The barefoot basics of wooden floors

PROMOTION

Is there a type of wood that is best for floors? Are the modern engineered flooring options better than days gone by? Why do people want wide planks? What types of finishes are available, and should you oil or varnish? With so many questions surrounding the broad range of flooring options available today, we turned to Nick Gluckman from Oggie Flooring to tell us some of the options, and get a few tips on choosing a wooden floor for your home. 

Living on wood

The floor is a critical determinant of the look, feel and personality of a space, so make sure you choose a floor that fits your style, works well with your chosen colour scheme and existing furniture, can accommodate some decor changes, and above all else is beautiful.

Oak is a great option for wooden floors. It’s with good reason Europe’s most popular hardwood flooring. Oak floor planks are often used to stylishly clad walls and ceilings, also to make tables and other furnishing items. This extended use of flooring planks makes a positive contribution to the flow of an area.

Wood is warm to walk on, and compared with other flooring options such as concrete, tiles or laminate, wood has a timeless look, a more luxurious feel, and is less slippery when wet.

Another benefit of wood is that it is hygienic and low maintenance. Oiled wooden floors are far easier to maintain than varnished ones. Hardening oils not only protect against stains, they can be quickly and successfully applied to disguise scratch marks

Wood is also surprisingly versatile. If you want to change the color or totally renew its appearance, your floor can be sanded and have a different colour oil applied after a number of years. You can achieve a vastly different look and style without needing to replace the floor.

If you are environmentally conscious, you’ll be pleased to know that wood floors from FSC certified suppliers (look for their certification number) are ecologically sustainable. The Forest Stewardship Council, an internationally recognised body, regularly audits these suppliers to ensure their flooring comes from certified sources.

If you are health conscious (who isn’t?), you’ll be pleased to know that oils from manufacturers such as WOCA Denmark bear the EU’s “E0” certification confirming that they are free of unhealthy VOC’s.

Choosing the wood 

Oak has a recognisable grain, is an affordable hardwood and is my wood of choice, particularly wide-plank oak. Typically the wider the plank, the greater the visual impact in the room. Oggie offers a broad range of wide plank oak flooring. The choices in width range from 159mm wide to 340mm. The length of the plank changes according to the width, usually from 1220mm to over 2200mm. Longer sizes are available on special order. Thicknesses vary from 10mm (perfect for renovations), to 20mm.

Oggie specialises in precision-engineered European Oak multi-layer hardwood flooring. Multi-layered flooring is more durable than solid wood, particularly where ambient temperatures and humidity vary considerably. The opposing directions of the support layers counteract the hardwood top layer’s natural movements, making the floors more dimensionally stable.

Multi-layer flooring is more eco-friendly than solid hardwood as fast growing species such as poplar are used for the intermediate layers, thus using less slow growth hardwood than solid floors, yet sufficient to enable flooring to be sanded several times during it’s lifespan. 

Finishing the wood

Think about the room. Most people plan a room with the end look in mind, and this means that the floor must work with the walls and the furniture. Italian designers suggest that you choose the look and style which best suits your personality. To help you choose what’s best for you, here’s a brief overview of the range of finish options available. 

A traditionally styled hardwood floor recreates the look and feel of age-old craftsmanship.

A pigmented oiled finish changes the colour of the floor to create a specific look and ambience. At the same time the oil hardens the wood and seals the floor. Popular oil pigment choices are: white, extra white and natural.

A smoked finish attractively darkens and enriches the floor’s colour.

A sculptured appearance is when the wood is handcrafted to create some visual movement in the wood.

A carved–out knot recreates the look of a time-worn floor, which occurs when the knot, the hardest part of the wood, is raised due to the other nearby wood being worn away with use.

A hand-scraped finish can create a very beautiful and subtle texture, often a rippled look that replicates the look of reclaimed old farmhouse floors.

A wire-brushed floor has a slightly rough, aged look. It also helps hide scratches.

A beveled edge creates a slight v-groove between adjacent planks. It helps to mask slight movements that will occur with changing humidity.

A distressed edge is a beveled edge that’s been roughened to give the floors a rustic look that’s characteristic of very old wooden oak floors.

Oggie Hardwood Flooring, nicholas@oggie-sa.co.za, www.oggie-sa.co.za
Cape Town, Paarden Eiland 021 510 2846
Johannesburg, Kramerville 011 262 3117