FAQs

How to measure your floor area?

Working out how much flooring you require for your property can be tricky job. Particularly if you have had little experience doing this type of job before or the rooms of the property are an odd shape. This is a brief guide to help you through the process. Please don’t forget that we are a smaller family business that is always happy to help. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Working out the area of a room is always made easier if the room that you are working is a rectangular shape. If this is the case then simply measure the width of the room and the length of the room (in metres) and multiply the two figures.

However often rooms will not be perfect regular shapes and some can be more challenging than others. If your room is not perfectly rectangular then you should try and split the room into smaller squares and rectangles. In the same way as above you would then measure the length and width of each one and add together to give you the overall m2 area of the room.

What if I have worked in square feet? Converting square feet to square metres

If you have worked out the area of your rooms in square feet rather than square metres then there is an equation to convert one to the other. A square foot is approx 0.093 square metres therefore by multiplying your square foot by 0.093 you should get the amount of square metres required.

For example: You have worked your floor area to be 120 square feet.

120 sq ft x 0.093 = 11.16 m2.

Amount of wastage required with engineered wood flooring.

Once you have the area of the room you then need to allow for a certain amount of wastage. The industry standard with wood flooring is around 10% waste however we have found with our engineered wood flooring generally speaking around 5% wastage and rounding up to the next box is enough.

If you need any further help or advice with your floor, whether it be in choosing the right product or calculating your floor area, we are a smaller family business that are always more than happy to help.

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We will always aim to make your order with us as easy as possible, from the day you enquire to the day you pay for your goods. Despite the fact we only take orders over the phone, payment can still be made in a number of different methods to suit you.

Debit Card – There is no fee for using a debit card and payment is taken instantly from your bank. We take card details over the phone or via our website and send confirmation of payment via email.

Credit Card – We can accept credit card over the phone or via our website. Some credit cards may not be accepted online however you are welcome to call us to discuss.

Bank Transfer – Online bank transfers can be used to make payment to us. If requested we can forward you our bank details for you to make payment online. Do be aware that some transfers can take longer than others to clear between banks. All funds must clear before goods can be despatched.

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We aim to offer next day delivery or delivery on a day of your choice subject to stock. AM deliveries and Saturday Deliveries are available, please ask for more details.

Delivery drivers will require help in unloading goods and therefore ample bodies will be needed on site to do so. Deliveries are often made by a large lorry as it is assumed that the delivery address is accessible. We ask that if there is likely to be a problem with access you inform us prior to goods being despatched.

Deliveries will be made between the hours of 8am and 6pm.

We are usually unable to get an ETA on delivery times due to delivery being at the carrier’s discretion. However we will do our best for you if requested. (As previously mentioned AM deliveries are available).

If the driver arrives at the given delivery address on the agreed date and you are not in to receive the goods, you will be liable for the re-delivery charge.

We do our absolute utmost to ensure that our goods arrive with you in perfect condition. We ask that when your goods are delivered, they are inspected immediately for any damage that may have been caused in transit. No claims in regards to damage can be made once the driver has left the delivery address, unless goods are signed for as damaged on delivery. Any claims must be made within 7 days of receiving the goods.

No liability can be accepted for any costs caused from the result of a late delivery. For this reason we advise customers to not book trades for installation until your wooden flooring has been received.

Brief delivery instructions can be given if requested. Please ask when ordering.

All of our terms and conditions can be found here.

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Small free samples of our wood flooring are available if requested. Samples are a great way of seeing the structure and high specification of the boards we supply. When comparing against others take note of the thickness of the hardwood top surface and the quality of the materials used to make up the whole floorboard. As obvious as it may sound there is much more to an engineered wooden floor that just the thickness and finish of the wood on the top surface. What lies beneath this wood, and the job it does, is equally as important.

Request your free sample today.

– Browse our website and choose “Order Sample” on the product you’re interesting in.

– Call us on 01598 740197

– Email info@jfjwoodflooring.co.uk providing us with your name, full address, contact telephone number and which floor it is you would like a sample of.

As well as a sample….

We know from experience that the samples we send do a great job in demonstrating the specification and quality of the boards we supply however they are not always the best for getting the overall image of the finished floor. With a natural product such as timber you will always get a variation from board to board and therefore of course from sample to sample. Remember no two oak boards will ever be the same, it’s the beauty of it, and so you do have to look at the finish (colour) of samples with this in mind.

