply cut with a sharp utility knife on the back of the vinyl flooring boards, and bend until it snaps. The LivLoc vinyl flooring is laid on top of dense underlay.You can order free next day samples from our website.
Where Can I Install Laminate Flooring
Bathrooms
Laminate flooring has come a long way in the past 20 years, and now you can buy laminate floors that are appropriate for bathrooms. Some makes impregnate the core of the laminate with water proofer, another make Quick-step has a range called Lagune, that uses a rubber strip in between the long sides and you seal the shorter sides, with a glue sealer. There is also a make called Aqua-step which is a fully waterproof floor, but this is made entirely of plastic and really not classed as a laminate floor. I have found with laminate flooring that does not have bevel around each plank, these tend to be the worst for swelling around the edges of the boards. If you do not have children, then going for a good quality and thick laminate floor should be ok, using bath mats and cleaning up spills as soon as possible will lengthen the lifetime of your laminate floor.
Kitchens
Laminate flooring in kitchens is an ever popular choice, due to able to imitate tiles, or the expensive exotic real wood floors. The range is vast so will cater for every taste. Water damage is a big issue, with so many water sources around the kitchen, it only takes one to fail and leak and you won’t know until it’s too late and the damage has been done. Don’t let that put you off buying a laminate floor, because if we all thought the worst all the time nothing would get done. I think it would be worth checking all plumbing before a new floor is going to be fitted. One of the easiest mistakes is when you disconnect the washing machine or dishwasher and the rubber seal comes out of the hose without you knowing, this would cause a slow leak that you might not see for a while.
Halls
As with solid wood, you can buy laminate flooring that comes in various widths, so you can choose one that would better match the hallway. Make sure you go for a good quality one due to the high level of traffic. One that I have fitted numerous times is Quick-step Perspective, this has a more solid feel when you walk on, is 9.5mm thick and very tough.
Dining room, Lounge and Bedrooms
Any range of laminate flooring can be fitted in these rooms, but if you have children or pets, then go for a mid to high end in price, this will be more cost effective, especially if you are paying a tradesman to have your laminate floor fitted. Cheap laminate floors are fine for bedrooms, due to the low traffic it receives.
Fitting Laminate Flooring
Laminate flooring is made with a click system, making it very easy to install, someone with very little DIY knowledge should be able to install it. You must buy the correct manufacturers fitting kit to go with your laminate floor, this is due to each click system will have their own tapping block, if you don’t use the correct one, you will damage you laminate floor. If you feel that you can’t install a laminate floor, then get a professional fitter in. One popular click system that is used by many is UNICLIC. Quick-step uses this system with their laminate floors, I have found this to be the easiest to install, due to being able to click the boards together without tilting them.
Laminate flooring can be installed over floor boards or concrete, never glue the laminate boards to the floor, you should always float the floor by installing a suitable underlay first, I always use a underlay with a Damp proof membrane built in, even if laying over floor boards, this is especially advisable on ground floor installations.
A 10mm gap for expansion is recommended around the perimeter of the room for laminate flooring, you can hide this by installing beading (scotia).
Oiled oak flooring provides a warm natural looking floor, that are easy to maintain and 
repair. Oiling a oak floor really brings out the grain, and fine detail. Using oil on wooden floors has been used for hundreds of years, so is a tried and tested finish.
Unlike Polyurethane lacquered floors, oil oak floors don’t have to be re-sanded totally, you can just slightly sand down the affected area then clean and apply a maintenance oil.
Oiled Oak Flooring is especially suitable if you have pets, if a lacquered oak floor gets scratch then there is not a quick fix, but with an oiled oak floor you can simply clean, then rub oil into the affected area.
You can get U V Oiled Oak flooring, this is a paste that is applied to the clean oak floor, this slows down the colour change associated with wood floors.
Antique Oak flooring has an aged look to it, and is a well liked wood floor. People who have an old house and want a flooring that looks as if it has been there since it was built, should consider Antique Oak Flooring. There are a number of different styles of finishes, one of which is hand scraped and stained, this has ripples in the wood, to imitate years and years of expansion and contraction, another has square pegs on each corner, so it looks like it has been fixed to the floor with this old installation method.
Click here to request your free sample of ANTIQUE OAK FLOORING
Recently Grey Flooring has become very popular, coming in lots of different shades and types of flooring. One of them being oak that has been stained and wax oiled to a grey oak
floor, this looks very modern, with it’s silvery hues and a matt and is suited with white walls. Grey oak flooring has a subtle rough grain texture, so if dented or scratched, the grey floor blends in better.
Another increasingly fashionable grey floor is laminate flooring, the beauty of laminate nowadays is it can mimic any surface texture and colour, so you get a super tough floor that actually looks like real wood.
Finally Click Vinyl Flooring comes in shades of grey flooring, again the actual texture of the vinyl flooring is heavily embossed, and is also extremely easy to fit.
If you have thought about installing vinyl flooring in the past, but said to yourself that will be to messy with having to glue it to the floor, then Click Vinyl Flooring may interest you. 
