At Amwick Floors we want you to choose the best wood flooring for your Brighton home. But choosing the right style and fit for your home or business can be confusing if you don’t understand all of the jargon. Here, we discuss some of the most common words you’ll find cropping up again and again.
Materials & Preparation
Screed
This is usually a liquid, like latex, that is applied to your floor and spread out to create a level surface. Once it’s hardened, you’ll be able to place your floor on a perfectly even foundation.
Underlay
Underlay is used to support the flooring boards by cushioning them against the ground, and increasing their durability. It also provides insulation to help retain the heat inside your property.
Tongue-and-groove
Tongue-and-groove is a phrase used to describe the way certain planks fit together. A tongue juts out from the side of one plank, and this slots into the groove of the plank next to it, thereby ensuring a stable and smooth fit.
Click-lock planks
These are different to the tongue-and-groove planks, as they have shaped edges that need a sequence of actions to fit them together. The benefit of these planks is that once they’ve been fitted together they can’t be separated.
Tools
Tapping block
This is a plastic block that’s used to protect the planks as they’re fitted together. Instead of hammering directly on to the plank, the block takes the worst of the impact, thereby ensuring that you don’t damage your floor while fitting it together.
Pull bar
This is a useful tool that’s used to force glued planks tightly together into a tongue-and-groove joint.
Wedges and spacers
These are used to maintain the expansion gap – discussed later – when laying laminate and real wood flooring.
Features
Expansion gap
Wooden flooring will expand in a hot, humid room and contract in a cold, dry one. The expansion gap is the 10 to 12mm gap you’ll need to leave around the edge of your floor to account for these regular movements.
These are the basics of wood flooring, but when you come to choose the right floor and need professional help installing it, we’ll be here to help every step of the way.