Fitting and finishing
Wooden flooring and floorboards
Wood flooring work covers laying new boards, repairing old ones, and putting right the sub-floor underneath. Labour usually runs £20 to £45 per square metre, with parquet and herringbone at the top because of the setting out.
What this covers
What it costs. Fitting wood flooring costs £20 to £45 per square metre in labour. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Laying solid and engineered board
- Parquet and herringbone
- Replacing damaged floorboards
- Levelling and sub-floor preparation
- Silencing squeaks
What is involved
Preparation decides the result. A sub-floor has to be flat, dry and clean before anything goes down, and on a concrete slab that means checking moisture and often laying a membrane. Engineered board can float on underlay, be glued, or be secret-nailed to battens. Solid timber has to be fixed and needs an expansion gap at every wall, hidden by the skirting or the beading, because a solid floor fitted tight to the walls will lift.
Old floors are the other half of the trade. Individual boards can be lifted and replaced with matching reclaimed stock, which blends in far better than new timber. Squeaks come from boards moving against nails or joists and are usually fixed by screwing rather than nailing. Where boards are cupped or badly worn, sanding and refinishing is a separate specialism worth asking about before assuming a floor needs replacing.
Laying solid and engineered board, one of the jobs under wooden flooring.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask what they will do about levelling and how they check moisture on a concrete floor. Ask about the expansion gap and where it will be hidden. For repairs, ask whether they can source matching reclaimed boards.
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Common questions
Solid or engineered wood flooring?
Engineered for anything over underfloor heating or on a concrete slab, because it moves far less. Solid where the floor may want sanding several times over decades.
Can wood flooring go over underfloor heating?
Engineered board can, within the manufacturer's temperature limits. Solid timber generally should not.