Healthy Homes

1) Healthy Homes and Allergies

In our last two newsletters we already mentioned that house dust is the major cause of allergy in people with year long runny or blocked nose and/or sneezing. In addition to these allergic reactions, dust can trigger and irritate asthma and eczema.

Allergies are the result of an overactive and over-performing immune system. There are many different types of allergies. Some allergies are genetic. If one of more parent suffers with eczema, asthma or allergies, it is more likely that any children will suffer one or more of these too.
Some allergies are contact related and in order to have an allergic reaction you need to have had contact with the allergen. Eczema, asthma and hay fever (allergic rhinitis) are all considered forms of allergy.
Almost all asthma in young people is allergic asthma. This means having inherited genes which makes it possible to get asthma; plus allergy-producing things in the environment, such as house dust mites, cats, or dogs; as 'trigger' factors.

A speck of dust may contain fabric fibres, human skin, bacteria, animal danders, pollen, grains, moulds spores, food particles, mites and mites-droppings. Mites cannot be seen without a microscope. They thrive in warm and humid conditions. Because they feed on skin scales, they love bedding, carpets, upholstered furniture, clothing, closets and car seats. They usually survive ordinary vacuuming because they burrow deep and are equipped with sucking pads on their feet. Please see here for more research information about house mites and allergies, the known information could fill many newsletters.

Rigorous vacuuming every day can help to reduce the amount of mites; I don't know about you, but personally I find every vacuum cleaner 'smells' of dust, no matter how many times you empty the dust bag (one of the most tedious and dusty tasks around!) or change the filter. I use a soft-broom for day-to-day cleaning of our floor-covering, but that's a hard task on carpets I'm afraid.
Carpets - they provide a breeding ground for mites. Choose short pile carpets or rugs and or decide to have Natural Wooden Flooring.
The positive effect on your health by replacing carpets with wooden flooring doesn't take long to occur as one of our customers wrote us:
"You may also wish to know that my sinuses and allergies have been greatly reduced since the removal of carpet and the fitting of a beautiful wood floor"

2) Healthy Homes and Eczema

Eczema sufferers tend to be allergic to a wide range of substances in every day life that the non-eczema sufferer is not. For example, food, house dust mites, pollen, animals, moulds, drugs (eg antibiotics), lanolin, metals, solvents, household chemicals to name but a few.

People with sensitive skin or eczema and psoriasis suffer particularly from bathing and washing in hard water, but they also get the accumulative effect of wearing clothing with residual scale. Scum and harsh detergents in them, constantly in contact with their delicate skin their condition is continually aggravated, day in and day out, when they sleep they are still in contact with night wear and bed linen, it's a continual process.
Rain water is naturally soft, and most people understand how good it is for washing with, and many people still gather rain or fresh spring water to wash their hair with, but that is just too impractical for most people.

Water remains soft in many parts of the country, but for those of us in hard water areas (60%) the rain water dissolves calcium from the chalk downs and limestone layers beneath the ground and transforms it into the damaging and aggravating solution that we know and recognise as hard water in our homes.
By turning hard water back into soft water again, you can have all of the benefits of beautifully softened water in your own home, on tap 24/7 and no need to wait for rain!

Better Water Solutions (based in Charing, Kent U.K.) is offering you a FREE (no obligation) hard water test to help you find out if you could benefit from having a water softener installed in your home. All you have to do is to contact them by email, supply your name and address and Better Water Solutions will send you a test bottle for you to fill with water from your kitchen cold water tap. Once it has been returned to them in the envelope provided, they will test it and send you an email with the results and advice on the best suitable water softener for you.

A water softener doesn't only have a positive effect on eczema, but will also reduce the amount of detergents, shampoos and soaps needed; make your appliances work more efficient (up to 70% more!) and longer by eliminating scale deposits. Plus, everything will taste better: coffee, tea, boiled vegetables - potatoes etc and of course a normal glass of fresh water because water softeners and filters will remove the Chlorine and other chemicals from you water supply.
And, as one of our own customers discovered: softened water spilled on wooden floors doesn't create hard to remove white-spots.

3) The Allergy Show 16 - 18 June 2006 Olympia London

The Allergy show is for people with food allergies and intolerance, sensitive skin, eczema, asthma, hay fever, and chemical sensitiveness, parents of children with these conditions and healthcare professionals with an interest in these conditions.
See here for more information.