Click Vinyl Flooring does exactly what the name suggests, it clicks together just like laminate flooring so no need for any glue. The vinyl flooring is installed over dense underlay, as a floating floor. This saves time and the mess associated with glue down installation. Click Vinyl Flooring is ideally suited to Bathrooms and Kitchens due to being water resistant.
The Click Vinyl Flooring feels warm on your feet, and provides a soft sound when walked on. It is also suitable for underfloor heating from having a low heat resistance. With the top layer made from polyurethane this makes it extremely tough and durable.
The Pureloc Click Vinyl flooring comes in planks or tiles, both ranges have some commercial grade décors, with the advantage of twice the wear layer than the residential click vinyl flooring. Here are just some of the advantages of choosing this vinyl flooring for your home -
Installation – Solid Wood Flooring
The fitting of Solid real wood flooring is usually better left to a professional floor fitter, but if you are competent at DIY then you should have no problem. Having the right tools makes the job easier, but the basic tools are spacers, tapping block, pull bar and hammer, you will also need a jigsaw to cut the wood flooring. There are three ways of installing wood floors –
Firstly – secret nailing, this is done with a certain machine that is designed to nail cleats into the tongue of the wood flooring at a certain angle, this is done over existing floor boards or overlaid plywood.
Secondly – You can glue the solid wood floor directly to the floor with special glues designed for that purpose. The sub-floor must be very flat and had a liquid damp proof membrane applied to the concrete floor. Wide boards that are 150mm in width or greater must always be glued down, irrespective of what sub floor it is, this is due to solid wood flooring expands through the width of the board and very little in the length and the wider the board the more expansion there is.
Thirdly – Self adhesive underlay is the latest of the fixing methods, this is installed by pealing back the sticky top layer just enough past the last row of wood flooring that was laid. This method also requires the sub-floor to be very flat, if it is not then it needs to be levelled using levelling compound.
Expansion of solid wood flooring is the main factor many have problems with, key rule is leave as much expansion as possible, if your wood floor is to be laid in a big room, then the skirting boards will have to be taken off, this is to enable enough room for expansion, adding scotia (beading) around the skirting boards as well is advisable.
Installation Laminate Flooring
Laminate flooring is made with a click system, making it very easy to install, someone with very little DIY knowledge should be able to install it. You must buy the correct manufacturers fitting kit to go with your laminate floor, this is due to each click system will have their own tapping block, if you don’t use the correct one, you will damage you laminate floor. If you feel that you can’t install a laminate floor, then get a professional fitter in. One popular click system that is used by many is UNICLIC. Quick-step uses this system with their laminate floors, I have found this to be the easiest to install, due to being able to click the boards together without tilting them.
Laminate flooring can be installed over floor boards or concrete, never glue the laminate boards to the floor, you should always float the floor by installing a suitable underlay first, I always use a underlay with a Damp proof membrane built in, even if laying over floor boards, this is especially advisable on ground floor installations.
A 10mm gap for expansion is recommended around the perimeter of the room for laminate flooring, you can hide this by installing beading (scotia).
Where Can I Install Solid Wood Flooring
Bathrooms
This is a question that I get asked many times; Solid wood is suitable for all rooms except bathrooms, due to the high risk of water contact, if your mind is set on having a solid wood floor in your bathroom then you can reduce the swelling by taking simple measures like, having bath mats in areas that are prone to water spillage, wiping up splashes as soon as you see them, installing an unfinished floor then coating with several coats of good quality lacquer. If you have children then it will be more prone to water damage.
Kitchens
Solid wood flooring are becoming more and more popular in kitchen areas, but there will be still a high risk of water damage, the main cause is washing machines, if one leaks and then the water finds its way under the floor, then the wood floor will expand, so when the expansion can’t expand no more due to no space, it lifts up, I have seen floors lift by 6 – 12 inches, this can subside slightly, if the leak is stopped but it never goes back to normal.
Choosing the right finish for your solid wood floor in kitchens is also important, having a waxed floor would be less suitable due to the water marks from drips and splashes, and the possibility of been slippery. Lacquered solid wood floors are a good choice, but try not to go for a high gloss finish; this would show dents and scratches more than a matt finished wood floor. An Oiled wood floor is also a good choice for kitchens, with been easier to maintain than the others.
Halls
Nothing beats looking at a well looked after solid wood floor as you open your door, but be wise on your choice of wood, woods such as walnut are not the best for hallways, due to having a very flat surface and actually dents easy. Oak flooring is a good choice, the finish should not be a gloss, but a matt finish, this masks the scratches and knocks it will get, be prepared that your floor will inevitability get these.
Choosing the right width board is something to consider as well, if you have a narrow hall then it best to go for a narrow plank, like a 90mm one, this gives the illusion that it is wider than it is, where as wide boards (150mm) would close it in and make it narrower.
Dining room, Lounge and Bedrooms
Anything goes with these rooms, due to not having to worry about water damage, but again take into consideration the width of the wood flooring.
