Flooring. It’s the largest and most used surface in your home, yet it often gets overlooked. The wrong floor can compromise the practicality of your home, and the look of an entire room scheme, so it’s surprising that, when redecorating, we often agonise far more over paint colours and furniture than our choice of flooring.

Your floor puts up with a lot, so practical and hard-wearing options are a must. Hard flooring is often the best choice. Sturdy and spillage-proof, it also gives a classic look that will never go out of style. To top it off, hard floors also provide a healthier living environment. Unlike carpets, which trap dust, moisture and other allergens, hard floors are easy to clean and maintain. This makes them ideal for allergy sufferers, or anyone who wants to enhance the air quality of their home.

Here at Covers, we offer a wide range of hard flooring options, from engineered wood flooring, to wood-effect laminate and vinyl. This guide will walk you through the benefits of each type of hard flooring and discuss our range of finishes and effects. After all, flooring is one of the most crucial things to get right in any building or redecorating project; we want to help you make the right choice for you and your home.

Engineered Wood Flooring

Traditional, durable and timeless, engineered wood flooring is a popular choice. A wooden floor can last generations and is a great long-term investment. Not only will it never need replacing, unlike carpet which can fade and stain, wood flooring is so sought after that it can improve the saleability of your home, and even increase its value.

Timber lends character and warmth to any room, while also providing a modern finish that ties in with any décor scheme. Planks can also be sanded down and re-varnished to give them a new lease of life.

So what is engineered wood? Engineered wood flooring consists of multiple layers of plywood, stacked in a cross structure, with a top layer of solid oak wood. It is this cross structure that gives engineered wood flooring its durability, but the solid wood top is the real showstopper. When laid, engineered planks give all the beauty of natural wood, constructed in a way that is more versatile and practical in today’s home.

At Covers we have several options within our engineered wood flooring range – with various thicknesses between 13mm - 20mm think planks, with a 2.5mm - 6mm top layer, and bevelled edges on all four sides. The thicker the top layer, the more times it can be sanded and re-varnished. The tongue and groove boards mean that you don’t need any tools to fit your new floor, making installation easy.

We offer a range of finishes, from brushed and lacquered, matte, rustic, and even characterful aged wood, in a range of shades. Engineered oak flooring is also perfect to use with underfloor heating, as long as it is fully stuck down to the sub floor with a suitable floor adhesive. With underfloor heating comes daily temperature changes that cause wood to expand and contract. The base layers in engineered wood planks provide more stability and strength than a solid wood plank, meaning your floor can easily withstand these changes, and last for years to come.

Laminate Flooring

More scratch resistant than real wood floors, laminate flooring is a great choice for areas with heavy foot traffic, as well as households with kids and pets. It is also budget friendly, and easy to care for because, unlike real wood, it does not need to be varnished or oiled.

At Covers, we ensure that our laminates emulate the look and feel of natural wood, so you don’t have to compromise on looks or quality - and they’re all suitable for installation over underfloor heating.

Vinyl Flooring

Vinyl flooring has become incredibly popular in recent years. The market has exploded with new products, and vinyl flooring is now available in a vast array of textures, colours and effects, reproducing the look of wood, as well as stone and slate tiles.

Durable, waterproof and cost effective it is a great choice for kitchens and bathrooms. Installation is quick and easy thanks to its click-locking mechanism, and vinyl can be installed over most existing hard floors without the need for underlay or adhesive. Because the planks are thinner than solid or engineered wood, doors do not usually need to be cut.

Flooring Patterns

One of the great things about hard flooring is that it can be laid in a range of patterns to suit your taste and style. We offer a huge range of hard flooring options that can be laid to your specifications. Our team can advise you on the best planks to choose for your preferred style. Some of our most popular styles include:

• Straight – for a traditional finish, boards are laid side by side from wall to wall.
• Herringbone – for a modern, yet timeless look. Square edged planks are laid diagonally to create a herringbone pattern.
• Chevron – similar to herringbone but planks are cut to a diagonal edge, and laid edge to edge so that planks meet along the same straight line.

At Covers, we stock a wide array of high-quality flooring, underlay, adhesive and varnish for any housebuilding, construction, home building and DIY projects. Our products are available to purchase online, or from one of our depots. Browse our options here.

If you need any help, or would like to discuss your flooring options further, why not give us a call on 0800 2100 458, or visit your nearest depot to speak in-person to our knowledgeable and friendly team.