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Wood Flooring in Dulwich
We supply and fit wood floors across Dulwich and SE22 — East Dulwich, Dulwich Village, Peckham Rye and Herne Hill — from our showroom in Forest Hill, ten minutes away. This page walks through a recent job in the area: wide oak boards through an extended Victorian house.
Most of what decides the price in these streets is not the wood. It is what is underneath, and in an extended house that is rarely one thing.
Wide oak through a rear extension
A Victorian house opened up at the back: the original rooms at the front, then a new extension with sliding doors onto the garden and a rooflight over the middle. The floor runs the whole length, from the hall through to the glass.
Wide boards were the right call here rather than a fashion choice. A wall of glass at one end throws light along the floor at a low angle, and that light finds every joint. Fewer, wider boards mean fewer lines for it to pick out, so the floor reads as one surface instead of a lot of stripes.
Two subfloors in one house
This is the thing that catches people out in Dulwich. An extended Victorian house has two different floors under the same finish: joists and floorboards over a ventilated void in the original rooms, and a concrete slab in the extension. They behave differently, they are fixed differently, and they are almost never at exactly the same level.
Where the two meet you either hide the change or make something of it. Here the step and its nosing were made from the same boards as the floor, so the level change reads as part of the floor rather than as a strip of something else screwed over a joint. The same was done on the stairs. It is slower work, and it is the part people notice without being able to say why.
The practical consequence for a quote: the same room can need a floating floor at the front of the house and a glued one at the back, plus levelling where the slab and the joists disagree. Anyone pricing your floor without looking under it is guessing.
What decides the cost in a Dulwich house
The mix of subfloors
Original rooms on joists, extension on concrete. Two methods, sometimes two underlays, and a junction between them that has to be solved rather than covered up.
Levelling
Old joists sag, new slabs are poured to their own level, and the two rarely meet. Levelling compound, packing or a ply overlay is the line on a quote that varies most between two houses on the same street.
Steps, thresholds and stairs
Made from the same boards, these cost more than a bought trim and look like part of the house. Made from a trim, they cost less and look like a repair.
Underfloor heating
Standard in Dulwich extensions. Engineered board only, glued down, brought up to temperature slowly over the first week. Tell us before you choose the floor, not after.
Where we work around Dulwich
East Dulwich, Dulwich Village, West Dulwich, Peckham Rye, Herne Hill, Honor Oak and Forest Hill are all within our normal working area. Our showroom in Forest Hill is a few minutes from most of SE22, and the floors there are laid out in full boards — a 20 cm board looks very different from a sample chip of the same wood.
You can also see this floor and others on our recent work page, or order free samples and look at them in your own rooms, morning and evening, before deciding.
Questions we get asked in Dulwich
Do you cover SE22 and the rest of Dulwich?
Yes — East Dulwich, Dulwich Village, West Dulwich, Peckham Rye and Herne Hill are all inside our normal area, and the Forest Hill showroom is a short drive from any of them.
Can the same floor run from the old house into the extension?
Yes, and it is worth doing — it is what makes an extended house feel like one house. The fixing method changes between the two parts, and any level difference is dealt with at the junction, as on the job above.
Are wide boards a problem over underfloor heating?
Not if they are engineered. A wide solid board over heating will move; an engineered board of the same width has a stable core and stays put. Width is a look; the core is what matters technically.
Can you match a floor to one already in the house?
Often, but honestly — an old floor has darkened for years, and a new board next to it will look newer whatever we do. We will say so before you order rather than after.
My ground floor bounces. Is that a problem?
It is worth looking at before laying anything on top. Usually it is a loose board or a joist that has dried out, and it is much cheaper to fix while the floor is up than to feel it under a new one.
Wide oak boards we supply
Engineered oak in plank form — the type of floor used on the job above.
Planning a floor in Dulwich?
Send us your room sizes, or book a visit and we will look at what is under the existing floor before you choose anything.
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