Wood laminate or engineered board floors should not be confused with vinyl laminates, which are not real wood, but are simply a wood effect printed onto MDF. Laminate merely means that the board is constructed of layers. An engineered board will typically have a 4mm, sometimes up to 6mm, layer of your chosen hardwood on typically a 10mm backing of softwood. The result is indistinguishable from solid wood and can even be re-sanded several times. It is very hard wearing, with some manufacturers offering guarantees of up to 30 years.

Engineered boards are quick to lay as they do not need to be glued or nailed to the sub-floor and, normally, usually come pre-finished but can be bought semi-finished. They are the perfect solution where the sub-floor is concrete.

There are three main types. 1-strip looks like single planks. 2-strip and 3-strip give the appearance of a floor made up of smaller boards. See Links to Flooring Catalogues for examples. Other variants include parquet and intricately inlaid panels.

Below is shown the sequence of laying a engineered board floor. The example shows Kahrs London Oak in planks (1-strip) in an oiled finish, one of our most requested products:

							As this is a concrete sub-floor, a polythene damp-proof membrane has been laid first. Kahrs Tuplex underlay has been used. In view of the nominal additional cost, our customer decided to opt for the 'belt and braces' approach of adding a heavy duty damp-proof membrane.
							The floor has now been fitted. Since wood needs to contract and expand, a 10mm expansion gap must be left all around the floor. In this case, this will be hidden by beading the edges and running the floor under door architraves. Another option is to replace the skirting boards to hide the expansion gap.
							This picture shows the edges of a floor in Oak 3-strip with matching beading and a very neat fit around the basin pedestal. Alternatively, the beading can be matched with the skirting.