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English Timbers manufacture high quality solid hardwood flooring in a wide range of timbers.

We sell to both the trade and public and deliver throughout the UK.

We prefer not to sell on-line because we think it is important to discuss your particular needs and site conditions.
Hardwood flooring must be installed correctly and good advice is essential.

Please call us for the prices for our flooring or request a price list & brochure. Tel 01377 229301

Links to Info on this page

Our Products - see below
Quality
Our Service
Sustainability
Website Images & Samples
Using the Website
How to Buy

Our Products
Unfinished White Oak, Red Oak, Ash, Red Elm, Hard Maple, Cherry, Black Walnut and Jatoba - All made at our factory in East Yorkshire. We can also manufacture special floors, chevron pattern etc.

Each timber is separated into different grades - Classic, Character and Rustic.  Please see the pages for each timber.
Go to Our Range of Floors

Most our flooring is unfinished.  We believe that a floor sanded and sealed after laying is superior to a factory prefinished floor. See "Grades and Range " for more info.

The flooring is suitable for domestic and commercial use, but please ask for advice as to the best timbers.

Prefinished - We have a small range of prefinished Oak & Maple floors.. They are good quality, excellent value for money and cost £19.95 per sq.m. plus vat including delivery (For orders over £600 net).  Click here for more info

Sundries include hardwood skirting & other profiles, softwood subfloor battens, building paper, floor lacquers and oil finishes.

Quality
We are dedicated to quality in all aspects of our business - From timber quality and manufacture through to service and technical backup.  

Our Service
We sell to both the trade and the public. We offer a friendly, helpful service which includes product help and samples, technical advice and backup, fitting advice and prompt delivery from stock.  If you have time, please visit our showroom.

Sustainability
Temperate Hardwoods - Most of our hardwoods are grown in the northern US states such as Pensylvania & New York State. The US operates a strict forestry policy and the volume of hardwood is increasing by about 40 million cubic metres per year after harvesting.   This is a staggering amount and equates to about 1 billion square metres(assuming 50% waste) or 370 square miles of flooring.

This is the increase in the volume of hardwoods every year and, by any measure, the forest reserves are more than sustainable.

Most of the harvested areas are left to regenerate naturally.
The amount of forest on the East coast is staggering. The total forest cover in the US is about 750 million acres - about 23 times the area of England. The area of hardwoods in the eastern states is about 284 million acres - about 9 times the area of England. The strict forestry policy effectively eliminates illegal hardwood logging in the US.

It is very difficult to operate a scheme such as FSC certification in North America because these schemes require that all timber can be traced to source. This works well if large areas of forest have few owners as in the Scandinavian countries. However there are literally millions of hardwood forest owners in America each owning a small plot of timber. Keeping track of individual logs is almost impossible.
This is explained clearly if you go the the American Hardwood Export Council sustainability website - please click on the following link - Certification Challenges.

It is unlikely that the FSC scheme will ever apply to more than a small amount of US hardwoods

For general info on US hardwoods please go to the general website for the American Hardwood Export Council.

Tropical Hardwoods
There are many beautiful tropical timbers and over recent years the trend for darker timbers and richer colours has lead to an increased use worldwide.

We have tried to purchase true FSC supplies of tropical timbers for the last 4 years, but have found it to be impossible due to a genuine lack of supply. There are only one or two certified forest concessions in Brazil.
We were also dismayed to learn that it was possible to purchase the necessary certification for very little extra cost when, in fact, the timber was not certified.

The majority of tropical deforestation appears to be due to destruction for palm oil plantations, sugar plantations, beef ranching and other agricultural uses.

Unfortunately the forest industry is blamed for most of the damage while being responsible for a relatively small proportion of the damage. Illegal logging is a major problem in some parts of the world.

Our only tropical timber is Jatoba which is not FSC certified but is from legally logged forests in Brazil.

We are in the process of producing a range of richer colours and darker floors using heat treated North American timbers but, for various reasons, this has taken longer than expected.

Different processes of heat treatment give different properties to the wood, but together with our main hardwood supplier, we have just about completed our work.

Website Images & Samples
We have taken great care in the preparation of this website. The images of the timber and hardwood floors are as close to reality as possible and we have also described the nature of the timbers and the various grades of  flooring.

The colour of the images may vary from screen to screen. They are representative on most traditional screens, but may not be accurate on some flat screens unless they are set up correctly.
The images show the flooring after it has been sanded and sealed with a water based lacquer or wax oil finish.  Please bear this in mind when you receive a sample because these have not been finished.

Using the Website

The "Our Range of Floors" button - is used to display the range of flooring available.  Click on the relevant photograph to display the page relating to that particular timber.  Each page shows a room set and images of each grade of flooring along with timber and grade descriptions.

The "Special Offers" button lists a selection of one-off offers along with prices. These may be end of lines or small batches with a different width, thickness or grade.

The "Featured Floor" gives details of a particular timber and grade of floor which may also be on offer.

The "Technical Summary" and the "Explanation of Terms" are used to help you understand the basics of solid hardwood flooring and the terminology.

The "Comprehensive Technical Guide" is used for in depth technical information.  This guide is very comprehensive and should be read by anyone intending to specify or lay one of our solid hardwood floors. In addition to site surveys, site conditions and basic floor laying methods etc the guide also explains the types of timber flooring, the grades along with any advantages and disadvantages.

The "How to Find us Button" gives a local map of the area.

If you need further help, please do not hesitate to call us.  All our staff are involved in the manufacture of the flooring and can offer a high degree of assistance.

The "Terms of Use" page relates to your use of this web site and the " News and Special Offers" discusses any new products & offers.

Please use the "Contact Button" or call us to request brochures or samples. Please reduce your choice to a minimum before requesting samples because of the range available.  

How to Buy
We have chosen not to sell our products on line because of the importance of technical support.  It is important to discuss your particular situation and advise you as best we can.  A hardwood floor is an important aesthetic and structural feature of the building and the correct choice of materials plus competent installation is vitally important.

Payment- is as normal - by cheque, card or cash. Please allow a few days for the cheques to clear.
If possible, please pay by debit rather than credit card. This helps keep our prices competitive as the credit card companies charge such large commissions.

Availability - Most of the species & grades are normally in stock. However large orders may deplete stocks and it is best to check availability well in advance.

Delivery - Once the order has been paid for and prepared, delivery is arranged with the customer and is normally within a couple of days.

English Timbers Ltd. 1a Main Street, Kirkburn, Driffield,East Yorkshire, YO25 9DU
Telephone: 01377 229301 Fax: 01377 229303 email:info@englishtimbers.co.uk

16/11/05