Browse our editorial collections and find your perfect floor.
Browse CollectionsBrowse our editorial collections and find your perfect floor.
Browse CollectionsThe hallway takes more traffic than any other room, so durability and first impressions both matter. Hard-wearing LVT, quality laminate and engineered wood stand up to muddy boots and daily wear while still looking sharp.
Owners who are not moving buy differently: engineered oak can be sanded back years later rather than lifted and binned, which is the argument for it in a market as settled as Braintree’s. Over Bocking timber, level the boards first.
A tough wear layer resists scratches and scuffs, and a wood or stone effect makes an instant statement as you walk through the door. The layer under the board decides as much as the board does. A ventilated void beneath period floors wants an underlay with a vapour check; a solid CM77 base wants a membrane, and it takes up heat slowly, so warm it before laying.
Bocking’s older streets are period stock on suspended timber, and they need levelling before anything goes down; the estates built later towards Great Notley sit on a solid base. Ownership across CM7 and CM77 has barely moved between censuses, so floors here tend to be bought once.
A quick tour through a typical Braintree home:
Ground floors around Bocking: The older streets of Bocking North, Bocking South and Bocking Blackwater sit on suspended timber, and those boards want levelling before anything goes over them. Once the base is flat, engineered wood copes with the slight movement a period joist floor keeps making.
Rooms on the Great Notley side: Housing towards Great Notley and Cressing is later and sits on a solid base, which takes the levelling stage out of the job. That makes SPC or a click laminate quick to lay, and it holds formats that a springy timber floor never would.
Living rooms: Ownership in the Braintree district has hardly stirred between censuses, and a market that settled rewards the floor nobody plans to replace. In a Braintree West or Braintree South sitting room that argues for engineered oak with a top layer thick enough to be sanded rather than lifted.
Kitchens: Detached and semi-detached houses dominate this part of Essex, so kitchens here tend to be the wider sort that runs into a dining end. That footfall is what porcelain tiles are for, although over old Bocking joists the floor has to be stiffened before a single tile is bedded.
We deliver across Braintree and Essex (CM postcodes) from our UK warehouse. Most in-stock orders arrive within a timeframe that depends on the delivery postcode.
Orders for hallway flooring head out to Bocking, Great Notley and Cressing and the CM postcode area, and everywhere in between. Not sure which finish suits your light and layout? Order two or three samples to your Braintree address, from £1.99, and compare them at home before you commit.
Bestsellers our customers order again and again. Samples available for every floor.
News from the brand, honest buying guides and real UK prices, fresh from the team that supplies the floors.
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Buying guide · 7 min readBest Flooring for Underfloor Heating: What Works and What to AvoidWhich flooring works best over underfloor heating? Engineered wood, LVT, laminate, tiles and solid wood compared for heat output, stability and safe temperatures.Read the article
Comparison guide · 6 min readLVT vs Porcelain Tiles: Kitchens & Bathrooms ComparedLVT or porcelain tiles for your kitchen or bathroom? Waterproofing, warmth, durability, fitting and cost compared, with a clear recommendation per room.Read the article
Pattern guide · 6 min readHerringbone vs Chevron: Patterns, Costs and Which Suits Your RoomHerringbone or chevron parquet? How the patterns differ, what each costs in materials and fitting, and which rooms each pattern flatters most.Read the article Three places to look before you order: the guide library, real customer projects, and trade support.

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OpenHomes & Floors is a UK flooring specialist supplying premium engineered wood, solid oak, parquet, LVT, laminate, porcelain tiles and wall panels to homes and trade customers nationwide, including Braintree.
Every range is hand-picked for quality and value, backed by honest expert advice, samples available so you can check colour and finish in your own light, and delivery options to your door.
Follow the craft · join the conversationThe same questions come up in every town we deliver to. These four references answer them once, with the source in each case.
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