4) Simple tips for Healthy Homes

These following tips are not only beneficial for people suffering from Asthma, eczema or allergies, they will have a healthy effect on all of us.
One of the most simple ones is: VENTILATE

It still amazes us that some people don't ventilate their rooms/homes just once a day for say only 5 - 10 minutes (even in Winter!). Opening a window for a small period of time will get rid of excessive moist, dust, tobacco and other 'bad' smells, and bring in some nice fresh air. Of course you can buy 'fresh-air' from a bottle/spray, but do we really want that? Fresh air from ventilation is FREE and will do your home and yourself a world of good.

Another tip, is to make sure the humidity in your home stays at a comfortable level. Not just good for your wooden flooring (to prevent extra expansion or shrinkage) but also very good for yourself. Dry air will dry out your skin and especially for eczema sufferers not a good thing to have. See our tips and advice page for more info on healthy house climate

How to beat your Kid's Asthma

In a two-part report Dispatches, Channel 4's documentation program, focuses on tackling Asthma and Allergies in children.
Asthma and allergies affect more than one million children in Britain. Twelve families take part in an experiment to eradicate the triggers of the condition by living in an allergen-free home.

First part of the program will be shown on Thursday 6 April 2006 at 9.00pm. Second part of the program will be shown Monday 10 April 2006 at 9.00pm

Ripping out carpets to replace it with a hard floor covering (like natural wooden flooring) is more and more recommended to help reduce the triggers of Asthma and Allergies. Read more about healthy flooring on our website.

Our ranges in Natural Wooden Flooring (simplicity rules)

At Wood You Like we are always in favour of keeping everything simple, life can be complicated enough as it is.
This principle translates itself in:

- our straight forward advice; we are always more than willing to answer any of your questions or enquiries relating to wooden flooring, from advice on the most suitable flooring type for your circumstances to installation tips for DIY-ers.

- our specified quotes; no surprises afterwards since our quotation will cover all materials and labour (if applicable; our installation service covers the East Kent area) needed for the job.

- our 4-seasons guarantee on labour (if applicable); Natural Wooden Flooring needs to adjust to your unique house-climate during the different seasons, (extreme circumstance apart) our guarantee means you don't have to worry about added charges when your wooden flooring doesn't behave itself as it should do during its first year.

- our straight forward ranges (see below) in Natural Wooden Flooring; basic range, standard range, Duoplank and Solid range and Original Chapel Parket range catering for all budgets, interiors and special design ideas:

1) Our Basic range:
Wood-Engineered flooring in Premium Oak 3-strip lacquered and Rustic Oak or Maple full-plank boards in various widths and lacquered or oil finishes (normal Tongue & Groove system, full-planks micro-bevelled on all four sides)
(from £26.00 to £ £41.95 per sq m, ex VAT; Solid top layer 3.5mm, total thickness 14.5mm)
Also available: 15mm Solid floorboard Oak Nature 2-strip, bevelled on long-sides, lacquered (only £30.00 per sq m, ex VAT)
Request our Basic Range leaflet for all specifications

2) Our Standard Wood-Engineered 3-strip range
A very wide selection in wood types; from Oak, Maple, Beech, Ash to Iroco, Merbau, Jatoba and Jarrah. Available in various grades with lacquer or oil finish. Solid top layer of 3.5mm and Profiloc glueless system.
(from £32.95 to £66.25 per sq m, ex VAT)
Request our Standard Range leaflet for all specifications

3) Our Duoplank and Solid range

Duoplank is one of the most stable and versatile full-plank Wood-Engineered flooring around: 6mm Solid top layer on 15mm water-resistant-plywood, bevelled on long sides, load bearing and suitable for installation on underfloor heating.
The selection starts with Oak County (unfinished) and ends with Wenge (to be finished on site). In between are Oaks in various grades and natural colours/finishes and 14 (FSC) tropical wood species.
Most of these we are also able to supply as Solid boards in various widths and finishes
(from £41.25 to £85.75 per sq m, ex VAT; standard thickness 21mm, normal T&G system)
Request our Duoplank and Solid Range leaflet for all specifications

FSC = The wood in this product comes from well managed forests independently certified in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council.

Request our Complete Range leaflet of all specifications on Basic, Standard, Duoplank and Solid range.

4) Our Original Chapel Parket range in aged and destressed flooring
Solid (20mm thick) Oak floorboards in various (smoked) colours for those who want just that little extra special appearance in Natural Wooden Flooring.
Chapel uses an unique process of chastising (tumbling), heating and applying special HardWaxOil to

give their boards the appearance of Natural Old Age. Besides the range in floorboards Chapel offers hand-crafted pattern tiles like Versailles and Chevron.
The quality floorboards (T&G made after the process for excellent fit) comes in various 'Natural' colours, where the colour is part of the board, not just a stain laying on top of the board.
(from £68.75 to £83.70 per sq m, ex VAT)

Visit our showroom at Brenchley Mews, Charing (Kent, U.K.), where you can choose out of over 70 types of Natural Wooden Flooring. We have an excellent installation team (for the East Kent area).

