Wide-plank engineered oak flooring with natural character marks and a brushed surface

Collection No. 01

Engineered Wood

Real timber, engineered for the way modern homes actually live. Over 100 ranges on display at our Hampton Hill showroom — in oak, walnut and ash, across wide plank, herringbone and chevron.

The Material

Real wood, built to behave.

Engineered wood is, at its heart, a piece of solid hardwood — oak, walnut, ash — bonded to a multi-layered core that keeps it dimensionally stable. The top layer is the floor you see and feel. The layers beneath are what stop it from warping, cupping or shrinking when the weather, the heating, or the season changes.

It's a deceptively elegant piece of engineering. A solid oak board, cut from a single piece of timber, will move with humidity. It always has done. In a Victorian terrace with a draughty hallway and a steaming kitchen ten feet away, that movement shows up as gaps in winter and tight, squeaking joints in summer. Engineered construction solves that quietly — the cross-grain plies pull against each other, holding the board flat while the surface remains, in every meaningful sense, real wood.

“You get the warmth and grain of solid oak with the stability that modern homes — and underfloor heating — demand.”

Why it has become the standard

Twenty years ago, engineered wood was the affordable alternative to solid timber. Today it's the default choice for new builds, period restorations and discerning homeowners alike — because it solves problems that solid wood simply cannot.

It works over underfloor heating. It can be laid in wider boards without warping. It's faster to install — click systems, glue-down, or floating — and it can be sanded and refinished multiple times over its life. The best engineered ranges are, frankly, indistinguishable from solid timber once they're down. The difference shows up only in how well they age.

Inside the Board

A cross-section, properly explained.

Four layers, each doing a specific job. Knowing what's underneath helps you choose well.

Where It Works

Suited to almost every room in the house.

Engineered wood is the most versatile of the timber options — here's where it earns its keep, and where you might think twice.

Living & Dining

The natural home for engineered wood. Wide planks bring scale and warmth to open-plan living spaces, and the multi-ply core handles the temperature swings of modern glazing.

★★★★★ · Ideal

Kitchens

Yes — with the right specification. Choose a robust lacquered finish, mop spills promptly, and engineered oak will perform beautifully. We'll guide you on the right wear layer for kitchen use.

★★★★☆ · Excellent

Hallways

Where a floor announces itself. Choose a brushed or distressed finish to absorb the inevitable scuffs of family life, and a darker tone to camouflage the worst of London's gritty pavements.

★★★★★ · Ideal

Bedrooms

Quieter than tile, warmer than carpet, and reads beautifully in low light. A natural-oiled finish develops a soft patina over the years that you simply can't buy in.

★★★★★ · Ideal

Open-plan Extensions

Engineered wood was made for these spaces. Lay one continuous run across kitchen, dining and living — the dimensional stability handles the temperature differential between glass-walled and shaded zones.

★★★★★ · Ideal

Bathrooms & Wet Rooms

Generally not recommended. Standing water and constant humidity will challenge any wood floor. For bathrooms and wet rooms, our LVT range delivers the look of timber with full waterproofing.

☆☆☆☆☆ · Consider LVT instead

Underfloor Heating

Built for warmth from beneath.

Engineered wood is the only timber floor we'd put over UFH without hesitation. Here's why it works — and the small details that matter.

The three things that matter

Surface temperature limit. Wood doesn't like being cooked. Keep the surface below 27°C and engineered oak will last decades. Above that, you risk drying the timber out and opening up the joints. A good UFH system is configured to respect this; your installer will set it up correctly.

The right underlay. Carpet underlays are insulators — the opposite of what you want. UFH-rated underlays have a low TOG value (typically under 1.0) so the heat passes through efficiently rather than being trapped beneath the floor.

Acclimatisation. Boards need to sit in the room for several days before installation, with the heating switched on at low temperature. Then up gradually after fitting. Skip this and you'll see gaps appear in the first heating season. We never do.

The Vocabulary

A short glossary, plainly written.

Every trade has its jargon. Here are the terms you'll hear from us, translated.

100+ Ranges in our showroom

A collection edited for British homes.

From whitewashed Scandinavian oak to deep smoked walnut, in plank, herringbone and chevron — our showroom holds over a hundred engineered ranges, each chosen for the way it performs in the homes around us. A small selection below; the full collection lives in Hampton Hill.

Whitewashed engineered oak plank flooring sample Natural engineered oak plank with brushed surface Raw oak plank with sawn texture Grey oak plank with strong grain Light oak herringbone parquet Natural oak herringbone parquet Grey-washed oak herringbone parquet Dark smoked oak herringbone parquet Light oak chevron flooring Smoked oak chevron flooring

See the Full Collection in Hampton Hill

Take the next step

There's no substitute for seeing it in your hand.

A photograph can suggest a floor; a sample, in your own light, decides it. Visit our Hampton Hill showroom to handle every range, borrow generous samples to take home, and talk through your project with someone who actually knows the material.

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