Our Floor Fitting Services
Floorworks is an established flooring company providing floor fitting solutions for all types of wooden floors, laminates and LVT flooring with matching flooring accessories. Our services are delivered to the highest standard by experienced and skilled flooring installers ensuring our customers’ satisfaction is in line with our Floorworks® Service Guarantee promise!
Our list of floor installation services includes
Installation of parquet flooring blocks in Herringbone, Chevron and various other patterns
And the following floor installation accompanying services:
Subfloor preparation with smoothing compounds and sheeting materials
Installation of suspended subfloors over battens
Sound-proofing insulation and thermal insulation
Supply & laying underlay
Supply & fit flooring accessories, including skirting boards, beadings, thresholds etc.
Trimming of doors and door frames
The Process of Floor Fitting
At FloorWorks we believe that the secret to the perfect floor fitting service with ultimate and long-lasting results lies in the careful planning, skilful performance and delicate finish delivered with an exceptional attention to details. In order to achieve this, there are several essential steps that accompany the floor fitting process.
Flooring Acclimatisation
Before the installation of any wooden flooring, including parquet flooring and solid and engineered wood flooring, it is important to ensure that the wood has acclimatised in the area where it is to be fitted. This process is also called acclimatisation. It allows the flooring to be exposed to and to adjust to the humidity and temperature conditions in its new surrounding. Because natural wood is very sensitive to moisture and temperature changes, it naturally expands and contracts as a reaction to changing conditions. Therefore, acclimatisation is essential before floor fitting to reduce the risk of damaging the wood once it is installed.
In any case, before the installation of any solid wood flooring, our fitters will always measure the humidity of the planks or blocks to ensure that they are within the acceptable limits.
Subfloor Preparation
Once the flooring has sufficiently acclimatised, the starting point for any floor fitting project is ensuring a stable, safe and flat base. Therefore, subfloor preparation is always the first stage of our fitting services. We always prepare the subfloors carefully to ensure that they are dry, clean and flat to avoid any potential problems occurring once the flooring is installed. Uneven concrete subfloors are usually levelled with the use of self-levelling compound (SLC), while subfloors from floor boards are usually levelled by covering them with plywood. Choosing the appropriate floor insulation is also important for sound-proofing and thermal insulation, particularly for engineered floor fitting and laminates. Where flooring is to be fitted above concrete subfloors, it is also important to insulate the flooring from any potential moisture by using liquid damp-proofing membrane. Before the installation of any wooden flooring, we would always check the Moisture Content (MC) of your subfloor using a Moisture Meter to ensure that it is within the acceptable limits.
The Methods of Installation
Each type of wooden flooring has a specific requirement and required individual approach. The type of the installation method is usually defined by the type of wooden flooring and the type of the subfloor. However, there are some main floor fitting techniques that are usually applied.
Nail-Down Installation
Nail-down is one of the most common floor fitting methods where the subfloor consists of wood, plywood or OSB. With this method, the new floors are nailed down with the use of the appropriate size of nails or staples to the wooden subfloors. This ensures stability and provides a lost lasting effect. Another advantage of the nail-down installation method is that it allows for local repairs in the future as individual damaged boards can be easily replaced locally. Nail-down installation also allows a greater tolerance to not perfectly even subfloors, as each board is individually fitted to the subfloor. This is the preferred installation method for thicker solid wood floorings such as planks of 18 mm and more.
Glue-Down Installation
An alternative floor fitting method is the glue down technique, which uses wood floor adhesives, rather than nails to fix the flooring to concrete subfloor. This method is not applicable for wooden subfloors. At Floorworks® we use only high-quality flexible wood floor adhesives glues to ensure stability and durability. Glue down method is the only applicable installation method for parquet flooring in the various parquet patterns.
Floating Installation
Floating installation means that the flooring is neither glued nor nailed down to the subfloor. Instead, all planks are fixed to each other by either using a click system or a tongue and groove fitting system. This method is usually used for installation of engineered wood floors and laminates. Most engineered and laminate floorings today come with specific locking profile, which is used to click into the locking profile of another board. Tongue and groove floorings, on the other hand are fitted as a jig saw where one board’s tongue slides into another board’s groove. Floating installation allows installation of flooring planks with a thickness of 18 mm and over. The advantage of the floating installation is that it allows for an underlay to be fitted under the flooring, which provides additional moisture and sound insulation.
Junckers Flooring Installation
This is an unique installation method applicable only to Junckers solid wood flooring. Junckers flooring is installed with the use of metal clips, holding the boards together. This allows for specific underlays to be placed under thicker solid wood floors for additional insultation.
Floor Finishing & Sealing for Unfinished Products
Wood floor finish applies to unfinished floorings, which once laid need to be sealed with either hard-wearing lacquer or hardwax-oil. This is almost always the case with classic solid wood parquet flooring, which often comes unfinished. Therefore, a light floor sanding and buffing is done to ensure a smooth finish, followed by a gap filling and sealing.
At FloorWorks we only rely on leaders in the floor finishing industry such as Bona, Osmo, Junckers and Loba to guarantee hardwearing and long lasting effects. The choice of varnishing or oiling the floors is very important and depends on many factors, such as the expected use of the floors and the opportunities for future maintenance. At FloorWorks we also use only dust-free sanding equipment for the ultimate protection of your new floors as well as your whole property.
Matching Flooring Accessories for Your Floors
To complete the look of any wooden floor, the installation of additional wood flooring accessories is often required. These may include skirting boards, beadings or thresholds to provide the transition between floorings in different areas.
Doors / Door Frames Trimming
Finally, following the wood floor installation process, we always check to ensure that the new floors will be safe from any potential damage such as scratches from the doors. Therefore, door trimming may be required, particularly if the level of the newly installed floors is different from what it was before.