Wood You Like Original Chapel Parket?

In our September 2005 newsletter we introduced the Original Chapel Parket, our Aged and Destressed range in Oak flooring. This month we would like to tell you more about this quality product.
We will begin with explaining how these, in fact unique, boards are produced.

First of all: all floors are hand made to order.

Chapel Oak Boards have a natural aged look, achieved by tumbling the boards to produce a randomly distressed product. Some others on the market are destressed by machine 'imprints', which show a more routine destressing pattern on the boards.

The boards are produced with a natural colouring process, which manipulates the tannic acid in the wood. There are various processes for the various different colours, using different chemicals to obtain different effects (colours range from 17th Century Smoked Natural to 17th Century Red or White - even pitch black can be achieved). This results in the colour penetrating deeper into the wood than with other stained products available (app. 2mm), meaning the floor colour will not wear away with foot traffic.

The boards are then opened up using a special heating procedure and a coat of HardWaxOil (re-enforced with silicic acid) is applied. The heating procedure enables the HardWaxOil to penetrate deeper in the wood. The boards are then brushed and polished and a second coat of HardWaxOil is applied.

As a result of these special processes, the boards will become lighter/calmer in the first 3-6 months after installation. This means that the boards arrive with a slight different colour than the sample board was, but the floor will lighten to the colour chosen.

The Chapel Parket Collection:
Castle Floor: tumbled destressed with micro-bevel
Antico Floor: tumbled destressed with square edge
Cathedral Floor: hand-scraped with hand-cut bevel
'In-Between' Floor: Castle or Cathedral 6mm on 15mm water-resistant-plywood, load-bearing Wood-Engineered boards suitable for underfloor heating and very wide rooms. Micro-bevelled.
Pattern tiles like Renaissance, Chateau and Versailles

Maintenance (or more: the lack of need on)
A Original Chapel Parket floor is virtually maintenance free, and any cleaning products or chemicals should be avoided.
Normal daily maintenance will consist of just sweeping the floor with a sweeping mop or broom. Particularly stubborn dust can be swept using a bristle broom, even a yard brush will not damage the surface of a Chapel floor (the reason why it's also called 'The Hooligan Proof Floor').
It's not necessary to re-oil a Chapel floor and periodic mechanical buffing will improve the appearance of the floor, however this is not essential as Chapel Floors will improve with age.

Feel free to visit our showroom to see all the colours available, we have 10 double-sided large sample boards in total, plus one of the hand-made tiles.

Besides the Original Chapel Parket we offer other quality ranges in Natural Wooden Flooring; for any budget, for any interior.

Gaps appearing in floorboards

It's that time of the year again: gaps appearing in floorboards

In this period our web site is being found by a lot by people "Googling" on: floorboard gap; floorboard gap filler; gaps in floorboards, etc.
We "wood like" to explain that in this time of the year and with this weather that gaps appearing in floorboards is pretty usual. We keep track of the air humidity in our house and shop on a daily basis and during the end of autumn and winter it can drop as low as 35 - 40%

Wood works all year round and when the weather (climate) gets dryer, wood will get dryer also (as will your skin). Then it is very normal for floorboards to shrink and for gaps to appear. These gaps will disappear again when the air humidity gets higher

It's no use to fill them; it's part of the way wood works.

What you could do (to keep the wood and also yourself healthy): hang ceramic water containers on radiators (check regularly that they are still filled with water; you can also add a few drop of a fragrant in for a nicer or fresher smell) or hang a damp tea-towel (not dripping wet!) on radiators; that will increase the humidity slightly.

For more on wooden flooring and house-climate see here

Wooden flooring finished with lacquer or oil: differences and advantages

One of the hardest questions to answer is: what makes a better finish, lacquer or oil/HardWaxOil?

First of all it’s down to personal taste and secondly to what is expected of the floor, e.g. easy maintenance, shiny look or natural appearance of the wood.

Historical the wax floor is still seen as very labour intensive to maintain, who doesn’t have memories of caretakers buffing away endlessly week after week after week (be it your “Gran” or the school caretaker). Then came the ‘modern’ lacquer (and synthetic and affordable wall-to-wall carpets) and the original wax floor almost became extinct.

For many decades most of the wooden flooring in the U.K. was pre-finished lacquered or lacquered/varnished on site. Maintenance became simple, buffing a thing of the past and there is a choice between high gloss and matte appearance. The newest innovation in lacquer even has the same appearance as an oiled floor to make the wood look more ‘natural’.

