Laid level, or not at all

Always, because it decides everything else. On concrete that means self-levelling compound where the fall or the dips are outside tolerance. On timber it means screwing the boards back down, replacing anything soft and often overboarding with ply or hardboard. Laying a floor over an uneven subfloor gives you a floor that flexes, clicks and eventually opens at the joints, no matter what you paid for the boards.

Vinyl plank and good laminate are the pragmatic answer, they handle water, dogs and school shoes and they are easy to replace in a few years. Engineered wood is the better looking and better feeling floor and it can be sanded back once or twice, which laminate cannot. Solid timber in a kitchen or bathroom is asking for trouble. We will tell you what we would put in our own house rather than what has the biggest margin.

Yes, with the right build-up. Engineered wood and vinyl plank both work over underfloor heating, solid timber generally does not, and thick underlay or carpet wastes the heat you are paying for. The system gets commissioned and brought up to temperature gradually before and after laying, which the manufacturers all specify and plenty of people skip.

Yes, lift and disposal are part of the price. Old carpet, tiles and adhesive residue all come up and go, and the subfloor is checked once it is exposed. Sometimes lifting a floor is what reveals a leak, rot or a subfloor that needs work, and if it does, you get told what we have found and what it costs before we carry on.

Often, if the existing floor is a current product or you have spares. Where an exact match is not available, the better answer is usually a deliberate transition at a doorway rather than a slightly-wrong batch running into the old floor, which is the thing everybody notices. We will show you both options in the room before you decide.