Kahrs 15mm Oak London

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What is Kahrs Flooring?
Kahrs are probably the premier manufacturer of plank flooring. Comparable alternative manufacturers include Tarkett and Junckers. Kahrs have a huge factory in Sweden where they have been producing floors for over 30 years. Finishes include oak, pine, beech, maple and others, in a variety of colours, that vary depending on the original wood and the layers of varnish that are placed on top. With a desire for ...
...any knot holes are filled. Kahrs also produce a ‘character grade’ that has higher levels of variation and knotting. Kahrs offer a 30 year (!) guarantee against defect

So what are structured boards? These boards are made up of three layers, the top wear layer (a few mm thick) is bonded to soft wood strips that go across the board (with small gaps between them) and which in turn are bonded to soft wood board as a bottom layer. ... more

I have recently bought a new house. A contemporary, clean feel is what I wanted to achieve in the hall and two ground floor rooms. I undertook a fair amount of research, with the original intention of putting down a solid wood floor with a light and airy feel. New houses are invariably built on a concrete slab and so the ground floor is only a sealed, screeded base. Although a solid wood floor could be put down on this, it is not recommended, especially without putting in wooden batons on which to nail it. So, being dissuaded from using a solid hard wood plank, my alternatives were a laminate floor or a ‘structured board’ (see below) – also known as ‘engineered board’. Although laminate has its uses as a quick, cheap and widely available flooring, it remains recognisable as a plastic, with a limited quality, repeating photographed wood-grain effect pattern, that is liable to chipping and does not stand up to areas of higher wear. Consequently, I would only use laminates in areas of light use, which remain dry, such as bedrooms and studies. And so I investigated structured boards.

What is Kahrs Flooring?
Kahrs are probably the premier manufacturer of plank flooring. Comparable alternative manufacturers include Tarkett and Junckers. Kahrs have a huge factory in Sweden where they have been producing floors for over 30 years. Finishes include oak, pine, beech, maple and others, in a variety of colours, that vary depending on the original wood and the layers of varnish that are placed on top. With a desire for a light, clean, yet classic feel, I choose Oak London. This is a light oak that has only a little variation of plank colour, whilst very large knots are avoided and any knot holes are filled. Kahrs also produce a ‘character grade’ that has higher levels of variation and knotting. Kahrs offer a 30 year (!) guarantee against defect

So what are structured boards? These boards are made up of three layers, the top wear layer (a few mm thick) is bonded to soft wood strips that go across the board (with small gaps between them) and which in turn are bonded to soft wood board as a bottom layer. This structure gives the board strength, resistance to warping and the ability to keep the price down. The number of strips that are bonded onto each plank can also vary, typically one to three. Oak London is a single strip plank. Therefore each plank, 2.4m long by 240mm wide, has a single piece of 4mm thick oak as the top wear layer. With the three-layer construction, structured boards can be up to 20mm thick. Oak London is a little less at 15mm.

How does is go down?
Structured board typically goes down as a floating floor. This is the same as laminates. Floating floors are not fastened to the main sub floor and instead just ‘float’ over the top, and thus are free to expand and contract with the changes in ambient air temperature and humidity. In contrast to this, solid wood floors are normally fastened (nailed normally) down to batons, floorboards or existing load bearing beams.

Again, similar to laminates, structured board requires an underlay (which begs the old joke – “What do Mexicans keep under their carpets?….Underlay, Underlay”!) I used a combined damp-proof membrane (DPM) and underlay that is also produced by Kahrs. It is a simple construction of polystyrene balls, squashed and stuck between two layers of clear plastic sheet. Just a couple of mm thick. Other similar underlay would be suitable, whether as combined product or separate DPM and underlay.