The biggest disadvantage of a lacquered finish on a wooden floor is that it ‘sits’ on the floor. When damaged with a sharp object or due to the long term abrasive effect of dirt (‘dirty’ shoes ‘sanding’ away in heavy traffic areas or under chairs, tables) the lacquer doesn’t protect the wood anymore and dirt/moist will make the wooden floor look ‘grey’ regardless of maintenance efforts. In fact, cleaning damaged areas with a moist cloth will make things worse.
The only proper solution would be to sand the complete floor and to apply a new finish. Applying a proper lacquer layer is a job for the specialist, lacquer is not very forgiving to mistakes made.

The labour intensive maintenance of the old-fashioned wax-floor has now become a thing of the past: oils replaced the many layers of wax. The oil penetrates the wood deeper than lacquer and makes it moist resistance, but allowing the wood to ‘breathe’. A hardwax layer is applied afterwards to make the wear and tear layer water repellent.

Nowadays most oiled floors are pre-finished (or finished on site) with HardWaxOil, combining the natural oil (long term protection) and the carnauba or bees hardwax (wear and tear layer) in a two-in-one product. It’s very easy to apply and a very forgiving product when some mistakes are made, in fact an ideal DIY-finish (but we strongly recommend you read the instructions thoroughly and use the right equipment).

It has a great surface density and therefore very resistant to abrasive movements. Besides that, any (small) damages are very easily repaired with some wax or maintenance oil without the need to sand the whole floor.

The appearance of the finished wooden floor is matte satin with the advantage of making the floor look warmer, deeper in colour over the years.

An oiled-waxed or HardWaxOiled wooden floor requires slightly more maintenance than a lacquered floor, but not on the level of the old-fashioned knee and backbreaking wax floor, the modern maintenance products have taken care of that.

For advice on proper maintenance see our extensive tips and advice page.

Have we answered the question of what makes a better finish? No, sorry we still can’t; it’s still down to personal taste we’re afraid.

BTW, our personal taste is HardWaxOil.

What's in a name: laminated, engineered, composed etc

As a member of the DIY-not forum we frequently give free advice to any "would be" wooden flooring installer. We do notice there is a lot of confusion about names of products and Wood You Like would like to introduce a more righteous terminology in types of floor covering; most times it can help to answer a question about ‘wooden’ flooring better.

The most confusion is about laminated flooring, used by DIY-ers (and even some suppliers) for both Melamine Laminated Flooring (the ‘plastic’ – Melamine’ stuff with only a photo-copy of wood) and for Wood-Engineered and Wood-Veneered flooring (flooring with a solid wood top layer between 0.2mm and 6 – 8mm with a crossed-backing of pine/plywood or mdf).

In the (English) wood-flooring profession laminate is used to describe the Melamine flooring (like Pergo, Quick-step etc).

The term Wood-Veneer is officially only used when the solid wooden top layer has a thickness between 0.2 to 2.5mm but frequently searchers mean all Wood-Engineered flooring when using this term.

Wood-Engineered covers the rest of the ‘engineered’ flooring where the solid wooden top layer is more than 2.5mm thick (and can go up to even 8mm), but has a crossed-backing of a different material than the top layer.
Solid wooden flooring with cross-backing of the same wood (to make it more stable) is called ‘composed’ wooden flooring.

Real wood is sometimes used to describe Wood-Engineered and Wood-Veneer flooring as opposed to the Melamine Laminated flooring.

Another rule of thumb with Wood-Engineered is that the backing material is minimum twice the thickness of the solid top layer (i.e. 15mm total thickness of the board means that the top layer should not be thicker than 5mm). Thicker than that will cause too much tension on the board because the solid wood is much stronger than any backing. 8mm solid top layer on a 14mm plywood backing is wrong and can cause the board to buckle/cup and even split the whole board.

Miss-use of Parquet term. Where in the mainland of Europe Parquet (Parket) means wooden flooring (any wooden flooring, from solid, wood-engineered to wood block design patterns like herringbone) in the UK the term Parquet is commonly used to describe the latter: wood blocks in any design pattern.
We have noticed however that some manufacturers and retailers use the term Parquet in the UK to promote the 3-strip Wood-Engineered (or 3-strip Wood-Veneer) flooring, which does lead to disappointed customers expecting a real (solid) ‘old-fashioned’ parquet floor instead of the T&G (or click) boards they are in fact purchasing.


For more info or quotes visit our showroom in Brenchley Mews, Charing
or one of our websites:
www.woodyoulike.co.uk
www.woodyoulikediy.co.uk