Solid Wood Flooring in Glasgow

Conservation areas look at the street, not the oak

Glasgow has 25 conservation areas by the council's count. Three of them, Parkhead Cross, Dennistoun and Bridgeton Cross, lie in the council's North East policy area. Conservation-area rules are about the outside of a building. Laying solid oak inside a house or flat in one of those areas is not what they address; only listing brings the interior into it.

Flats on concrete, and the strip floor of a terrace

Flats are home to 68.7% of Glasgow's households (Scotland: 34.4%), purpose-built blocks and tenements to 66.7%. The guide to plank widths is direct about one case: in a flat with a concrete floor, choose engineered rather than solid at any width. Not every tenement floor is concrete, so check yours. Where it is, solid oak is the wrong starting point.

Terraces are uncommon here, 12.3% of households against 18.2% for Scotland and 146th of 151 towns. Where you do live in one, the same widths guide names a narrow solid oak strip as the floor of a Victorian terrace.

Winter gaps, dogs and lets

January in the town centre averages 4.6 degrees (1991 to 2020), against 4.8 in the median town. Winter heating dries the air, solid boards give up moisture and shrink slightly, and fine gaps appear at the joints. Summer brings the moisture back and closes them.

The modelled estimate (2015) puts 12 of Glasgow's postcode districts at a median of 0.21 dogs per household, below the median of 0.41 for 2,737 postcode districts in Great Britain. Where a dog lives, oiled beats lacquered on solid oak for one reason above others: an oiled floor can be repaired in patches.

16.9% of Glasgow households rent privately (Scotland: 12.9%). The guide for landlords calls solid wood rarely the right call in a let: not suitable over underfloor heating and the least forgiving of neglect.