Oak remains the flooring most Colne homeowners ask about, and for good reason: it suits everything from stone-fronted terraces near the town centre to newer builds out towards Barrowford. But oak is not one product, and the right choice depends on your subfloor, your budget and how your household actually lives. Here is what we tell customers before they spend a penny.
Solid oak is milled from a single piece of timber, usually 18mm to 20mm thick. It looks superb and can be sanded and refinished many times over, but it moves with moisture and temperature. In older Colne terraces with suspended timber floors and variable heating, that movement can mean gaps in winter and tight cupping in damp summers.
Engineered oak has a real oak wear layer, typically 3mm to 6mm, bonded to a plywood or softwood core. It is far more stable, which matters in a valley town where humidity swings are real. It is also the only sensible choice over underfloor heating or a concrete slab. For most homes we fit locally, engineered boards are the practical winner, and once laid you genuinely cannot tell the difference from solid.
For the boards themselves, expect roughly 25 to 45 pounds per square metre for decent engineered oak, and 40 to 70 pounds per square metre for solid boards, with wide planks, deep brushing and smoked or hand-scraped finishes at the upper end. Budget boards below 20 pounds per square metre often have a wear layer under 2mm, which cannot be sanded later, so they are rarely a saving in the long run.
Fitting typically adds 12 to 20 pounds per square metre depending on the method: floating a click-fit engineered floor over underlay is quickest, while glueing down or secret nailing solid boards takes longer and costs more. Then allow for underlay, a damp proof membrane if you are on concrete, beading or skirting work, and door trimming. A realistic all-in figure for an average 20 square metre living room is somewhere between 900 and 1,800 pounds, though every job depends on what we find under the old floor.
A lot of Colne housing stock is Victorian or early twentieth century, and the subfloor is where these jobs are won or lost. Original floorboards are often cupped or have decades of paint and bitumen on them, and joists near external walls can be soft if there has ever been a leak or blocked airbrick. New oak laid over a bad base will creak, bounce and open up at the joints within a year.
Good preparation means checking moisture content with a meter (timber subfloors should read below about 16 percent, and new concrete needs to be properly dry before anything goes down), screwing down loose boards, and levelling with plywood or a smoothing compound where needed. It is unglamorous work that can add a day to the job, but it is the difference between a floor that lasts five years and one that lasts forty.
Oak needs to acclimatise before fitting: boards should sit in the room where they will be laid, in their opened packs, for at least 48 to 72 hours so the timber adjusts to your home's humidity. Skipping this step is one of the most common causes of gapping we see when asked to rescue floors fitted elsewhere.
Day to day, oak is low maintenance. Sweep or vacuum grit before it scratches, mop with a barely damp cloth rather than a wet one, and use felt pads under furniture. Lacquered finishes shrug off spills and suit busy family homes; oiled finishes look more natural and can be patch-repaired, but need re-oiling every couple of years. In winter, when radiators are running hard, small seasonal gaps between boards are normal and close up again in spring.
Published 22 July 2026
Call either showroom or pop in Mon–Sat — we’re always happy to talk it through and give you an honest steer.