Delivery
Delivered to Reading
Delivery times and options depend on the delivery postcode. See Delivery & Returns for the applicable estimate.
Also nearby: Bracknell, Basingstoke, High Wycombe, Newbury
Speak to our team 020 3858 0353
Berkshire · flooring delivered
Flooring in Reading
Oak and vinyl for lets and leases
Reading's private lets, flat leases, mid-Victorian terraces, newer screeds, hot summers and flood risk, set against the floor you are about to choose.
Delivered to Reading: 7 postcode districts
Start here · Reading in one figure
Before you choose a floor in Reading
29.3%
rent privately
12th highest of 151 towns
ONS, Census 2021, 2021-03-21 · all local facts →29.3% of Reading's households rent privately, which ranks the town 12th of 151 on our list, while England and Wales sits at 20.3%.
Owner-occupiers come to 54.9%, where the national figure is 61.6%. That balance decides who chooses a floor here. A landlord picks a surface that must last through tenants they will rarely see walking on it; an owner picks one to live with every day. Flats bring in a third party, the lease, and in 2025 flats and maisonettes accounted for 24.3% of homes sold here.
Then come the buildings themselves, from mid-Victorian terraces around Eldon Square and Christchurch villas of the 1890s to homes of 1973 to 1982 and newer ones on screeds, plus summers hot enough to test any conservatory floor.
At a glance
Reading at a glance
Homes in Reading
7 chapters on Reading homes and what they ask of a floor · about 4 min read
01/ 07
- 29.3%rent privately
Choosing for tenants: Reading's private rented homes
With private renting at 29.3% of households, a good slice of Reading's floors is specified as part of a letting business rather than as a home improvement. The difference lies in the timescale. An owner lives with the floor every day. A landlord tends to find out years later, when wear, a raised board edge or a stain is weighed up as a tenancy closes and someone must decide whether it will serve the next tenants.
Reading's conservation area appraisals record how some older houses have changed use. Around Castle Hill and Russell Street, the 2020 appraisal records homes built for single families being adapted, over the years, for multiple occupation. The Eldon Square appraisal of 2026 says some of the bigger houses there are now flats or in multiple occupation.
Water and street grit follow the layout of a building as closely as the habits of whoever lives there. Before settling on one floor for a whole let, walk through the house as it is now arranged and decide room by room.
02/ 07
- 29.1%live in a flat
- 23.7%in a purpose-built flat
Flats in Reading: the lease, the underlay and the household below
Reading counts 29.1% of its households in flats, maisonettes or apartments, with 21.7% the matching figure nationally. Blocks built as flats, tenements included, account for 23.7% of households (16.7% nationally), and 4.7% live in flats inside houses that were converted or are shared, or inside other converted buildings (34th of 151 towns; 4.2% nationally).
Every one of those flats shares its floor with somebody. Footsteps, a chair scraped back or a dropped pan travel through the structure to the rooms underneath, and a hard finish lets more of it through than the carpet it may replace. For a block that is being built, building regulations set tougher limits on both airborne and impact noise through the floor between flats than they set for a house now being converted into flats. Those limits govern the building work, not the covering you choose for an existing flat, but the neighbours below will still hear what you lay.
In a conversion, find out what forms the floor between storeys: concrete, or timber joists from when the house went up. One covering will not behave the same way on both.
Buying adds the lease to the decision. Flats or maisonettes made up 24.3% of 2025's residential sales in Reading, 32nd of 133 towns; nationally the share was 16.3%. Flat leases commonly contain a clause about what may cover the floor, sometimes insisting on carpet, sometimes making a hard floor subject to the freeholder's consent. Look it up before any samples are ordered.
03/ 07
- 30.4%built before 1940
Eldon Square terraces, Christchurch villas and the space under old floors
Old houses make up a smaller share of Reading than of many towns. Homes built before 1940 make up 30.4% of the stock, ranking 88th of 141 towns, while 35.4% is the national share.
Where the old streets are, the council's appraisals date them. The Eldon Square appraisal describes a unified district of mid-19th-century, largely terraced houses, home to artisans and tradesmen and later to workers from Huntley & Palmers' biscuit factory. In the Christchurch conservation area, 1890s villas stand in rows along Glebe Road, Christchurch Road and Christchurch Gardens, built in Reading's polychrome brickwork.
