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Kettering · Northamptonshire

Engineered Wood Flooring in Kettering

Engineered oak is a real oak wear layer of 3 to 6 mm bonded to a cross-laminated core, so the board keeps the surface of solid timber and moves far less with the seasons. In Kettering 89% of homes are houses, most of them semi-detached houses (35%), so the questions are the subfloor and the underlay rather than impact sound.

Engineered Wood in Kettering

Engineered Wood flooring in Kettering: what the housing says

The North Northamptonshire district counts 148,918 households in the 2021 census, and the mix of houses and flats in that count is what decides how a engineered wood floor is specified here.

Semi-detached houses are the largest group in Kettering, 35% of the North Northamptonshire stock, and the typical semi has two ground floors in one: a suspended timber front room and a solid concrete kitchen or later extension. Engineered oak can run through both, floated on underlay over the timber and glued to the slab, so a knocked-through room reads as one floor. The join between the two bases is where the level is set, and it is worth checking before the boards are ordered.

Detached houses are 30% of the North Northamptonshire stock, above the national picture, and they bring larger, longer rooms to Kettering. That favours the wider boards: a 190 or 220 mm plank fills a big reception room calmly, where a 125 mm board reads as busy. It also means more square metres in one batch, and a batch is the unit that keeps the colour consistent across the room, so the whole order goes in at once.

Owner-occupation is 66% in North Northamptonshire, higher than in most districts, and an owner-occupier buys a floor to keep. That is the case for the thicker wear layers in the range: 4 mm on the 15 mm Victorian boards and 6 mm on the 20 mm ones can be sanded and refinished more than once, so a floor laid in Kettering this year is still the same floor after the next redecoration and the one after that.

of households rent privately (14.1% in 2011)
18.4%
live in a flat or maisonette
11.2%
postcode districts we deliver to
NN14 to NN16
engineered wood floors in our range
33

Source: ONS, Census 2021, North Northamptonshire (E06000061) · Postcode districts: postcodes.io (ONS geography) · Range: our product catalogue

Compare the engineered wood range

The range runs from the 125 mm Ascot boards, which suit a hallway or a bedroom in a terraced house, through the 150 mm Cobham range to the 190 mm Weybridge Light Grey and the 220 mm Victorian Antique Natural Oak for larger rooms. Every board in the range is listed as compatible with underfloor heating and carries a wear layer of 3 mm or more; the 15 and 20 mm Victorian boards carry 4 and 6 mm.

ProductFormatWear layer / thicknessFittingUnderfloor heating
Victorian Antique Distressed Oak Flooring 14 x 190 x 190014mm x 190mm x 1900mm3mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
Victorian Antique White Oak Flooring 15 x 220 x 220015mm x 220mm x 2200mm4mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
Ascot Lacquered Oak Wood Flooring 14 x 12514mm x 125mm x 300-1200mm3mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
Cobham Natural Oak UV Lacquered Wood Floor 14 x 15014mm x 150mm x 300-1200mm3mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
Cobham Walnut Stained Oak Wood Floor 14 x 15014mm x 150mm x 300-1200mm3mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
Weybridge Light Grey Oak Wood Flooring 14 x 190 x 190014mm x 190mm x 1900mm3mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
Weybridge White Oiled Oak Wood Flooring 14 x 190 x 190014mm x 190mm x 1900mm3mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
Victorian Antique Smoky Oak Flooring 20 x 190 x 190020mm x 190mm x 1900mm6mmTongue & GrooveCompatible

Room by room

Engineered Wood in Kettering, room by room

  • Room

    Ground floors in the old trade terraces

    Kettering terraces went up with the boot and shoe trade, long before the estates on the edge of town, and they stand on timber rather than concrete. The work here is levelling boards, not testing a slab, and engineered oak over a true base will not telegraph a joist.
    Engineered Wood flooring in Kettering

Our Northamptonshire delivery covers: Barton Seagrave, Burton Latimer and Rothwell and the NN postcode area

See it on the map

Local fact sheet

Kettering's homes, by the numbers

North Northamptonshire in the 2021 census: 148,918 households, 88% houses, 11% flats.