Kahrs have fairly recently introduced a click system across many of its products, Oak London being one of them. Consequently, there’s no gluing involved and planks simply click together (just like most laminates nowadays). Skirting boards do not have to be taken up and instead a beading could be used between the edge planks and the skirting, but a better, more professional finish is obtained by removing the skirtings. Where the planks butt to the walls, a gap should be left for the whole floor to move (expand and contract). I tried to leave around 5 to 10mm. With most skirting board mouldings being 12-15mm deep (and beading similarly), a variance from the wall should be easy to hide. A point to remember here is how you intend to cope with the mouldings around doorframes. Cutting them off and sliding under them is fine on the wall where you start laying the planks but not possible on the wall toward which the planks run or the last wall going across the room. In these cases you have to cut the planks to drop around the moulding or pull the mouldings off the wall and re-fix afterwards. Think this through carefully beforehand. You have been warned! There may me places where you can’t knock the plank down. It is possible (and described in the instructions) to cut off the raised edge on the edge tongue. This allows the plank to be slid in from one end or more easily ‘clicked’ together. PVA wood glue may be required in these cases.

Starting along one straight wall and working in line with the main natural light in the room, planks are laid end to end, the last one being cut to length and the piece cut off being the first piece of the next run (just as long as it is big enough to reasonably offset the planks – 500mm minimum is recommended). Clipping the planks together is a little more involved than laminate as you can imagine for a 15 mm thick, 2.4m long plank. My supplier included a specific wedge that is used to lift the preceding plank, and by using this, a tamping block I had from previously laying a laminate floor, and a medium hammer, working along the plank a few times whilst encouraging the plank into the horizontal, results in a perfect fit.

Walls that are not square, stair bottoms, doorways, pipes and other non-movable objects, will require the cutting and shaping of the planks. This can be a lengthy business depending on the complexity and the tools you have available. See below regarding tools. The only advice I can give is take your time, use paper templates to get the right shape and then place these on the plank, draw round the template and cut to shape.

Working across square areas, the planking covers quickly, giving a beautiful and rewarding finish, faster than you can say dustpan and brush. ‘L’, ‘T’ and sloping ‘R’ cross-section matching wooden profiles are also available to finish across doorways.

Included in each pack is an instruction pamphlet in more languages than the combined skills of the United Nations translation team. The instructions per language are therefore not as extensive as you would first think but are perfectly adequate. A few reads I found useful to ensure I was totally clear.

As with any wood or laminate floor, the base upon which the floor is being laid must be ostensibly flat. In my case, I had to level the floor with self-levelling compound, the original screed being far too uneven. The maximum floor variance recommended by Kahrs in +-3mm in any 2m, and 1mm in any 250mm. After my amateur screeding, I had some variances that exceeded this. The floor does seem to cope with this although it can feel like a just little give under foot whilst feeling more solid in other places.

How does it wear?
With a 4mm thick wear layer, Oak London will provide years and years of wear. No doubt that stiletto heals (with a ‘heavy’ foot), grit, dropped heavy items and other such aggressive treatment will mark the floor. Wood dents, no matter how hard the wood. That said, the plank is treated with seven layers of a hard wearing, multi-layer UV Cured Acrylic Urethane finish that provides a sealing layer of about 0.3mm, giving a satin lustre finish. (Other finishes on different Kahrs products range from Matt to High Gloss).

If you need to – in years to come – the wear layer can be sanded. This will likely remove up to 1mm of the wear layer. It would then need to be re-finished. Even in heavy domestic and commercial environments, Oak London should give many tens of years of beautiful service.

The instruction pamphlet also includes a small table that suggests the appropriate way to clean the floor, depending what has been dropped or spilt onto it. It would appear that there are remedies for most types of common spillage. The golden rule is to get any liquid off as soon as possible. If left, it will seep between the planks and cause them to swell and warp.

What experience, skills and tools are needed?
Professional floor layers will have no problem laying Kahrs. I decided to do it myself though and I’ve been exceptionally pleased with the results. OK, where a professional quoted 4 days for the three areas, it’s taken me twice that, but I had the time, saved me hundreds, and given me a fantastic sense of achievement.

My experience was only laying one laminate floor beforehand. I have reasonable DIY experience but no formal skills beyond school woodwork.

