Showroom: 16 Cross Street, Standish, Wigan WN6 0HQ
01257 425600
Wide-plank engineered oak flooring in a bright Wigan living room

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Engineered wood flooring in Wigan

Real timber on a stable core — the right answer over underfloor heating, and the widest boards we stock.

Supplied and fitted

Engineered wood, in plain English

Engineered board is a real hardwood wear layer bonded to a cross-laid plywood core. The surface is indistinguishable from solid wood because it is the same timber; the difference is underneath, where the cross-laid construction stops the board expanding and contracting the way a solid plank does. In a modern, well-heated house with big glazed areas, that stability is the whole argument.

It is the reason engineered is the correct specification over underfloor heating almost every time. It is also why you can run a single floor through a kitchen, a dining area and a hallway without an expansion break every few metres, and why wide boards are possible at all — a 220mm solid plank would cup within a season, a 220mm engineered board will not.

The number that decides whether a floor is a twenty-year purchase or a lifetime one is the wear layer, not the overall thickness. A 6mm top layer will take two or three full sands; a 2mm veneer will take one light cut at most, and some will take none. Plenty of retailers quote you the total board thickness and leave it there. We tell you the wear layer, because that is the number that matters.

Best for: Open-plan living, kitchens with underfloor heating, and anywhere a wide plank is wanted.

Also worth a look

Other ranges we supply and fit

Herringbone parquet flooring laid in a Wigan hallway Parquet flooring Solid oak plank flooring finished on site in a Wigan home Solid wood Laminate flooring fitted in a Wigan family kitchen Laminate

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Questions

What people ask us

Is engineered wood a cheaper substitute for solid?
No, and the good ranges are not cheaper. It is a different construction chosen for stability, not for price. A 20mm engineered board with a 6mm oak wear layer costs more than plenty of solid oak and performs better in a modern house. The cheap end of engineered — 14mm with a 2mm veneer — is a different product again, and we will tell you which one you are looking at.
How wide can I go?
We stock up to 260mm. The wider the board, the more the room reads as a single surface rather than a collection of strips, which is usually the effect people are after in an open-plan space. Wide boards do want a very flat sub-floor, so preparation matters more as the width goes up.
Pre-finished or finished on site?
Pre-finished is faster, comes with a factory warranty on the coating, and is walkable the same day. Finishing on site gives a continuous surface with no bevel between boards and lets us match the colour to existing joinery or a staircase. For most homes pre-finished is the sensible choice; for a period property with existing woodwork to match, on-site wins.
What has to happen before it goes down?
The boards acclimatise in the room, the sub-floor is checked for moisture and flatness, and any underfloor heating is commissioned up and back down in stages before and after fitting. Skipping the commissioning is the single most common cause of a floor that gaps in its first winter.

Free measure, written quote, no pressure

Tell us the room and how it gets used, and we will tell you honestly what suits it — including when the answer is something cheaper.

Book a free measure Call 01257 425600
Call 01257 425600