OK we’re planning on upgrading the kitchen. Pretty much decided on (and priced up) the cabinets, appliances, doors etc.

part of this will be to also upgrade / replace the existing carpet with some nice solid wood flooring (i.e NOT laminate).

Are there any flooring fitters in the house could give me a ballpark figure for fitting the new flooring? Or someone who’s recently had this done?
We’re talking approx 40m2.

Mr Darcy is yer man

Ball park, £15pm2 + adhesives.

Kitchens are (generally) the second most difficult room after hallways.

Few questions first (well, aren’t there always?):

What’s your sub-floor? Concrete (and if so, how old? existing DPM?)? Floorboards? Ply/Chipboard? Straight-to joists?

Are you planning on going from the ground up? i.e. will you be fitting a floor to the full area and then building your kitchen on top? Or will you be having the kitchen fitted then have the floor fitted to just beyond the kickboards?

You might want to consider engineered flooring rather than solid – especially in a prone-to-spills, humid, hot’n’cold room like a kitchen.

What kind of finish do you want at the end? Dark? Light?

I’m assuming you’ll go with an oak floor of some kind…?

EDIT: Throwing out a figure like £15/sqm + adhesives might lead the OP to believe he might get 40sqm of timber flooring laid for ITRO £600 + a bit for materials, which I’d very much doubt TBH.

subfloor is floorboards. house built 1935.
thinking of going “ground up” & fitting the kitchen on top, but OTH if we don’t it’ll save a few square metres of materials . Actual room sizes, wall to wall, are 4.6m x 8.4m. Materials other than underlay & adhesive already budgeted for

mrs_d wants solid wood so solid wood it is. Not quite so humid / hot’n’cold as it’s a through lounge / dining kitchen. There’s a conservatory on the back so we’re going for as light a room as we can get away with so it’ll be oak with a light finish

oh aye, forgot to mention. we’re in Yorkshire so no inflated London prices please 😉

Floorboards?

What condition? All nice and flat? Running parallel or transverse to direction of new floor?

(If you’re wondering whether I’m sucking on my teeth, I am 🙂 )

reasonable condition AFAIK. parallel to new floor

Technically, if new floor is running parallel to existing, you ought to screw down a 6mm ply first so perhaps budget for that. If the floorboards are flat this might not be necessary but someone who knows what he’s doing should e able to tell you during a survey. Doing it from the ground up is the best way. Yes, it does mean you pay for a few square metres you won’t be looking at. But, it allows for any changes when the kitchen is being fitted or in the future. IME, when floors are fitted afterwards, there is always a spot or two where the height of the new floor has been accounted for. Best fitting method with a timber sub-floor is by secret nailing with lines of flooring adhesive laid out at joist width apart.

As or fitting prices, I haven’t a clue what Yorkshire prices are I’m afraid. Has anyone come out to take a look?

no not yet – that’s why I’m asking ball park figures. so I know if I’m being quoted silly prices

cheers DD, there’ll be some beer put away for you if you’re ever up this way

Ball park, I’d be thinking you won’t have much change from a grand I suppose. 🙂

hey up John. flooring fitter for 35 years and in Silsden so can pop over the hill and have a look .

put your kitchen in first and leave any skirtings off no point paying for wood you will never walk on

Fair point trout. We do need to get some quotes, will speak to mrs_d when I get home tonight

I can give you a quote for fitting only or for some nice woods and fitting .

As DD says engineered be better in a kitchen specially if you are doing the brewing in there also .
Just done a nice unfinished engineered oak floor and oiled with osmo oil
looked great

Er….don’t put your kitchen in first. Always get the floor in first and if you want to save money install ply to the same level as the new floor.

Some people really shouldn’t post if they don’t know what they are talking about!

Some people really shouldn’t post if they don’t know what they are talking about!

Well stop posting then! 😉

Both methods are equally valid, just depends on cost difference and how likely kitchen design will change during build.
Up to the OP to decide which one suits him best.

Personally I’d do the whole lot, wouldn’t cost too much more in materials and barely anything, if anything at all, extra to fit. Unless there’s loads of kitchen units.

Not going to get into a slanging match here but assuming a single run of say 3 metres of units that would be a saving of 1.5 sq metres of wood
lets say £40 per sq mts so £60 saved

40 sq mtrs is quite a large kitchen so I am guessing there will be more kitchen units than that .

I dont have cash to chuck away so there would be no expensive flooring under my units .
Yes a piece of cake to fit when the room is empty then along comes the kitchen fitter and drops his hammer on the new floor or drags a unit into position , Ooops sorry I have just buggered your nice new floor

Been there seen it happen more times than it should .

Eight of them on the floor. More on the walls but that’s not important.
makes more sense to me to do the whole floor unless the fitter tells me otherwise

40m2 includes the lounge. Whole of ground floor basically. Not a huge house – small pre-war 3 bed semi

Bit OT, but Im also considering engineered flooring for my thru lounge/kitchen, whats the soundproofing like? Dont want it sounding like a herd of elephants walking around like our current laminate does upstairs.

You might want to consider engineered flooring rather than solid – especially in a prone-to-spills, humid, hot’n’cold room like a kitchen.

I went for solid beach, but with hindsight should have gone for an Engineered floor. Dirt and water have got into the wood and made it look a right mess in areas of high wear. It needs sanding down and re-proofing, but it’s a right faff sanding the kitchen floor (dust everywhere).

Solid flooring seems to be about £30-£90 square metre when I’ve been looking

Need to buy some this week

Erm nobodys asked do you have pets

We put down mid priced click flooring with 8mm gold backed underlay vapour barrier

3 mths of puppy pee and sand from beach
Floor squeeks like a pig
The sand works its whay deep into joints the even the dyson woent lift

Next time im going reclaimed walnut glued down and osmo oiled

Ps tedtodd.co.uk has some nice stuff for inspiration

One adult cat

Wana swop for springer spaniel now hoose trained,now for the trail training….lol

John, we own a 1930s semi in Leeds and have just had the entire ground floor (living room, hallway, dining kitchen and utility) fitted with engineered wood for £700. Flooring was £40m2.

Can you let me know your fitter’s details KoB?

And trout, can I take you up on that offer to quote?

John, we didn’t get any contact details for the fitter unfortunately. His name was John from Halifax. That’s as much as I know. We bought the floor through Flooring 4 UK based at Horsforth (and Stanningley). Good to deal with, knowledgable and competitive prices.

Hi John
Yes when can I pop out and have a look .
evenings any good though not tonight as just had a pint of homebrew 😀

Look at getting untreated flooring too – then you can seal it with something like Osmo HardWax Oil which will make it much easier to patch sand and repair any damage without seeing the new patched in sealant.

Real Oak Floors were good to me when I did it (uncoated engineered oak).

EDIT – they have been bought out but used to be at the bottom of Sheepscar Road http://www.realoakfloors.co.uk/

Cheers folks. Trout, tues or Thurs next week probably best for us