Wood Flooring FAQs

Most of our wood flooring can be used in any room as long as it is free of damp and all plaster and concrete are fully dry. The exceptions are bathrooms or other areas of high humidity where we don’t recommend using solid wood flooring over 150mm wide. See the site preparation section of our wood flooring installation guide for further details on conditions suitable for wood flooring.

Broadleaf have been successfully supplying wood flooring for use over underfloor heating for nearly 20 years. All of our wood floors have options that are compatible with underfloor heating when fitted in line with the simple underfloor heating advice in our installation guide and these are clearly marked in the options table on each product page.

Some solid products will require re-kilning which attracts a small price supplement.

If you do wish to fit wood flooring over underfloor heating you will need to make sure that your underfloor heating system takes account of this and is sufficiently powerful to heat the room to the temperature you want taking into account the thickness of the flooring and any underlay required. A good underfloor heating supplier should be able to advise you on this.

For more information on combining our wood flooring with underfloor heating, read our blog article here.

If you do want to use rugs these should be thin enough to let the heat through easily – a simple way to check this is to lift the rug at intervals and make sure that the area of flooring beneath it isn’t warmer to the touch than the uncovered areas of flooring of close by.

Using thick rugs and runners on top of your wood flooring, or ones with rubber backing, can trap the heat in and raise the temperature above the industry maximum of 27°C. This can cause excessive shrinkage of the timber and issues with adhesive so we do not advise it.

Our solid oak plank flooring will need to be glue or nail fixed, our Strata and Quintessentials Engineered oak plank flooring can be nail fixed, glue fixed or floated, and our parquet flooring will need to be glue fixed, in accordance with our installation guidelines.

Which fixing method is most suitable will depend on the product you choose and the type of subfloor you have. Details are given in our flooring selector and further information on the fixing methods can be found in our installation guide.

How well your wood flooring is fitted will be integral to the look and performance of the end result. In the absence of complicated site conditions, most Broadleaf wood flooring is designed to be accessible to a competent amateur, assuming that they have the correct tools and follow the installation guide closely. Generally however, we would suggest that you use an experienced professional fitter and particularly if you are considering installing parquet flooring or have a less than perfect site. Please ask our staff for advice if you are in any doubt.

Our Solid and Strata Engineered wood flooring will typically be a few mm thicker than a good quality carpet and underlay, but any height difference between rooms can be simply and discreetly accommodated with an appropriate threshold and a small adjustment to the door. Our Quintessential engineered oak is approximately the same thickness as a good quality carpet and underlay, so minimal adjustment should be needed.

You will need enough wood flooring to cover the floor area of the room, plus wastage for cuts at the edges and dealing with off square walls. Recommended wastage allowances for all products can be found in our flooring selector.

Wood is a hydroscopic material which is sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity. Some movement in response to seasonal and atmospheric changes is characteristic of  wood flooring and part of it’s beauty. It is quite normal to see small gaps between planks and blocks that vary over time.

No. Wood flooring will need to be acclimatised for 7-14 days in order to adjust to the particular atmospheric conditions of your home prior to fitting. Click here for more information about acclimatisation and why it is necessary or see our installation guide.

Quite simply, no. Our high performance, modern finishing products are designed for modern living. A simple regime of vacuum and damp mop, plus a quick application of Wood Floor Wax or equivalent from time to time is all that is generally required. For guidance on keeping your wood flooring in tip top condition see our aftercare guide.

No. All adhesive tapes, even those marked as low tack, contain solvents that will damage the finish on your wood flooring. In our experience, the best way to protect your floor if you need to decorate the skirting after it has been fitted is to use a sheet of newspaper and to slip this under the skirting.

In an ideal world we would recommend that all other building work and decoration is completed before you lay your floor, but we appreciate that this is not always possible.

If you do need to carry out other building works after your floor is fitted, we recommend that this is protected using Ramboard or a similar recyclable, breathable professional card floor protection. Do not use a plastic floor protection product such as Correx, as this will cause the floor to sweat underneath it which can damage both the finish and the floor itself.

Make sure that when floor protection is taped together (to prevent dust working its way beneath it and damaging the floor finish) the tape is only applied to the floor protection and not the floor.

Where underfloor heating is fitted under the flooring, consult your underfloor heating supplier prior to applying floor protection to ensure that this will not cause the floor temperature to exceed the 27°c maximum.

Both Broadleaf Solid Oak and Broadleaf Strata Engineered Oak flooring have a thermal resistance of 0.1176m² K/W which based on a conversion rate of 1 Tog = 0.1m² K/W equates to 1.176 togs.

Broadleaf Quintessential Engineered Oak Flooring has a thermal resistance of 0.088m² K/W which based on the conversion rate above equates to 0.88 togs