For a much more accurate example of the overall finished floor then we would always recommend having a look through genuine customer photographs of finished floors. Un-edited, unprofessional, genuine photos. What you see is what you get! Many of these photos  can be found on our Customer Feedback pages.

Want to see a full box before you order? Call us on 01598 740197 to try a box.

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We are very often asked how many knots and how much decorative grain can be found in our timber, or what grade is our wood. Gradings can be extremely misleading and confusing. Character, Rustic, Natural, Prime, D, C, B, A are all grades that can be used to describe the amount of knots and natural features that can be found in your timber floor. However, these gradings can only really be used as a guide and a small sample and thumbnail photos only show you so much.

Gradings are confusing and misleading. Use genuine customer photos and judge for yourself.

For this reason we have found that using genuine, unedited customer photos are by far the fairest and most accurate way of showing you our floors. By looking through the photos on the specific product pages and customer feedback pages of our site you should get a good idea of knots and natural figuring in our boards and be able to judge if they would suit your property.

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We will aim to offer next day delivery or delivery on a day of your choice, however this is of course always subject to stock. In the event that we don’t have enough stock to fulfil your order we will always be as honest as we can with as to when we are expecting more. We disagree with taking payment for goods we don’t have. You will not be asked to pay upfront for the goods and be misled into thinking you will get them sooner than possible.

We aim to offer delivery on a day of your choice.

We are a family business that has built up over the years from word of mouth and recommendations. Because of this, we have no intention to let our customers down in anyway, including when it comes to availability and delivery of goods. To find out our current stock levels either email info@jfjwoodflooring.co.uk or call us on 01598 740197.

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Our engineered oak flooring is some of the easiest flooring to fit using traditional tounge and grooved boards. The diffulty of the job however, always come down to a number of factors such as the shape of the room and the fitting method.

“…please do be assured that we are always only a call or email away and happy to help and advise the best we can.“

We have had complete first time floor fitters lay our boards before without any problems whatsoever and the job can be made much simpler using certain products, which we can advise you on. If you are thinking about laying the floor yourself, please do be assured that we are always only a call or email away and happy to help and advise the best we can. However, if you do not feel confident in fitting the flooring yourself you may wish to employ someone to lay the floor for you.

If employing an individual or team to fit your floor we would like to remind you that it’s not the most complicated of jobs. The majority of our customers will have either their builders or carpenters do the job for them and you do not necessarily need to employ a specialist.

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An increasing amount of under-floor heating systems are being installed in properties throughout the UK. When laying wooden floorboards onto a heated floor it is important that you get a board that can cope with frequent changes in temperature and humidity, as if not problems can occur.

Our engineered wood ranges are all made with a multi-laminate hardwood ply under-core. Stability – Durability – Beauty

Due to the way in which the ply wood is structured, using layers of hardwood running in opposite direction to one another, the overall board is an extremely stable product that is far more resistant to movement. The ply that is used in our boards is also an exceedingly strong. Nowadays many companies are looking at ways to cut corners on engineered wood flooring and the quality of the plywood is a common way in which they do this.

Our plywood is made up of multiple thin layers of sustainably sourced and certificated hardwoods that are glued together with water proof adhesives. There have been many problems with engineered boards de-laminating and although this is usually down to the conditions of the environment in which the boards have been laid, the issue can often be avoided if a higher spec product is used. In our office, we have had a board soaking in water for weeks, we have even boiled a section of our flooring, and we have never known it de-laminate. Its for this reason we have complete faith in our product and we advise anyone who is laying their wood flooring onto a heated floor to use a high quality engineered flooring such as products supply.

Read more about the key factors to consider when installing your wooden floor over underfloor heating in our blog.

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Our family has been involved in joinery, timber and flooring for generations. If you have any questions or could do with some expert advice, please feel free to just pick up the phone and give us a call. John has been in the timber infor the last 35 years and would be more than happy to have a chat about your project.

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A frequent question we get asked is whether engineered wood flooring needs to acclimatise prior to installation, and we have detailed some information below. If you have already purchased engineered flooring from another supplier we would recommend speaking to your supplier for specific advice.

Most of our engineered floorboards are supplied boxed and the boxes wrapped in plastic. The boards within the boxes will have a low moisture content and would be ready to fit in a dry property. However acclimatising hardwood flooring has always been recommended and is still considered good working practice.

