Click WPC Flooring in an Enaya Residences Apartment, JVT
Urban Flooring supplied and fitted a warm oak click WPC floor through an apartment at Enaya Residences in JVT District 3, Dubai. The apartment was already finished, so the plank was cut around the stone floors, door linings and fitted wardrobes that were staying. The floor is the only new surface in it.
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Project at a Glance
- Location
- Enaya Residences, JVT District 3, Jumeirah Village Triangle, Dubai
- Property
- Apartment
- Material
- WPC, wood-look plank
- Colour
- Warm mid-brown oak
- Lay pattern
- Straight plank
- