Fiddes have been in business for nearly 100 years, and began with the founder’s own passion for caring for wood. Fiddes operate from their base in Cardiff, Wales, which has led to their network of distributors operating right across the UK, Europe, Asia and the USA.

Their Hard Wax Oil is created from a blend of natural oils and waxes to offer exceptional durability and resistance for all internal natural wood flooring, wooden kitchen worktops and areas which receive a high level of wear. Available in either a Satin or Matt finish, it is also water repellent and will not peel or flake.

Currently we have the Fiddes Hard Wax Oil available for just £37.08 + VAT (£44.50 inc. VAT) including free delivery! To order please give us a call on 01538 304584 or email sales@peakoak.co.uk.

We have therefore created these 5 simple tips to ensure that the installation of your solid oak flooring or engineered oak flooring goes as smoothly as possible.

1. Acclimatise Your Wood

The first and probably the most important tip that we can give you is to make sure that you acclimatise your oak boards.

Wood flooring, especially solid oak flooring, is very susceptible to changes in humidity. This change can cause oak boards to naturally expand and contract as the boards moisture content changes.

If a floor is fitted as soon as it arrives on the site, it leaves no time for the oak’s moisture content to balance with the conditions on site.

If installed into a damp environment, the oak boards will absorb the moisture and expand. If the flooring however is laid in an area with a lower moisture content than the moisture content of the board, the moisture will leech out of the wood resulting in the board shrinking. This will leave you with large gaps between boards or more serious problems such as splits and cracks.

Therefore to sufficiently acclimatise your oak flooring, we always suggest that your boards are left in the area in which they are to be laid, for a minimum of 2 weeks. The longer that you leave your boards, the more time they will have to acclimatise properly.

2. Leave An Expansion Gap

The next tip is to ensure that a small expansion gap, around 1.5mm, is left around the outside edges of your room. This small gap will help to ensure that there is somewhere for the wood to expand into, if it suffers from changes in humidity.

3. Never Glue The Tongues When Laying Tongue And Groove Flooring

In order to create a tight fit between your boards to create a smooth finishes, it can often be tempting to glue the boards together. This however should never be done as doing so will create “raft” which, if the floor expands, could pop up off the sub-floor and cause it to buckle or bow.

If you do plan to use glue to glue your boards to your sub-floor, adhesive should only be applied to the underside of the oak board, not the tongues or grooves. If you plan to nail or screw your floor down, no adhesive should be used at all.

4. Clean Workspace

Although black marks left by shoes or equipment on the oaks surface can often be removed, a huge amount of time can be still be spent sanding them out. Keeping a clean workspace is therefore important when looking to save hours in the long run.

5. Take Your Time

Although you are desperate to get your boards down as soon as possible so you can take a look at your flooring in all its glory, we recommend that you always take your time when laying your floor.

It can often be easy to get confused when laying your oak floor so taking your time and thinking things through can save you a lot of trouble further down the line.

We hope that these tips help you with the laying of your oak flooring but if you are in need of any further assistance, please give us a call on 01538 304584.

Blanchon themselves have been manufacturing floor finishes, oils and waxes for over 200 years in France. Their products have been used to treat the wooden floors at Seoul airport, in an area which will of course have an awful lot of traffic.

The Blanchon Hard Waxoil Satin gives a wonderful deep sheen to your oak flooring, repelling liquids and dirt, and also being very easy to clean. As well as oak flooring, Blanchon Hard Waxoil can also be used on the likes of oak doors, parquet floors, pine floors, wood pannelling, furniture and much more.

At such a great price, were expecting a huge demand for this product, so please call us now on 01538 304584 to avoid disappointment.

Available in a variety of convenient dimensions, these sheep wool rolls offer highly effective insulation, with a superior thermal performance over glass or mineral wool products. The wool fibres used are completely safe to touch, work with and use inside your home. With unrivaled environmental credentials, sheep’s wool insulation is also the “greenest” choice of any insulation product on the market.

Currently we have these Sheep Wool Insulation Comfort Rolls available for just £100.00 + VAT (£120.00 inc. VAT). To order please call us on 01538 304584.

These fantastically made European oak plugs offer a guaranteed tight fit due to precision turned taper. These are supplied as singles rather than multiples on a stick, which as well as reducing waste, also saves you time and money on site.

Each 12mm European Oak Plug has been made to suit the exact hole drilled, meaning that if you drill a 12mm hole its the 12mm plug you require.

We currently sell these European Oak Plugs in packs of 100, and are available for just £18.67 + VAT (£22.40 including VAT). To order please call us on 01538 304584.

This wrought ironware has been hand forged and finished with natural beeswax. Although we have lowered the price of these items, we have in no way lowered the quality, as we have stuck to the same high standards. As the perfect addition to our oak doors, these hinges are full of character.

With just a few days remaining, now is the time to act to take advantage of this exclusive offer. To place your order, please call us on 01538 304584.

Perfect for use in both softwoods and hardwoods, this set has been made to a highly professional quality, ensuring that all of your work can be carried out without the worry’s of using poor equipment.

The set is an 8 piece set of matching Countersink and Plug Cutters in sizes 6mm, 8mm, 10mm and 12mm. These are then stored safely inside a wooden box.

Currently we have this 8 Piece Plug Cutter and Countersink Set available for just £25.00 + VAT (£30.00 inc. VAT). To order please call us on 01538 304584.

We would also like to just take the time to remind you of our exclusive special offer which we have available for April 2012 only. We are currently offering you the chance to purchase an Arrowhead Suffolk Latch and a pair of 18″ Arrowhead Hinges for just £17.99 + VAT & Delivery. You can learn more information regarding this particular offer by viewing a previous blog post by Clicking Here.

For the purpose of this test we used the following finishes: Treatex Hardwax Oil Traditional – Clear Satin, Blanchon Hard Waxoil – Natural, Osmo Polyx-Oil – Satin-matt, Fiddes Hard Wax Oil – Clear Satin and Liberon Floor Varnish – Clear Satin. Each of these finishes were applied onto a single 180mm Select Grade Oak Flooring board.

Using this board we were able to fully check a number of factors including Which was the easiest to apply? Which dried the quickest? Which provided the best first coat? Which provided the best second coat? and which provided the smoothest finish? After leaving the finishes time to fully harden we were next able to test them up against a number of staining items such as vinegar and washing up liquid.

You can see the full results of this test by clicking here, and all of our other guides by visiting the Guides section.

These handles are really something to behold as they have been completely handmade in the finest of quality. Made from Wrought Iron, these handles are the perfect addition to your Oak Doors, creating that traditional feel. You can learn how to correctly fit hinges to an oak door by visiting our guide on How To Fit An Oak Door. Currently we have the 12″ Haddon Hinge available for just £30.00 + VAT (£36.00 inc. VAT), the 18″ Haddon Hinge available for £32.00 + VAT (£38.40 inc. VAT) and the 24″ Haddon Hinge for £38.00 + VAT (£45.60 inc. VAT)

The next product is this heavy duty, Straight 12″ Door Bolt. This bolt has also been handmade to create a feel and quality that is second to none and is available from us for just £34.00 + VAT (£40.80 inc. VAT).

Our final oak door accessory, continues on with the Rams Heads theme which some of our products have recently adopted. This time it comes in the form of a Rams Head Door Knocker which has been beautifully crafted, and really has to be seen to be believed. This knocker is currently available from us for just £45.00 + VAT (£54.00 inc VAT).

To find out more information, or to order any of these products, please call us on 01538 304584.