The first thing to consider when you acclimatise a wooden floor is the conditions of the room that the boards are acclimatising to. It’s very important that this room is dry and has the conditions of a ‘normal lived in property’ with a relative humidity between 45-65%. More damage than good can be caused if you let the board acclimatise into a damp atmosphere. Make sure everything in the room has completely dried such as concrete screeds, plastering etc before acclimatising any flooring. It is also important that if you have under-floor heating set within a new screed, the underfloor heating is turned on (following suppliers instructions) before any flooring is fitted or left to acclimatise. You can often find that when underfloor heating is turned on for the first time moisture can be driven up and out of the floor. You do not want this moisture being absorbed by your wooden floorboards. Seek professional advice to test the moisture content of your subfloor or assess yourself using a moisture content meter if you feel comfortable doing so.

Once you are happy that the room is dry and the flooring can be acclimatised you will need to open the boxes to allow the boards to breath. It is best if you can completely open the boxes and lay the boards out. It is recommended that you allow the boards to acclimatise for a minimum of 48-72 hours.

If you take delivery of your flooring and it has to be stored for a period of time, this is not a problem. The boxes can be left in a dry indoor location including garages, outbuildings etc. Make sure the boxes don’t get wet and we would recommend keeping them off the floor (on a pallet or on bearers). Boxes should also be stacked flat on top of one another and not stored for long periods of time leant up against something / stood on end. Once you’re closer to the flooring being fitted the boxes can then be brought into the room they’re to be installed in and acclimatised as above.

If you have any further questions on acclimatisation or any other aspect of the preparation or fitting process then please do not hesitate to contact us. We are always more than happy to help.

View our Engineered Oak Flooring range here

View our Supreme 21mm thick Engineered Walnut flooring here

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Using an underlay to fit wood flooring is becoming an increasingly popular method and more and more people are discovering its advantages. When it comes to underlays, like with many building materials, the variety on the market is substantial, ranging massively in both quality and price. The underlay that we stock is called Elastilon, and it is one of the higher specification underlays available. Elastilon is a Dutch manufactured product that we have been supplying for many years. It is one of the original underlays and it has been thoroughly tried and tested. We have found it to be nothing but a success and have taken the advice from many of our customers who regularly fit floors, to not change.

There are a number of advantages in using Elastilon to fit you hardwood flooring. First we will discuss the time it can save and ease of fitting when using such a product. It has been said that when using Elastilon, on average 50% of time is saved when fitting your floor. Not only is using Elastilon one of the quickest methods in which to lay your floorboards, it is also one of the more pleasant and most convenient. With Elastilon, other than a standard wood glue to glue the header tongue and groove, there is no need for any screws, nails or potentially messy adhesives. This makes the installation much easier and can often make what was a difficult job into a job that can be completed by the DIYer. These advantages may or may not benefit you financially, depending on your circumstances. If you are fitting the floor yourself for your own property, this of course only really aids you in that your job is potentially made easier. If you are paying someone to fit the flooring for you then you may benefit financially in that half the time is spent on the job. Or if you are laying the floor for someone, you can work knowing that the job may well be completed quicker. We have been supplying Elastilon for years to DIYers, builders, carpenters, and experienced professional flooring fitters and we have had an extremely positive response, with nearly all complementing the product on how quick and easy it made the job.

As well as being a quicker and more convenient method of laying your flooring, Elastilon can also provide some technical benefits. The first of which is it reacts favourably to any movement within the floor. Due to Elastilon’s slightly elasticated structure, it holds the boards in place without putting too much strain on the underside of the boards if there is any movement. When Elastilon is used, the boards are only stuck down to the underlay and nothing is stuck to the sub-floor. This is known as ‘floating’ your floor which is promoted and recognised by the official flooring federations. Elastilon is a dense foam material which lays beneath the flooring and the sub-floor. Not only can this slightly take the harshness out the flooring and make it that bit more pleasant to walk on it is also good for acoustics. When using Elastilon there is often no need for any additional acoustic measures to reduce sound travel, making it perfect for flats, offices or even just upstairs.

To conclude, Elastilon can not only offer several benefits it can also work out to be a cost effective, reliable and very efficient way of fitting your flooring. At JFJ Wood Flooring, we can supply you with Elastilon along with your flooring if requested. Elastilon can be supplied in full 50 sq mtr rolls or to the nearest m2 if requested. If you have any further questions on Elastilon or just fitting in general please do not hesitate to give us a call. We are a family business that is always happy to help and advise the best we can.

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“What are the advantages of engineered wood flooring and does it really look and feel as beautiful?”

