Fitting guide 9 min read

Engineered Wood Installation Guide

How to prepare, fit and protect an engineered wood floor. Site conditions, the three fitting methods, and what to do once the floor is down.

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What makes engineered wood different
Before you open a pack
Get the subfloor right
Choose the fitting method
Plan the layout before you start
After the floor is down
Questions about fitting engineered wood
What the published standards say
Related reading

What makes engineered wood different

An engineered board is a real oak wear layer bonded to a cross layered core. The oak is what you see, walk on and eventually sand. The core is what stops the board moving. Because those layers run at right angles to each other, the board holds its width through the seasonal swing that makes solid timber cup and gap.

That construction is also why engineered wood is approved for underfloor heating while solid wood is not. It is the single most useful thing to understand before you choose, because it decides your fitting method, your subfloor preparation and whether the floor will work over a heated screed at all.

Good to know: Order the whole job in one go. Boards are produced in batches and a later top up may not match the run you already have down.

Before you open a pack

Fitting the floor too early is the most expensive mistake on this list, and it is entirely avoidable. Work through all four points before the packs are opened.

Finish the wet trades first

Plastering, screeding and painting all put water into the room. A board that takes it up will move after it is down.

Let the packs settle

Leave them flat and unopened in the room where they will be fitted, for the period your fitting instructions state.

Run the heating first

The building should be enclosed and at normal living temperature before the first board goes down.

Add 8% to 12% for waste

Straight plank produces offcuts at every wall. Order the allowance with the floor, not afterwards.

Important: Your product fitting instructions take precedence over any general advice, including ours. Where they state a figure, that figure governs.

Get the subfloor right

A floor is only as good as what sits under it, and this is the step people judge by eye and later regret. The subfloor has to be dry, sound, clean and flat enough for the product and the method you have chosen.

Flatness is measured with a long straight edge, not estimated. Moisture is measured with a meter, not judged by touch. Both matter for a specific reason: a floating floor over a hollow reads as bounce underfoot and eventually stresses the joints, and a glued floor over a high spot never bonds there at all. Nothing later in the process fixes either one.

Dry

Test it. New concrete and screed hold water for far longer than they look as though they do.

Flat

Check with a straight edge across the room and diagonally. Fill hollows and grind high spots.

Sound

No loose screed, no flaking paint, no adhesive residue from the last floor.

Clean

Vacuum thoroughly. Grit trapped under a board telegraphs through the surface.

Choose the fitting method

Three methods, and the choice is usually made for you by the subfloor and the room rather than by preference.

Floating

Boards lock to each other over an underlay. Quickest to fit and liftable later. Leave an expansion gap at every edge.

Glue down

Bonded directly to the subfloor. Firmer and quieter underfoot, and the usual choice over underfloor heating.

Secret nailed

Only over a timber subfloor, and only where the board specification allows it.

Pro tip: Leave the expansion gap at every fixed point, not only the walls. Door frames, pipes, hearths and kitchen islands all count.

Plan the layout before you start

Ten minutes of planning here is worth more than any tool you can buy.

Run boards along the light

Laying parallel to the main window hides board joints. Laying across them highlights every one.

Measure the final row first

Work out now how wide the last row will be. If it comes out as a thin sliver, trim the first row instead and split the difference.

Mix boards from several packs

Open three or four packs and work from all of them. This spreads natural colour variation across the room instead of banding it.

Stagger the end joints

Keep end joints well clear of those in the neighbouring row. A regular staircase pattern looks like a mistake once the furniture is out.

After the floor is down

Almost all wear on a wood floor arrives on shoes. Grit is dragged across the surface underfoot and cuts the finish, so mats at every external door and frequent sweeping do more than any product you can buy.

Damp mop only

Standing water is what opens joints. Steam mops are off the list unless the manufacturer specifically allows them.

Felt under every leg

Lift furniture rather than dragging it, and check the pads once a year for trapped grit.

Keep the room stable

Wood responds to humidity. Wild swings between a dry heated winter and a damp summer are what move a floor.

Bring heating up slowly

Over underfloor heating, raise the temperature in stages rather than in one step.

What the guarantee covers: Our floors carry a 25 year structural warranty against delamination and structural failure under normal domestic use and correct installation. It does not cover surface wear from grit, water damage or fitting errors, which are exactly what the points above prevent.

Questions about fitting engineered wood

Can I fit engineered wood flooring myself?

A floating floor over underlay is within reach of a careful DIYer: the boards click or glue at the tongue and groove and sit over an underlay, with an expansion gap at every wall. Glue down over a screed and secret nailing over joists are usually fitter jobs, because the base preparation and the adhesive or nailing schedule have to be right first time.

How long should engineered boards acclimatise before fitting?

At least 48 hours in the room where they will be laid, flat and unopened, with the room at its normal living temperature, on the Contract Flooring Association's guidance. Where your product's fitting instructions state a longer period, that period governs.

Which way should the boards run?

Usually along the main light, parallel to the largest window, so the joints fall in the direction the eye travels, and along the longest wall of the room. In a narrow hall, along the hall. Check the width of the last row before the first board goes down so you never finish on a sliver.

How much extra should I order?

8% to 12% for a straight plank floor, on the manufacturer guidance we can cite; there is no industry standard. Order the whole quantity in one go, because boards are produced in batches and a later top up may not match the shade.

What the published standards say

Each entry is quoted from its source and linked to it. The full set is in the standards reference.