As for tools, the more you have, the easier and better the finish. As a minimum I would suggest you need a wedge and a hammer for laying the planks. For cutting the planks I invested in a circular saw. I already had a cheap jig saw but cutting plank lengths was likely to be too much for it and be extremely slow. Using handsaws for anything beyond small cuts would be almost impossible. A compound saw would have been useful too (not that I have one) although a handheld saw will definitely be required. For the more detailed cuts, I used a hacksaw and a small hand saw, along with files. This sounds time-consuming and at times it was. A band saw or fret saw (or ‘Rotozip’?) would have been quicker and possibly offered better results.

A steel rule and pencils are other obvious tools. I would also add a pair of kneepads and a source of music as essential!

What are the benefits?
Firstly, a real wood floor. It looks beautiful. Being a structured board, it is more versatile that solid wood whilst the click together system is a joy. The overall look is superb and should be maximised by choosing the right planks to be adjacent to one another so as to keep the grain types, the extent of knotting and the colour variations as even as possible.

For sufferers of allergies and dust, wooden floors are an obvious choice. Vacuum cleaners, brooms, dustpans and ‘Swiffers’ (personal favourite) are all easy ways of keeping the floor spotless.

And with a lifetime that will likely exceed the time you stay in the house, the investment of a real wood floor is a one-time investment that will add value to your house.

And all your friends will go’Ooooo’ and ‘Ahhh’ too.

What are the limitations?
Wooden floors do have their limitations. As already mentioned, they don’t like water – not for any period of time anyway. So a damp under-floor, or water on the surface that is not soon wiped away, will start to make the planks split, warp and show the gaps between. Dirt will get in and start to look very unsightly. So, I would think carefully before using Kahrs in a kitchen, bathroom or cloaks, although with care it may be suitable.

Pets may also struggle a bit on a wooden floor – those that run anyway. The lustre finish doesn’t offer any level of grip and so they may end up scrabbling. That said, they’ll get over it and definitely won’t complain and might even be a source of some amusement!

Not as hard as stone, tile or linoleum, wooden floors are mid-way between these solid finishes and fibre products such as carpets. So, if you or your family (especially the very young and very old!) are susceptible to failing to stay upright, the odd bruised knee or worse might be on the cards.

As already noted, a flat sub floor is required. Variances in surface levels, easily coped with by carpets, will result in your wooden floor creaking, feeling springy underfoot and could result in cracking.

Again, as already mentioned, sharp objects under foot will dent and scratch the floor. As will heavy furniture if moved thoughtlessly. As a minimum, have mats to remove grit and damp from shoes at thresholds to outside. Use pads on the feet of furniture.

Any hard floor will be noisier than carpets. So footsteps will be more obvious downstairs whilst on upper floors, persons underneath may well think that migratory animals and stampedes have been let loose above! (Slight exaggeration)

The last limitation is price. The RRP for Kahrs Oak London is £49.95/sq.m in UK. You can get it markedly cheaper than this (see below), but it is still a significant investment.

From where can I get it?
Just about all carpet suppliers offer wood too. So some will supply Kahrs. The Internet is another avenue. This is where I found the cheapest supplier. www.flooringsupplies.co.uk were brilliant. They do have a showroom in Norfolk. Too far for me, they instead provided me free samples by next-day post, always on the end of a phone to offer help, and delivered when they said they would (using a third party delivery company). Offering free underlay, free delivery (min. order value) and the all-important wedge, I paid around £32 per sq.m. Door bars were extra at around £15-£20 per door.

To have it fitted for you (and there’s plenty of professional floor layers in Yellow Pages), expect to pay £15-£25 per sq.m. More if there’s preparatory work.

And the end result?
Better than I could have imagined and just as you see in the brochures and web sites. A top quality, fantastic floor of which I am very proud. Go on, you won’t regret it. A mouse click and a click together, a beautiful floor is just a click (or two!) away.
 

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