We are a long established family business and when we started trading, ‘engineered’ wood flooring was unheard of. So why exactly has it caught on so much and what are the advantages of engineered wood flooring? In order to answer this, I will write in reference to the engineered flooring that we supply here at JFJ Wood Flooring. I will do this because I know the specification and quality of our flooring and I have complete faith in the floorboards that we supply. Like with many products, engineered wood flooring varies substantially in both price and quality, and for this reason I cannot speak for all engineered boards.

The most well known and leading advantage that a high quality engineered wood flooring has over any solid wood floor, is its stability. Thanks to the way in which our boards are structured, with a hardwood multiply core, they are far less prone to movement. Traditional solid wood flooring is a completely natural product that reacts to varying moisture and humidity levels. Timber is a semi-porous material that is prone to swelling and shrinking, most commonly across its width. This can result in either gaps between boards or even the floor buckling if out swells its expansion gap. Our engineered oak flooring is the most stable type of wood flooring on the market and the chances of getting any serious movement are minimal. Because of this, it means it can be laid into environments that traditional solid wood floors would not be able to cope with. Conservatories, kitchens, bathrooms and floors with underfloor heating are all areas where solid oak would not be advised. Whereas nowadays, with a high specification engineered wood board such as we supply, oak flooring can be enjoyed in these environments. While on the subject of the board structure, it is also worth mentioning how we are often asked about the strength of the adhesives used within the board. It is not uncommon for customers who have thoroughly researched the market to question this, and rightly so. Cheaper engineered wood floors have been known to de-laminate if put under any sort of stress, and for this reason its very important that the board is glued together with the correct adhesives for the job. Although not scientific, we put all our engineered wood flooring through very thorough tests before we supply them. In fact we have even gone as far as to boil a section of each of our flooring ranges and all the board still stayed in tact.

“…we have even gone as far as to boil a section of each of our flooring ranges and all the board still stayed in tact.”

So we have established that an engineered board is a more stable product but does it actually look and feel as beautiful as a traditional solid wood flooring? The reason why people love wood as a choice of flooring material is largely down to its timeless natural beauty that it can bring to traditional and contemporary properties alike. Many people are originally unaware that the wood that is used for the top visible surface of our engineered wood flooring is the same high quality timber that would be used on any of our solid wood boards. This means that visually the floor looks just as attractive in appearance. In fact, due to the board’s stability, longer and wider planks can be just as practical and some consider it to be even more aesthetically desirable. Not only do engineered boards look the part, they will also last as long too. The life expectancy of a wooden floor is down to what is known as the ‘wear layer’. On a solid wooden floor you can only ever wear the board down as far as the tongue and groove. The distance from the tongue to the top surface of an 18mm thick solid wood floor is generally around 5-6mm. The wear layer on an engineered wood board can vary, however our ‘Supreme’ range has a 6mm wear layer meaning it will last just as long as the majority of solid wood floors. All of our engineered boards have a thick top layer of oak. Even our 14mm thick ‘Country’ range has a 3mm thick wear layer resulting in it being no short term flooring choice.

“…our ‘Supreme’ range of engineered wood flooring has a 6mm wear layer meaning it will last just as long as the majority of solid wood floors.”

The ease of fitting is yet another factor that should be taken into consideration when comparing a solid and engineered wood flooring. Wide and long floorboards are a practical option on engineered wood flooring due to their stability. Because the majority of the engineered wood flooring we sell is long and wide, it is far quicker and easier to lay. Our engineered boards are also extremely well machined and we have exceptionally good feedback over the years on what a pleasurable material they are to work with. Not only does this again help to speed up the job, it also results in far less wastage. Given that our engineered boards are much quicker to fit with far less wastage, any extra money spent on a high quality engineered board can be saved in fitting costs and this is something that should be considered when comparing prices.

The final advantage is the environmental benefits that engineered wood flooring offers. The ply wood that is used within our boards is made up of a mixture of faster growing and less valuable timbers. With engineered wood flooring, the majority of the board is made up of ply, and therefore less of the valued hardwood that has taken hundreds of years to grow is used. Here at JF Joinery and JFJ Wood Flooring, sustainability and maximum yield from our valued timbers is very important to us. As a smaller family business, we have even invested £40,000 into machinery that turns all out waste offcuts and sawdust into briquettes – an eco friendly heating fuel.

We hope you found this has answered a few questions you may have had. However if you have any further queries on any of the above please feel free, as always, to pick up the phone and give us a call on 01598 740197.

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