Kahrs Flooring

[Lesd]

Was talking to a local boat fitter who is using a 'engineered hardwood' flooring from a company calle Kahrs in his current fit out. Its 15mm thick including a 5mm hardwood top layer. To my untrained eyes it looks very nice, but Im old and wise (?) enough to know looks can be deceptive. Has anyone any experience of this product ?

Les

[charles123]

no but engineered wood flooring comes in this size by many makers. What you need to watch is it getting wet as water will get down the joints that will swell or very least stan the wood as the varnish cost is on the top layer and the edges which are designed to be hidden receive little protective varnish.

 

Consider vynil flooring which is hard to tell from real wood, only about 5mm thick but you need a good level floor to lay it on. Its a bit dearer to buy but entirely waterproof

 

Charles

[John Orentas]

Was talking to a local boat fitter who is using a 'engineered hardwood' flooring from a company calle Kahrs in his current fit out. Its 15mm thick including a 5mm hardwood top layer. To my untrained eyes it looks very nice, but Im old and wise (?) enough to know looks can be deceptive. Has anyone any experience of this product ?

Les

 

 

Hi Les.

 

I've been involved with a church conversion where all the apartments have been done in that way, they look excellent, they also sound like a proper solid timber floors when you walk on them, though in the case I am familiar with they are solid hardwood it is imported from Rumania or that area. Expensive though.

[Gary Peacock]

We have just done a solid oak one with an oiled finish it looks very nice but was a tad expensive. The one thing that I do know about wood floors from bitter experience in another game is that they are very intolerant to getting wet, the little bit of expansion in each plank can end up in some very spectacular results! But hopefully that amount of "wet" should never happen.

[anhar]

We have just done a solid oak one with an oiled finish it looks very nice but was a tad expensive. The one thing that I do know about wood floors from bitter experience in another game is that they are very intolerant to getting wet, the little bit of expansion in each plank can end up in some very spectacular results! But hopefully that amount of "wet" should never happen.

I'll probably be going for a laminate floor in the boat I expect to buy in due course. Far as I know it does not suffer from the damp problems that real wood does though it's virtually similar in appearance. I don't like the wood look vinyls. Not as nice in my view as lams.

 

regards

Steve

[Keeping Up]

We have just done a solid oak one with an oiled finish it looks very nice but was a tad expensive. The one thing that I do know about wood floors from bitter experience in another game is that they are very intolerant to getting wet, the little bit of expansion in each plank can end up in some very spectacular results! But hopefully that amount of "wet" should never happen.

Surely it's inevitable that one day that amount of "wet" will happen.

[Richard Bustens]

15mm does not sound very thick for the floor i used 25mm and would have thought 18 as a min

[Alastair]

15mm is usually the top layer.

 

I would argue against using anything that is tongue and groove as flooring in a boat. You never know when you may need to lift a section of flooring. Normal boards could be laid so that it is easy to lift a section, probably best if they are screwed down.

[Gary Peacock]

Did a slate floor last year that was interesting and it did away with quite a lot of ballast too.

[Denis R]

I'm taking the easy way out and going for carpet tiles on a 25mm ply floor. Not so sure about the galley area.... might go for vinyl there. I was put off specifying a wooden floor for exactly the reasons Gary has mentioned - intolerance to water and access to inspection panels.

[Lesd]

Thanks for all the replies and opinions;

I shouldnt have said Im old and wise because now Im confused !! Is the Kahrs flooring a type of 'laminate' floor that is Steve's preference or is this so called 'engineer hardwood' yet another catagory ?

 

How does this type @ £35-50 per m2 compare to a true hardwood or laminate floors in terms of price ??

 

I double checked the kahrs web site and the entire 3 layer construction thickness is 15mm, the hardwood surface itself is less than 5mm thick. The builder I talked to is fixing this on top of some other wooden layer (I dont recall exactly wht he said it was).

 

Does anyone know any web sites where I can look at various options that would be suitable for NB's or shall i stick to the search engines ?

 

(If anyone is interested their web site is www.kahrs.se)

 

Les

[charles123]

Thanks for all the replies and opinions;

I shouldnt have said Im old and wise because now Im confused !! Is the Kahrs flooring a type of 'laminate' floor that is Steve's preference or is this so called 'engineer hardwood' yet another catagory ?

 

How does this type @ £35-50 per m2 compare to a true hardwood or laminate floors in terms of price ??

 

I double checked the kahrs web site and the entire 3 layer construction thickness is 15mm, the hardwood surface itself is less than 5mm thick. The builder I talked to is fixing this on top of some other wooden layer (I dont recall exactly wht he said it was).

 

Does anyone know any web sites where I can look at various options that would be suitable for NB's or shall i stick to the search engines ?

 

(If anyone is interested their web site is www.kahrs.se)

 

Les

 

Les

 

The price is dear that you were quoted, engineered floor comes in approx £22 a sq metre and is available at B&Q, Screwfix and Whickes at this price for good quality.

I have it in my boat but Garys point and my own about it getting wet is very valid you have to be carefull to wipe up any water.

Laminate flooring is half that price but the water issue is still valid, although the surface is a plastic laminate and therefore waterproof the problem is at the joints where the water penetrates and swells (both engineered and laminate) or discolours the wood (engineered)

To minimise this I have rubbed Danish oil into all of the joints, I dont know how effective it is

 

good luck

 

Charles