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London · Greater London
Solid oak is milled from one piece of timber and can be sanded back many times, which suits a period London house that intends to keep its floor for decades. It belongs upstairs and in the reception rooms, not over a heat source or in a basement flat.
Solid Wood in London
On pre-war suspended timber it is at home, provided the void beneath is ventilated and the moisture reading is taken before the boards are ordered.
London has more than a thousand conservation areas, and inside them the original boards are usually part of what is protected, so the first question in a Georgian or Victorian house is whether the floor can be lifted at all. Where the answer is yes, a Windsor board in a period width lays as the house was built to be floored, tongue and groove over the joists or a plywood deck, once the void below has been checked for ventilation.
Solid oak moves with the seasons more than any other floor in the range, and a London house with radiators running hard from October to April is a dry environment. Let the boards acclimatise in the room they will live in, keep them out of a basement flat and away from the heated screeds of the new estates, and choose an oiled surface for a hallway so that wear is repaired locally rather than by sanding the whole floor.
Flats are 54% of the homes in the London (33 boroughs) district, and a flat is usually the wrong place for a solid board: the base is often concrete, the lease usually has an impact-sound clause, and a solid floor cannot be floated on an acoustic underlay. In a converted house with a timber floor and no clause, it can work; in a purpose-built block, an engineered board over acoustic underlay is the right answer and the wood looks the same.
Private renting is 30% of households in London (33 boroughs), and solid oak is a landlord's choice only where the property is held for the long term: the floor costs more to fit than it does to buy, and its advantage, that it can be refinished for decades, pays off over tenancies rather than within one. For a portfolio with a shorter horizon, the engineered range is the usual specification.
Shop the range
All 15 solid wood floorsSource: ONS, Census 2021, London (33 boroughs) (E12000007) · Council conservation area register · Range: our product catalogue
We deliver across all London postcodes from our UK warehouse. Most in-stock orders reach London addresses within a timeframe that depends on the delivery postcode. For larger project orders, we can schedule delivery to align with your fitter’s timeline.
Delivery detailsThe range
The Windsor boards come in 90, 125 and 150 mm widths and in brushed, smooth, hand-scraped and smoked faces; Windsor Narrow Smooth Solid Oak suits a hallway or a small room, Windsor Solid Smoked Oak a larger one. The Marlow Solid Natural Oak Parquet Blocks are the solid answer to a herringbone floor. None of the solid range is listed for underfloor heating.
| Product | Format | Wear layer / thickness | Fitting | Underfloor heating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windsor Narrow Brushed Solid Oak Wood Flooring 18 x 90 | 18mm x 90mm x RL | 18mm thick | Tongue & Groove | Not Compatible |
| Windsor Narrow Smooth Solid Oak Wood Flooring 18 x 90 | 18mm x 90mm x RL | 18mm thick | Tongue & Groove | Not Compatible |
| Windsor Solid Coffee Hand Scraped Oak Wood Flooring 18 x 125 | 18mm x 125mm x RL | 18mm thick | Tongue & Groove | Not Compatible |
| Windsor Solid Brushed Oak Wood Flooring 18 x 125 | 18mm x 125mm x RL | 18mm thick | Tongue & Groove | Not Compatible |
| Windsor Solid Smooth Oak Wood Flooring 18 x 150 | 18mm x 150mm x RL | 18mm thick | Tongue & Groove | Not Compatible |
| Windsor Solid Smoked Oak Wood Flooring 18 x 150 | 18mm x 150mm x RL | 18mm thick | Tongue & Groove | Not Compatible |
| Marlow Solid Natural Oak Parquet Blocks 18 x 90 x 300 | 18mm x 90mm x 300mm | 18mm thick | Tongue & Groove | Not Compatible |
| Marlow Solid Unfinished Oak Parquet Blocks 18 x 90 x 300 | 18mm x 90mm x 300mm | 18mm thick | Tongue & Groove | Not Compatible |
Local fact sheet
London (33 boroughs) in the 2021 census: 3,423,841 households, 46% houses, 54% flats.
“Check the lease before you choose the floor, not after.”
More than a quarter of London's homes were built before 1919 and another fifth between 1919 and 1944, and over half of London households live in a flat rather than a house. Two things follow for flooring. In the pre-war stock the ground floor is usually suspended timber, so it moves, it is rarely level, and it wants a floor that can be laid over a levelled and stabilised base. In flats, the binding constraint is almost never the floor itself but the lease: most London leases carry an acoustic clause, and a hard floor laid without adequate impact insulation is a dispute waiting to happen. Check the lease before you choose the floor, not after.
From Georgian townhouses in Islington to contemporary apartments in Canary Wharf, London properties demand flooring that matches their character. Period homes with high ceilings and ornate features call for wide-plank oak or herringbone parquet, while modern open-plan flats benefit from the clean lines of large-format porcelain tiles or engineered wood in lighter tones.
Access decides the delivery in central London more often than stock does. A long board has to reach a fourth-floor flat through a communal stair or a lift, and many blocks set delivery windows. Measure the stair turn and ask the building manager before the order goes in, not after.
Delivery times and options depend on the delivery postcode. See Delivery & Returns for the applicable estimate.
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Contact usQuestions
For a room with a timber floor structure and a steady climate, yes: it is fixed to the joists as the original floor was, and it can be sanded and refinished for decades. For a concrete ground floor, a flat with a sound clause or a heated screed, the engineered range is the right oak.
The solid range is not listed for underfloor heating. Every engineered board in the range is, so a heated floor in London points to that range.
Keep the room climate steady, keep grit off the surface with a mat at the door, and clean it dry or barely damp. An oiled floor is re-oiled where it wears; a lacquered one is recoated when the film dulls. The care guides linked below take each finish in turn.
It depends whether the period house is still one household. In a conversion the floor you lay is the ceiling of the flat below, so what the lease demands underfoot settles the build-up before any board is looked at. In an undivided house that constraint lifts entirely and the subfloor decides instead.
Yes. We deliver across London and Greater London from our UK warehouse. 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.
Yes: cut samples are £1.99 each, up to two per product, posted to your London 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.
All ranges
Every range and room for London, each on its own page with the same housing data read for that floor.
Engineered Woodin London33 floors
Parquetin London15 floors
LVT Vinylin London36 floors
SPC Rigid Vinylin London36 floors
Laminatein London12 floors5 materials · scroll sideways to see all
Kitchenin London
Bathroomin London
Living Roomin London
Bedroomin LondonHallwayin London
Conservatoryin LondonUtility Roomin London7 rooms · scroll sideways to see all
6 needs · scroll sideways to see all
The same range nearby
Distances are straight-line miles from London. Each link opens the solid wood page for that town.
United KingdomGreater LondonLondonSolid Wood
151 towns and cities, 24 county guides, one map.
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