Houses from that time often rest, at ground level, on timber boards fixed to joists above a vented gap, something no modern build has. That gap is why the timber survives: air pulled in through the airbricks keeps it dry for as long as they remain unblocked. The build date also explains which rooms lie above others and what went into the joists; in Reading the answer changes from one street to another.
Terraced houses, end-of-terrace ones included, were 34.9% of Reading's 2025 sales, 49th of 133 towns (national share: 27.4%). The grit on a terrace's floor comes from the street beyond its front door, and a busy town street sends in different dirt from a quiet estate road.
04/ 07
- 11.0%built 1973 to 1982
- 12.2%built 2009 or later
Homes of 1973 to 1982, newer estates and screeds still damp inside
11.0% of Reading's dwellings were built between 1973 and 1982, 37th of 141 towns, against 8.9% nationally. A through-lounge from those years wants something else from its floor than a front room in a Victorian house does, so let the room in front of you, not the colour chart, lead the choice.
Homes built in 2009 or since account for 12.2% of dwellings, 42nd of 141, a touch higher than the national 11.8%. A new-build estate puts something under the finished floor that the older terraces nearby do not have.
The council area added new homes at 4.4 per 1,000 dwellings, 72nd of 135 towns, in the year to March 2026. A new home commonly sits on fresh screed. Screed can seem done while it is still damp right through: smooth, pale, hard underfoot, yet still the dampest layer in the house. Get a moisture reading in writing before a floor goes on top.
05/ 07
Conservation areas in Reading: what their rules reach
Reading Borough Council's area has 15 conservation areas, each with an appraisal of its own, Eldon Square and Christchurch among them. The council's guidance for householders explains that inside them, works needing no permission elsewhere can require planning permission when they change how a building looks from outside.
Those rules are about the exterior. Taking up a carpet and laying oak in a front room is not what they deal with.
06/ 07
- 21.6days above 25 °C
Hot afternoons under glass: Reading conservatories
The town centre has 21.6 summer days per year on average, days on which the temperature climbs past twenty-five degrees: joint 14th of 151 towns, with 13.8 at the median. How hot a conservatory gets is a matter of location, and Reading's warm days outnumber those of the median town.
Under glass, a room can turn hot by mid-afternoon and cool sharply after dark, and its floor goes through that swing for as long as it is down. Choose flooring sold for conservatories, not whatever suits the room next door.
07/ 07
- 4.7%in a converted flat
Flood risk in the council area and the ground floor
Flood risk data put 7.7% of the council area's homes at some level of risk, low, medium or high, from rivers or from the sea: 21st of 135 towns, with England at 4.7%. Plan a ground floor there knowing what flooring cannot do. Boards listed as waterproof only stop their own material soaking up water; flood water still finds its way beneath them, between the boards and along the walls, however carefully they were fitted.
Floor by floor
How each kind of floor fits Reading's lets, flats and terraces
19 floors, rooms and needs, each with a note written for Reading homes. Pick one to read it.
Floor types
Floor typeReading
Engineered Wood
Where a purpose-built flat sits on a slab, engineered oak can go over it with a neighbour-friendly underlay in between.
Floor typeReading
Solid Wood
You can nail solid oak boards to the joists in a Victorian terrace near Eldon Square, provided the cavity under them stays dry and ventilated.
Floor typeReading
Parquet
Parquet blocks need a firm, flat base, so check what sits under a Reading floor, boards or slab, before ordering any blocks.
Floor typeReading
Laminate
In a let, laminate's abrasion class should rise where tenants come and go by the front door and can drop in the bedrooms.
Floor typeReading
LVT Vinyl
Vinyl planks and tiles take no water into their material, which counts for a lot in a flat whose kitchen is above someone else's home.
Floor typeReading
SPC Rigid Vinyl
Where a newer Reading flat has a screeded slab, a rigid core floor suits it, fitted after a moisture check.
Rooms
RoomReading
Hallway
A terrace hall collects whatever the street sends in, so it deserves a hard-wearing surface and a mat that catches grit at the threshold.
