“I really want a hardened wood floor,” said nobody. Ever. Why? Well, firstly, in the UK, it’s a new flooring category. “Oh no, not another type of flooring”, I hear you cry, but bear with us.
A hardened floor has a super thin wood veneer on its surface and then a strong plank core (it’s three times harder than a standard engineered plank). If you haven’t read this blog, and you look at a sample, you’ll think it’s laminate (and not one of our Premium Laminate floors..). But, looks can be deceiving; there’s almost as much science in this 11mm product, as an iPhone…
Once fitted, you cannot tell the difference between hardened wood and a standard engineered product. And if the finishing is good enough who cares about thickness? Remember, these floors are…… floors! That’s why it’s the real wood alternative to engineered flooring.
We know there are 1,000s of flooring options out there, and the process of finding a new floor can be super confusing, so to help, here are eight reasons why a hardened wood floor might be right for your next project and a couple of reasons why it won’t be;
- Sustainability matters; Ok guys, we’ll be honest with you, mid-range engineered wood floors are almost always made from European Oak, that’s shipped to Asia, and then back to the UK. The oak is sometimes registered with organisations like the Forest Stewardship Council or The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification but in truth, it’s a grey area (and nobody in flooring really digs too deeply). If you want more sustainable options, there are oak products in France, Baltics, Serbia, Croatia etc but these are expensive and definitely don’t appear on online flooring websites. A hardened wood floor uses ten times less raw material than a standard oak floor. This means less tree chopping, and that can only be a good thing. The veneers we work with are from Croatia and are manufactured a short distance from the factory, so have minimal shipping requirements.
- The finishes really work; by reducing the raw material in the product you can up the specification of the finishing (so the oils or the lacquers). The oils on our floors are either Hardwax, with long guarantees, or lacquered, which are strong enough to be fitted in airports! It’s also been used in East London, bars, and we know those floors have to be very hard wearing (Market Halls, Canary Wharf). This means once the floor is fitted, you never have to worry about it again. The finishes have almost no VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) that you get with cheaper synthetic floors.
- It’s absolutely solid; if you were going to design the perfect wood floor, you wouldn’t use birch or ply for the core middle section. You’d use something that was reinforced, and man-made. The core of these floors makes them three times stronger than an engineered wood floor (so no dents or scrapes).
- Perfect grading; a real challenge we have at Kite is the grading (so amount of knots..) of our Rustic floors. These are becoming more knotty, with fewer raw materials being available to our manufacturers. It’s also hard to get a consistent colour in our flooring, something many of our clients are passionate about. Veneered products can be far more selective with grading.
- Extra wide planks; Big spaces often require wide planks, but with engineered oak products, that can very get expensive. The additional cost for wider planks with hardened wood is significantly less.
- Forgotten wood species; just like with wider planks, if you’re using less raw material it means species such as Ash or Walnut become viable. Our favourite floor in the collection is a clean-grade with an Ash veneer.
- A click system that’s not sh** system; generally cheap floors use click systems, and they don’t work. Yet the principal behind click systems is sound; it makes it easier to fit floors and you don’t need to use PVA glue. Also, if you ever wanted to, you can take the floor apart and put it back together. Because of the strength and the design of these floors, this click system actually works.
- Improved water resistance; one of the benefits of a decent click system is improved water resistance. Spill water on the grooves of this floor, and there will be no damage.
And why might these floors not be a good option?
- Well the big one, and we’ve flagged already this, is if you see a sample of the floor before reading this blog, you’ll think it’s laminate. But, it is 100% most definitely not. It’s a genuine wood floor. Just a very clever one.
- One consequence of these floors being harder is they are more brittle. This means the subfloor needs to be perfect. You cannot float these floors over an uneven subfloor.
- Also, there are flooring looks, where veneers don’t work. These are floors with complex reactive stains, reclaimed effects and parquet (so herringbones and chevron). If you have the budget, nothing can beat our French Oak floors that are stained with hard wax oils. But they’re expensive, especially in wider planks and cleaner grades.
- And price? These floors aren’t, and will never be, the cheapest floors on the market. Whilst you’re reducing the raw material, you’re increasing the specification on almost every other aspect of the floor. However, they still offer unbeatable value for the look, feel and performance. Expect to pay a similar amount to our Newington Range. Wider planks and clean grades, are however, significantly cheaper.
- You own a floor sanding business; you won’t be needed for this flooring.
So there you have it. Our take on this brand-new category of flooring, hardened wood. We think it’s pretty cool. And for many customers, we think it will be the one. You can order samples here –
But we’d definitely recommend seeing our large sample boards, as with all our samples, small samples don’t do our floors justice.
As per our other flooring ranges, at Kite we curate the best floors, from the best manufacturers. The two main manufacturers we work with at Kite on this flooring range are Bjelin and Lindura. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses.
If you’d like to discuss these floors or discuss any other upcoming flooring projects, you can book an appointment with us here – Book Online.
We’re passionate about finding the right floor for you, so to learn more about our mission, you can read it here – Our Mission
Don’t have the budget for a Hardened Oak floor? You can also check out our Premium Laminates.
