Oak - The Heart of Good Flooring
A new kitchen extension with a myriad of modern kitchen units and accessories needs a hard wearing but elegant floor at its heart, one such product fitting the bill is traditional oak flooring.
Oak with its intricate patterns exposed by the cutting of the wood and renowned for being a tough hardwood has been around since time immemorial. It has always been used in the construction of buildings and ships. In fact the Royal Naval official march is called “Heart of Oak” and refers to the material their ships were made of.
The kitchen is the heart of most homes and tends to be the area where most of the family spend quite a bit of time. This certainly puts a strain of the underfoot area that everyone has no choice but to use.
Once chosen, oak flooring can be ordered and delivered to the site. It comes in various different lengths and widths. Once the square footage is calculated add another 5% on for wastage.
It is always a good idea to check all planks of oak for defects and also checking for humidity; next store it in the kitchen for 3-5 days to allow the wood to adjust to the humidity of its new home.
The fixing of oak flooring will be dependant on what surface will be underneath. If there is a concrete floor bed and there is a worry of damp it may well be worth fitting a semi-permeable membrane before fixing the floor.
The planks themselves will be slotted together and kept in place using secret nails or a wood adhesive. It is no good just pushing the tongue into the groove and hoping it stays there. Oak will expand and contract with humidity and a kitchen can bring on both extremes, if the planks are not stuck together movement may force the planks to move and gaps may appear.
Once the flooring is in place and given time to settle and dry, if glue has been used, it will be time to decide if further sanding is necessary. After the floor has been sanded and cleaned of all dust and debris it is time to apply the finishing surface coats.
This is the part which is at a disadvantage to engineered oak flooring as once that is fitted there is no further work needed. The advantage of the oak flooring is that if these finishing coats are applied properly the finish will be far superior.
The choice whether to use a lacquer finish or oil/wax finish will be personal to each individual, remember ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’. The process for each type of application is similar however the oil/wax application is a more involved process, like most things though ‘good things come to those who wait’.