1 of 8

Contract Flooring Association

Acclimatisation before fitting

48 h conditioning before installation

The Contract Flooring Association's guide asks for a steady room temperature of 18 to 27 °C, reached 48 hours before installation, so that the flooring can be kept in the room and reach room temperature before it is laid.

The exact wording

“They also advise that this temperature should be attained 48 hours prior to the installation, so that floorings can be kept in the room and brought to room temperature (acclimatised) before installation.”

Source: CFA Guide to Contract Flooring - Contract Flooring Association

F. Ball and Co.

BS 8203 — relative humidity limit for a subfloor

75 % RH RH limit, resilient floor coverings

65 % RH RH limit, solid timber floor coverings

A hygrometer maker's data sheet that cites BS 8203, BS 5325 and BS 8201 treats a subfloor as dry enough for most floor coverings when hygrometer readings do not exceed 75% relative humidity (65% RH for solid timber coverings), measured with a hygrometer sealed to the surface so that it reaches equilibrium with the base.

The exact wording

“The base can be considered dry enough to install most floorcoverings if a series of tests produce readings not exceeding 75% R.H. (65% R.H. for solid timber floorcoverings).”

Source: F. Ball and Co. Ltd - Digital Hygrometer, Technical Data Sheet

F. Ball and Co.

The hygrometer method for subfloor moisture

4 hours minimum time before first reading, 50 mm screed with DPM between base and screed

72 hours minimum time before first reading, DPM below the base slab

In UK practice a hygrometer is sealed to the subfloor inside an insulated box with butyl tape and left until the air under the box reaches equilibrium; at least 4 hours before the first reading on a 50 mm screed with the DPM under the screed, and 72 hours where the DPM lies below the base slab.

The exact wording

“For 50mm thick screeds, where the damp proof membrane is placed between the base and the screed, a period of at least 4 hours should be allowed before the first reading is taken. For thicker constructions i.e. where the damp proof membrane is placed below the base slab, a period of 72 hours should be allowed to elapse before the first reading.”

Source: Digital Hygrometer - Technical Data Sheet, F. Ball and Co. Ltd

The Concrete Society

BS 8204 — surface regularity classes SR1 to SR3

3 mm SR1 (max deviation under 2 m straightedge)

5 mm SR2 (max deviation under 2 m straightedge)

10 mm SR3 (max deviation under 2 m straightedge)

2 m straightedge length

BS 8204 defines three surface regularity classes for screeds and concrete bases, SR1, SR2 and SR3, measured as the maximum deviation below a 2 m straightedge placed directly on the surface.

The exact wording

“Surface regularity classes are given in BS 8204 as SR1, SR2 and SR3 relating to 3mm, 5mm and 10mm respectively.”

Source: Surface regularity - straightedge method | The Concrete Society

European Producers of Laminate Flooring

The expansion gap

8 to 12 mm recommended edge gap on all sides

The EPLF, the European association of laminate flooring producers, recommends an edge gap of 8 mm to 12 mm on all sides of a floating floor, so that the covering can expand and contract without lifting.

The exact wording

“To accommodate such changes, a edge spacing should be observed on all sides. A free space of 8 mm to 12 mm is recommended.”

Source: EPLF Technical Bulletin — Installation of Laminate Floor Coverings (06/2022), 6.4 Edge gaps

Multilayer Modular Flooring Association

Room conditions at the time of fitting

at least 48 h acclimatisation before installation

15-25 °C storage and acclimatisation temperature

35-65 % storage and acclimatisation relative humidity

The MMFA, the European association for multilayer modular floor coverings, requires the flooring to acclimatise for at least 48 hours in the same conditions as the installation area, stored flat and cross-stacked in unopened boxes at roughly 15-25 degrees Celsius and 35 to 65 per cent relative humidity.

The exact wording

“Leave the floor covering to acclimatise in the same environmental conditions as the installation area for a period of at least 48 hours prior to installation. Always store the boards flat and cross-stacked, in their original unopened boxes and at approx. 15-25 °C and between 35 % and maximum 65 % relative humidity.”

Source: Prior to installation — MMFA (Multilayer Modular Flooring Association)

Contract Flooring Association

CFA guidance — the subfloor is the installer’s first responsibility

75 % RH maximum hygrometer reading before laying a floor finish

The CFA Guide to Contract Flooring requires the base to be a clean, sound, level surface that is strong enough to carry the preparation materials and the floor finish, mechanically prepared and dust free, and dry enough to give a hygrometer reading of no more than 75% relative humidity.

The exact wording

“Before the application of the floor finish a solid (cementitious or similar) base must be sufficiently dry to show a hygrometer reading not greater than 75% Relative Humidity when tested in accordance with the British Standard Code of Practice.”

Source: CFA Guide to Contract Flooring - Contract Flooring Association

British Standards (BSI)

BS 8201 — installing timber and wood-based flooring

BS 8201:2011 is the UK code of practice for installing flooring of wood and wood-based panels; it gives recommendations on the material, environmental and installation factors that determine how the finished wood floor performs.

The exact wording

“BS 8201 gives recommendations and guidance on the material, environment and installation variables that combined have a fundamental effect on the performance and serviceability of finished wood flooring.”

Source: BS 8201:2011 - Code of practice for installation of flooring of wood and wood-based panels

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Engineered Wood Installation Guide

What makes engineered wood different

Before you open a pack

Get the subfloor right

Choose the fitting method

Plan the layout before you start

After the floor is down

Questions about fitting engineered wood