We are proud of our quality products, the only ones we install. We are proud of our professional installers, the only ones we use.
When you choose one of our high quality natural wooden flooring you can be sure of a high quality installation service from us too. That goes without saying. No matter if you have selected a floor from our Basic range or from our Design Parquet range (read about this specific installation process here) - our installers will treat every floor with the same respect.
We will discuss a suitable delivery
and fitting date with you and if needed our dedicated installation team will,
on the delivery date, check the
measurements and condition of the underfloor (in the Kent* area only).
The delivery of your floor will normally happen two or three days before the installation starts. This is for two reasons:
- Your new wood floor must have the chance to acclimatise to your unique house climate. This will make sure that when it is installed the wood has already adapted to the temperature and air humidity normal to your home and not after it is installed. So storing it in the garage or garden shed is a definite no no!
- Because we personally deliver the wood it gives us the ideal chance to check - if needed - the state and quality of the underfloor (which should have its existing floor covering removed - like carpets and carpet underlayment - be dry and free of dust and grease), to discuss which room you want us to start in and answer any remaining question you might have.
If needed those extra days will give you time to correct - repair any defects found in the underfloor, and us the opportunity to make sure any extra (special) materials needed are at hand when the installation starts.
 Our professional installers are always dedicated to the job in hand, will arrive at the time agreed and will only be working on your floor - from start to finish, no running around between two or more jobs during the same time period.
Also, it's our principle that mobile phones are only for emergencies or to be used during tea or coffee and lunch breaks.
After
the installation is completed we will provide you with an ‘easy-maintenance’
leaflet and remember, there is always a 4-seasons guarantee on
our installation service.
The personal and dedicated service you receive will continue for as long as you need us. Our growing band of delighted clients, with their
glowing testimonials and feed back are your confirmation and assurance of the quality and service you will receive of Wood You Like, THE natural wooden flooring specialists in the UK.
We do stretch the Kent area from The Medway towns (Rochester,
Gillingham, Chatham etc) to Margate, Broadstairs, Ramsgate, past
Sandwich, Deal down to
Dover, Folkestone and beyond. And of course many of the
villages and towns in the Weald area (Headcorn, Smarden, Sutton-Valance
and many more), plus Sevenoaks area - crossing into Surrey - Maidstone, Tonbridge, Cranbrook, Hawkhurts down to Rye and even crossing into East-Sussex and Surrey - give us call when in doubt.
For clients 'further' afield we have increasingly access to professional installers outside the Kent area. (See also our Trade Program if you are an Architect, Interior Designer, developer etc.)
The Installation Process of Design Parquet Flooring - our speciality:
- laying the subfloor first: on concrete this will often be the mosaic, on existing floorboards at least 12mm ply will be screwed down
- sanding the subfloor level to create the smoothest surface for the actual pattern. This will reduce the amount of sanding of the actual pattern
 setting the middle line of your choosen pattern - this is not always the exact middle line of your room, depending on the design and the straightness of the walls in your room. And sometimes we start way out of the middle, making sure the pattern lines up with the most obviouso focal point in your room (think fire-place or another object you will group your settees around)
- after the first line of the pattern has bonded fully to the subfloor, the pattern will be installed further, making sure that when we nearing the wall (or "obstruction" such as fire place, alcove, built-in book cases etc) the pattern ends and/or continues as eye pleasing as possible and we leave sufficient space for the border (if applicable).
- if applicable, the border around the whole of the pattern is installed, again as eye pleasing as possible. This sometimes means cutting the last border pieces in an angle to continue along the next wall, or keeping a straight edge here. The same applies for any "obstacle" we meet.
 once the whole pattern and border has had time to fully bond with the subfloor we'll bring in our "work-horse": the professional belt-sander with continues sand-belt.
The first sanding round with a coarse grit will take care of any height differences and remove any excess parquet adhesive, plus our "greasy" finger prints. The sanding goes from one wall to another, then walking back on our tracks. When we proceed forwards again, the earlier thread will be overlapped. Once the whole room is "walked" this way, we turn 90 degrees and do it all over again.
Those areas the big sander can't reach will be done by the edge-sander (which means going down on our knees)
- the collected sand-dust is removed from the dust collecting bag of the sander and the sanding belt is replaced by a less coarse one. Now the "walking" of the room starts again to smooth down the wood even further. Again, areas where the "work-horse" can't reach are sanded with the edge-sander. This time the collected sand-dust is kept for the next step:
- although the individual pieces of the tiles and/or blocks are very precisely cut in the factory and our professional team makes sure all fit as tight as possible, some tiny gaps can appear during the time the adhesive bond the wood floor to the subfloor.
But because we use the sand dust from your own floor and mix this with a special filler which is then "plastered" over the whole floor - and not cumbersome filling gap by gap as some imagine we do, would take forever! -
after this special mix has dried your whole floor will look "solid" and gapless (any slight colour differences between the wood and the wood-filler will fade quickly).
 to remove excess wood-filler and prepare your floor for the finish application, the work-horse is replaced by a finishing sander which consists of 5 individual spinning sanding disks. The grit of the sanding paper is again finer than the last sanding round. This, in combination with the individual little disks spinning at heigh speed will give the floor the smoothness it needs before we apply the natural oil finish.
- The finishing touches!
If you've opted for Oak, your floor will receive two coats of Natural HardWaxOil to bring out its natural character as best as possible.
For tropical wood-species we apply what we've started to call the "tropical-combo": first coat of very thin oil, followed - after the oil has dried - one coat of hardWaxOil. The reason for using a thin oil here first is the fact that tropical wood is more oily than Oak (or other "blond" wood-species) which will interfere with the normal working of the HardWaxOil.
- One final buffing (with the finishing machine, now with buffing pads attached to the 5 disks instead of sanding paper) to bring out the full character of your new original, one in its kind, Design Parquet floor:
And remember: when Wood You Like's own professional team installs your wooden floor, you'll receive our unique 4-seasons guarantee on the works executed. Why a specific 4-seasons guarantee and not just a 1-year guarantee? Simply to explain that during the changes of the seasons, your floor will adapt to the changes in humidity every season brings with it. This is a very normal and natural process.
However, if you think your floor isn't behaving as it should, during the first 4 seasons you simply give us a call and we'll visit as soon as possible
to see what is happening. Extra peace of mind for you.
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