Wood You Like F.A.Q. on Maintenance

Our Charing showroom is home to around 117 large samples of different wood flooring types, or as we like to say: From Basic Oak to Bespoke. Ample choice for you, from simple wood-engineered Oak Rustic 3-strip, flamy Tropical (FSC) Tarrara Amarillo Duoplank or Solid floorboard to Prime Oak Design Parquet in many patterns.

Our bespoke parquet design comes in at least 25 different 'standard' patterns - in many combinations of wood types - and even then our manufacturer (Lieverdink Parket) can make bespoke even more bespoke by altering the chosen pattern at the request of our clients (when possible of course)..... Read more

Black is the new... black
Designers are looking for warm and dark colours, also in wooden flooring. Staining an Oak floor will just be that: Oak with a darker colour where the grains will stand-out darker than the surrounding wood. Tropical wood comes in many colours, from red-brown to pitch black (like Wenge or Panga Panga), but comes with a price.

Our Wenge Duoplank (6mm Solid Wenge top layer on 15mm water-resistant-plywood) is black, in natures own variations of black and comes with a price tag of £100 (ex VAT) per sq m, pre-oiled.

But there is an alternative: Multi-layer Thermo Heated Oak - black without pronouncing only the grain. It's a through and through 'stain', nothing superficial about it. Placed next to our Wenge sample board you can see the similarity in colour:

Price wise, a complete difference: around £ 45 (ex VAT) less per sq m pre-oiled.

Ask us for more details, availability and accessories for your own warm, dark, sustainable wooden floor. You can call us (01233 - 713725), email us, or visit our showroom in Charing, Kent.

BBC's DIY-SOS team will show - in two of their new programs - how Wicanders WicCork can help to create your dream room.
Not just once, but twice have they used this versatile and available in many colours, designs and textures to help out desperate DIY-ers. The first program will be aired on Wednesday 26 September from 8.00pm on BBC1.

For  preview of the Wicanders WicCork see our "Colours and Design" page.

Discovering an original parquet floor underneath an old wall-to-wall carpet is a great and valuable discovery. Specially if the floor is still in one piece, i.e. no rows or tiles removed for installing a central heating system or other 'modern' plumbing work.

(See also our Wood Floor Guide: "7 Easy Steps to Repair/Restore Your Parquet Floor")

Restoring the parquet floor to its original lustre is really a 'labour of love', but with the right tools and products it will regain its beauty for many years to come. First up is to remove all carpet residue, like the sticky (rubber) underlayment. Scrapping will get most off. If you need to use chemicals try it out first in a corner behind a door - ventilate the room sufficiently and READ the instruction before hand!

Many old parquet floors were stuck down with bitumen which over time can become very brittle and loose its bonding power. Loose blocks (rattling underneath your feet when you walk over it) could be the result. Most old wood blocks have small T&G's all around, lifting one of the block could result in a kind of cascading effect, more loose blocks. So be careful when trying to remove loose blocks.
Before you re-install the lifted blocks remove as much of the bitumen from block and underfloor as possible. Any large residue of the bitumen will make the floor uneven, plus the time the modern adhesive will take to fully bond with block and underfloor will be longer - in cases we've seen even days longer!

Some re-found original parquet floors only need a bit of extra TLC, remove all dirt and apply a suitable maintenance product.
Others however take more work, specially when blocks had to re-installed (or 'new' blocks found to fill in empty spaces), the wear and tear layer is rather damaged (by carpet grippers etc). Then sanding the whole floor is the only solution (such a shame to cover your valuable parquet floor with carpet again!).

Before you go out and hire the first sander you can find, a word (two words really) of advice: remove what's left of the old finish material and hire the proper sanding equipment.
No matter with what grit you start sanding, if your old floor still has layers upon layers of wax on and in it you'll spend a fortune on sanding sheets! Try out a tiny corner of the floor with a sanding paper by hand. If the paper fills right up and spreads rubbish (warmed wax) all over the floor you'll first have to remove this old wear and tear layer. Apply Wax and Polish remover - turpentine or white spirit based - on a cloth and remove the old layers as best as possible. Again, VENTILATE & READ the instructions on the tin/bottle.

For the best end result after sanding your original parquet flooring you'll have to use (hire) a professional belt-sander (and edge-sander). Like the description says a belt-sander has a continuous (or endless) belt, or rather continuous (or endless) sanding paper - called Belt cloth. These belts are very easy to 'wrap' around the drum of the sander (1 minute tops), but most importantly will give the smoothest results on your floor.

Most DIY hire centres can only supply you with the (much lighter) drum-sander. Drum sanders have sheets of sanding paper, that has to be wrapped around the drum and fixed firmly in place with a metal bar. This metal bar, when not attached correctly will create shatter marks all over your floor. The problem is that those shatter marks will mostly only show up AFTER you applied the finish product (varnish or HardWaxOil). Trying to remove these marks with a rotary sander will create another problem: circular marks in your floor.

So for a 'professional' restored original parquet floor use/hire professional tools.

More tips and advice on restoring existing Oak flooring see our Wood-Guide "7 Easy Steps to Repair/Restore your Original Parquet Floor".

On this blog and on our websites (Supply and Install 'division' - "DIY with a Difference" division) our aim to supply quality products and service is frequently mentioned. And we pride ourselves that our clients frequently acknowledge this fact by sending us testimonials and feedback.

One of the promises "Why You Know Wood You Like Provides the Greatest Value in Wooden Flooring" is:

The personal and dedicated service you receive will continue for as long as you need us. Our growing band of delighted clients, with their glowing testimonials and feed back are your confirmation and assurance of the quality and service you will receive of Wood You Like, THE natural wooden flooring specialists in the UK.

Recently, after we installed a Duoplank Oak Rustic, brushed & oiled natural our client remarked that the doors (trimmed to the new height of the floor and wooden threshold) seem to be scraping over the threshold. Our job is only finished when our client is happy. The following (email) conversation is our 'proof in the pudding' of this week:

Dear Jay

As discussed with you yesterday I mentioned to Ton that the doors in your home touch the thresholds etc. Before he left he checked all of them, but he believes the doors (hardwood) are a bit too heavy for the little screws in the hinges. We have no problem whatsoever to come round again, but removing more material from the bottom of the doors, while the cause is the screws might not be the way forward (the door will 'drop' again and in the end you might end up with a gap between the top of the door and door post.)
Please advice. If needed Ton can come round later tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon.

Kind Regards
Wood You Like Ltd
Karin Hermans

Karin,

I will come back you on this. I may be able to get my father (who hung the doors) to replace the screws with longer ones if this is the case. I have a feeling that one of the doors may still need a trim but we'll try longer screws first - as we don't want them falling off in the long run.

Can I take this opportunity to thank you and Ton for a fantastic job. The floors look superb and Ton has finished the fitting to a very high standard. My Father commented that it was a very tidy job - and as a carpenter he is hard to please!!! We appreciate your patience with our fussiness too - we can be awkward clients I am aware.

Please feel free to use any of these comments on your customer comments section of your website etc if you wish.

Many thanks,

Jay & Lorraine

We are awaiting the news if replacing the short screws with longer ones has resolved the problem. If not, we're on our way - as promised.