RoomReading
Kitchen
A kitchen above another flat needs flooring whose material soaks up no water, and a sealed joint where it meets the units.
RoomReading
Living Room
In a Reading flat, footsteps in the living room reach the neighbours below, so the underlay deserves as much thought as the finish.
RoomReading
Bedroom
Bedrooms in a let see little grit, which leaves room for a softer, quieter finish than the hall needs.
RoomReading
Bathroom
Where a house has been split into flats, a bathroom can sit above a neighbour's room, so choose a floor that absorbs no water and seal its edges.
RoomReading
Utility Room
Stand the washing machine on boards that soak up no water, so a leak can be dried out rather than ripped up.
RoomReading
Conservatory
Averaging 21.6 summer days each year, Reading puts a conservatory floor through real heat, so choose one made for glass rooms.
Patterns & needs
Pattern or needReading
Herringbone
Herringbone suits a mid-Victorian Reading terrace's front room, laid once the boards below have been checked.
Pattern or needReading
Chevron
Chevron gives a long through-lounge from 1973 to 1982 a single direction from one end to the other.
Pattern or needReading
Waterproof
Boards listed as waterproof soak up no spills themselves; on a ground floor at flood risk, though, water still reaches underneath at the edges.
Pattern or needReading
Underfloor Heating
Where underfloor heating sits in a new screed, the floor above needs a rating for it and should wait until a moisture test clears the screed.
Pattern or needReading
Pet-Friendly
A dog in a flat brings claws and wet paws onto a floor the household below can hear, so pair a pet-friendly surface with a good underlay.
Pattern or needReading
Grey
Grey keeps a rented Reading flat neutral for whoever signs the next tenancy.
Bestsellers
Popular floors, delivered to Reading
Knightsbridge Chevron Dark Brown Oak Wood Flooring 14 x 90 x 510 (mm)
£52.00 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.99
Durham Herringbone Light Oak Wood Flooring 20 x 80 x 350 (mm)
Special offer £42.50 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.99
Oxford Herringbone Unfinished Oak Wood Flooring 14 x 90 x 450 (mm)
£39.50 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.99Cambridge Herringbone AB Prime Unfinished Oak Wood Flooring 18 x 90 x 400 (mm)
£52.00 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.9912mm Leicester Oak Laminate Herringbone Flooring
£22.50 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.9912mm York Oak Laminate Herringbone Flooring
£22.50 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.99
12mm Whitby Oak Laminate Herringbone Flooring
£22.50 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.9912mm Durham Oak Laminate Herringbone Flooring
£22.50 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.99
Night Lux Matt Porcelain Floor Tile 600 x 1200 (mm)
£42.50 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.99
Taj Mahal Pearl Polished Porcelain Floor Tile 600 x 1200 (mm)
£42.50 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.99Taj Mahal Cappuccino Polished Porcelain Floor Tile 600 x 1200 (mm)
£42.50 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.99
Alexandria Cream Polished Porcelain Floor Tile 600 x 1200 (mm)
£42.50 / m²Trade price available – log in or apply
+ Sample · £1.99Reviews
Trusted by homeowners across the UK
★★★★★4.5/5 (103)Trustpilot
★★★★★4.9/5 (90)Google
Trustpilot
Reviews written by our customers on Trustpilot.
Read all reviews on TrustpilotGoogle
Reviews on our Google Business Profile.
Read all reviews on GoogleAsk us first
Call 020 3858 0353, Monday to Friday 10am to 6pm, Saturday 10am to 4pm, or send a photo of the room to info@homesandfloors.com.
Contact us
Questions
Questions about flooring in Reading
I let out a flat in Reading. What should decide the floor I put in?
With 29.3% of Reading households renting privately, plenty of floors here are reassessed at every change of tenant, often years after they were laid. Let the use of each room and the flat underneath guide you, rather than personal taste.
Does the lease on a Reading flat decide whether I can fit hard flooring?
It can. Flats or maisonettes made up 24.3% of Reading's home sales during 2025, and their leases often hold a clause about floor coverings, which may demand carpet or ask for the freeholder's approval before boards go down. Check it first.
