flooring

[MetManMark]

All
To have our house signed off by Building control we were told to lift the floorboards in our front 2 rooms and put solid insulation underneath. As the floorboards were tongue and groove and ancient we managed to trash most of them. This was doubly irritating as we had them treated for woodworm (I got a pasting on this forum for having invested in this). Anyway we now need a new floor. Our preference would be to have exposed wood - should we go for pine and paint the edges of the room black (as the original floorboards were) or go for something like oak. If we go for the later what price should we expect to pay / does anyone have any top tips for suppliers? The room is about 5.2m*4.2m and we have been quoted about £300 +VAT for pine and about £600+VAT for oak.
Any top tips would be appreciated. It is not that we have got cash to burn but given we have the opportunity to replace them wen were wondering about going for something nicer than bog standard.... We aren't keen on putting down chipboard and then a thin layer of hardwood as we think floorbaords would be easier to lift should we need to in future.
Cheers
Mark

 

[MdB]

A couple of years back I paid £24 per m^2 (inc vat) for American oak with hidden screw profile - bought from Jewson (not normally the cheapest place but at the time I couldn't find better). Very pleased with the results.

(door was made from the floorboards as well)

 

[Lime]

What's £300 when you can look at oak forever?
It is a thing of beauty that will always make you feel good.

 

[AMc]

I like wood floors and so I would go for a nice oak one if you can afford it and it will "fit" with your house.
I've spruced up a lot of my floors in this house and the previous one, a solid wood floor is lovely to walk on and easy to keep clean.
You can justify the difference to yourself if you compare with the cost of carpeting the same area over a standard the pine floor.
I wouldn't paint the edges black It may have been fashionable/necessary for Victorians and Geogians once its a step too far for a 21C floor IMHO.

 

[MatthewC]

Are you thinking of new or reclaimed wood? I'm guessing new, as reclaimed 20mm thick pitch pine is nearer £25/m^2 at yards near here. Some of what I re-used had black paint around the edge and so now I have a mixture of that, the re-used unpainted stuff and the freshly planed stuff I bought. If your T&G was pine, I think I personally would use pine again, but it's a really decision based on personal preference and affordability.

AMc makes a good point about the cost of carpet nowadays - it makes even oak seem a cheap solution if you intend to leave it uncovered!

 

[Penners]

it's really a decision based on personal preference and affordability.

I quite agree, although if your house is listed you ought to discuss your choice with your CO.

 

[robgil]

Isnt it a bit counter productive for building control to make you thrash a perfectly good floor in order to put in insulating, how much environmental damage is caused by the carbon foot print of a new floor and how many years will it take to off set this foot print by adding a little insulating between the floors of a building, the world has truly gone mad as a hatter.

 

[MdB]

Isnt it a bit counter productive for building control to make you thrash a perfectly good floor in order to put in insulating, how much environmental damage is caused by the carbon foot print of a new floor and how many years will it take to off set this foot print by adding a little insulating between the floors of a building, the world has truly gone mad as a hatter.

Especially as it doesn't sound like the floor was being disturbed otherwise.

 

[Penners]

Isnt it a bit counter productive for building control to make you thrash a perfectly good floor in order to put in insulating

YES!

But it allows them to tick a box. :roll:

 

[masochists-r-us]

I think it depends on the age of your property, but I would probably go for oak if you can. Is your house listed,by the way ?

 

[MetManMark]

Thanks for all the comments. The house is listed (grade 2). We had initially planned to keep the existing floorboards until the building control chap told us to insulate underneath it. When we lifted the carpet tiles we found that the floorboards wer painted balck at the edges which we quite liked. If we go for the pine option we might do this. If we go for the oak option we clearly won't... Our preference is to go for non tongue and groove as this is the reason we broke the existing boards.
Cheers
Mark

 

[MdB]

Our preference is to go for non tongue and groove as this is the reason we broke the existing boards.

Don't.

(unless you have high quality boards and fix them down well)

Our house had the floor replaced in the 1970's with pine planks probably bought cheap from the local builders merchant. Most (not all) were nailed down fairly well, however they all shrank leaving large gaps between the boards causing drafts / noise transfer and all had cupped (in either direction) leaving a surface that was great for rolling marbles down but awful otherwise. T&G helps with both of these problems but does cause issues when you want to lift them.

My solution was to use oak with hidden nail T&G profile and to use screws rather than nails to hold it in place. This means that there are no visible fixings across the majority of the floor and it would be possible to lift the planks if needed with little damage simply by by unscrewing. The downside is that you might have to lift most of the floor to get to the bit you want - I got around this with a bit of thought and sections arranged such that I can lift the boards around most edges to get to wiring underneath.