Kettering is NN14, NN15 and NN16 — Kettering Central and North, Ise, Avondale Grange, Barton Seagrave and Burton Latimer, Desborough and Irthlingborough. Like Corby it sits in North Northamptonshire, so the census figures are the same authority-wide numbers: 65.0% ownership, 18.4% private renting, up 4.3 points. The housing, though, is not the same as Corby's at all. Kettering grew on the boot and shoe trade in the nineteenth century, so the terraces here predate Corby's new town by a century and sit on suspended timber rather than concrete. That is the practical difference between the two towns: in Kettering you are levelling boards, in Corby you are checking a membrane.

The boot and shoe trade built Kettering in the nineteenth century, and those workers’ terraces sit on suspended timber rather than concrete. Semis are the commonest type across NN14, NN15 and NN16, with detached houses close behind. Expect to level old boards before anything goes down over them.

Boards over a ventilated void live with the year: an NN16 floor takes up moisture through a wet autumn and gives it back once the heating comes on. Leave the packs standing where the floor is to go, and keep a real gap at the skirting.

Delivery times and options depend on the delivery postcode. See Delivery & Returns for the applicable estimate.

Guides

Before you choose

Before you order in Kettering

  • Which base, exactly Suspended timber or a slab, and how flat it is under a straightedge. That decides the method and the underlay before it decides the board.
  • Room climate before, not after The boards acclimatise in the room they will be laid in, with the heating running as it will in service. The Contract Flooring Association puts this at 48 hours.
  • One batch for the whole room Measure, add the waste allowance for a straight plank, and order in one go. A top-up from a later batch can differ in shade.
  • Two bases in one house The typical semi has a suspended timber front room and a solid kitchen or extension. Float over underlay on the timber, glue or float on the slab, and set the level at the join before ordering.
  • Long runs need their joints A floated board runs only as far as the fitting instructions allow before an expansion joint. In a large detached room, plan the break at a doorway or under a threshold strip.
  • Wear layer for the decades The 4 and 6 mm wear layers on the 15 and 20 mm Victorian boards take more than one sanding. Keep the invoice with the batch number.

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Questions

Engineered Wood flooring in Kettering: questions, answered

Is engineered wood a good choice for a Kettering home?

For most of the housing in Kettering it is the wood floor that fits: it goes over a suspended timber floor once that is levelled, over a slab once that is dry, and over underfloor heating, and it can be sanded back when the wear layer is 3 mm or more. Where it does not belong is a bathroom or a utility room that gets wet.

Which engineered boards suit older houses in Kettering?

A 125 or 150 mm board suits the room sizes of the terraces and semis, and a brushed, oiled finish forgives the grit an older house carries in. Wider boards suit the larger detached rooms and knocked-through spaces.

Can I fit engineered oak over underfloor heating in Kettering?

Every engineered board in the range is listed as compatible with underfloor heating. The conditions are the manufacturer's: a commissioned system, a dry screed and a surface temperature within the limit the fitting instructions state.

Which flooring is best for Kettering homes?

On the suspended timber under a St Michael terrace, choose engineered wood ahead of solid. A solid plank has to be nailed down into nineteenth-century joists, while an engineered board floats over the levelled base and leaves those boards undisturbed.

Do you deliver engineered wood flooring to Kettering?

Yes. We deliver across Kettering and Northamptonshire from our UK warehouse, including the NN14, NN15 and NN16 postcode districts. Delivery cost and timing depend on the delivery postcode and are shown at checkout, and samples come by post first so the floor can be seen in the room before the full order.

Can I see a engineered wood sample before ordering in Kettering?

Yes: cut samples are £1.99 each, up to two per product, posted to your Kettering address. Two or three side by side on the floor, in the room's own light morning and evening, settle the colour faster than any photograph.

The same range nearby

Engineered Wood flooring nearby

Distances are straight-line miles from Kettering. Each link opens the engineered wood page for that town.

CorbyNorthamptonBedfordSt NeotsLeicesterPeterboroughMilton KeynesKettering

United KingdomNorthamptonshireKetteringEngineered Wood

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