My new-build Reading home has a screed floor. When can I lay on it?
Once a moisture reading confirms it, whatever the surface looks like. In the council area the rate of new homes was 4.4 per 1,000 dwellings in the year to March 2026, and any fresh screed among them deserves that check.
Will Reading's conservation area rules stop me changing my floors?
No. The borough council's area has 15 conservation areas, and its householder guidance deals with works that alter a building's outward look. Relaying the floors inside is not one of those.
Which floor will cope with a Reading conservatory in high summer?
One sold for conservatories. With the town centre averaging 21.6 summer days each year, joint 14th of 151 towns, a glazed room here gets hot on more days than at the median of the 151, and it cools again at night.
Local facts
Local facts: Reading
19 facts from the census, the Met Office, the council and other public records, each with what it means for a floor in Reading and where it comes from.
Who lives here
29.3%
rent privately
Reading29.3%England and Wales20.3%12th highest of 151 towns
For your floorSo many Reading homes are let privately that a floor here is often chosen for tenancies, and mistakes in a let tend to show only after years.
Source
Households renting privately. Area: Reading built-up area (ONS Built-up Areas 2024). ONS, Census 2021, TS054 Tenure (households). Data: 2021-03-21 · retrieved 2026-09-22.
Who lives here
54.9%
own their home
Reading54.9%England and Wales61.6%109th highest of 151 towns
For your floorHome ownership here trails the national share, so fewer floors are picked by those who walk on them each day.
Source
Households owning their home outright or with a mortgage. Area: Reading built-up area (ONS Built-up Areas 2024). ONS, Census 2021, TS054 Tenure (households). Data: 2021-03-21 · retrieved 2026-09-22.
When they were built
30.4%
built before 1940
Reading30.4%England and Wales35.4%88th highest of 141 towns
For your floorPre-1940 homes are below the national share in Reading, yet each one with a vented space under its boards relies on unobstructed airbricks for dry timber.
Source
Dwellings built before 1940. Area: Reading built-up area (ONS Built-up Areas 2024). VOA, Council Tax: stock of properties 2025, table CTSOP4.1 (build period). Data: 2025-03-31 · retrieved 2026-09-22.
When they were built
11.0%
built 1973 to 1982
Reading11.0%England and Wales8.9%37th highest of 141 towns
For your floorHomes built 1973 to 1982 are more common in Reading than nationally, and their through-lounges need something other than a Victorian front room.
Source
Dwellings built 1973 to 1982. Area: Reading built-up area (ONS Built-up Areas 2024). VOA, Council Tax: stock of properties 2025, table CTSOP4.1 (build period). Data: 2025-03-31 · retrieved 2026-09-22.
When they were built
12.2%
built 2009 or later
Reading12.2%England and Wales11.8%42nd highest of 141 towns
For your floorReading's recent estates have a different structure under their floors from older terraces nearby, and the covering should match it.
Source
Dwellings built 2009 or later. Area: Reading built-up area (ONS Built-up Areas 2024). VOA, Council Tax: stock of properties 2025, table CTSOP4.1 (build period). Data: 2025-03-31 · retrieved 2026-09-22.
When they were built
4.4 per 1,000 dwellings
New homes completed in the year per 1,000 existing homes
Reading4.4England5.572nd highest of 135 towns
For your floorEvery batch of new homes the council area completes adds fresh screeds that can seem ready while still damp.
Source
New homes completed in the year per 1,000 existing homes. Area: Reading local authority. MHCLG, Live tables on housing supply: indicators of new supply, Table 253 "Permanent dwellings started and completed, by tenure and district", sheet FY_2025_26, column "All Completions" (building control reported, rounded to the nearest 10 by MHCLG); per 1,000 dwellings in Live Table 125 (dwelling stock at 31 March 2025). Data: 2025-04-01/2026-03-31 · retrieved 2026-09-22.
Weather & ground
21.6
days above 25 °C
Reading21.6Median, 151 towns13.8joint 14th highest of 151 towns
For your floorReading's frequent summer days put conservatory floors through more heat than the median town's.
Source
Days above 25 degrees C per year (1991-2020 average, town centre). Area: Reading town centre (Met Office HadUK-Grid 2 km cell). Met Office, HadUK-Grid climate averages 1991-2020 (climate data portal). Data: 1991-2020 · retrieved 2026-09-22.
When they were built
Building period
The Eldon Square appraisal (2026) describes a unified area of largely terraced houses from the mid-19th century, lived in by artisans and tradesmen and, later in that century, by workers from Huntley & Palmers' biscuit factory close by.
For your floorThe mid-19th-century date of the Eldon Square terraces is a clue to how their rooms are arranged and what lies under their ground floors.
Source
Area: Eldon Square conservation area, Reading. Eldon Square Conservation Area Appraisal, March 2026 (community-led appraisal by the Reading Conservation Area Advisory Committee on behalf of Reading Borough Council). Data: March 2026 (file name: 'Adopted-Mar-2026'; linked from the council page 'Conservation areas and listed buildings') · retrieved 2026-11-04.
When they were built
Building period
The Christchurch appraisal (2024) describes rows of villas from the 1890s, built in the polychrome brickwork typical of Reading, along Glebe Road, Christchurch Road and Christchurch Gardens.
For your floorChristchurch villas of the 1890s belong to a different building period from Reading's later estates, with joists and room layouts to match.
Source
Area: Christchurch conservation area, Reading. Christchurch Conservation Area Appraisal, November 2024 (community-led appraisal by the Reading Conservation Area Advisory Committee on behalf of Reading Borough Council). Data: November 2024 (linked from the council page 'Conservation areas and listed buildings') · retrieved 2026-11-04.
Homes
Housing type
The same appraisal notes that the Eldon Square area is still mainly homes, but that some of its bigger houses are now flats or in multiple occupation.
For your floorWhere bigger Eldon Square houses have become flats, the building's new layout decides where water lands and where grit from outside collects.
Source
Area: Eldon Square conservation area, Reading. Eldon Square Conservation Area Appraisal, March 2026 (community-led appraisal by the Reading Conservation Area Advisory Committee on behalf of Reading Borough Council). Data: March 2026 (file name: 'Adopted-Mar-2026'; linked from the council page 'Conservation areas and listed buildings') · retrieved 2026-11-04.
Homes
Housing type
The 2020 appraisal for the conservation area around Castle Hill and Russell Street records that houses first built for single families there have, over time, been adapted for multiple occupation.
For your floorFamily houses around Russell Street adapted for multiple occupation now wear their floors according to how they are divided.
Source
Area: Russell Street/Castle Hill conservation area, Reading. Russell Street/Castle Hill Conservation Area Appraisal (March 2020; prepared by the Reading Conservation Area Advisory Committee). Data: March 2020 (file name 'Final ... March 2020'; linked from the council page 'Conservation areas and listed buildings') · retrieved 2026-11-04.
Heritage & plans
Conservation areas
The Eldon Square conservation area appraisal, published by Reading Borough Council in March 2026, states that Reading has 15 conservation areas, each with an appraisal of its own.
For your floorReading's conservation areas guard the look of streets and frontages; flooring indoors falls outside them.
Source
Area: Reading Borough Council area. Eldon Square Conservation Area Appraisal, March 2026 (community-led appraisal by the Reading Conservation Area Advisory Committee on behalf of Reading Borough Council). Data: March 2026 (file name: 'Adopted-Mar-2026'; linked from the council page 'Conservation areas and listed buildings') · retrieved 2026-11-04.
Heritage & plans
Conservation areas
Reading Borough Council's guidance for householders says that in its conservation areas, works allowed without permission elsewhere may need planning permission when they alter how the exterior of a building looks.
For your floorThe council's householder guidance ties conservation-area permission to changes in how a building looks from outside, which relaying a floor inside does not do.
Source
Area: Conservation areas in Reading Borough Council's area. Conservation areas – guidance and advice for householders (web page). Data: last updated 17/03/2026 (as retrieved 2026-11-04) · retrieved 2026-11-04.
Nearby
We also deliver to
Distances are straight-line miles from Reading.
United KingdomBerkshireReading
151 towns and cities, 24 county guides, one map.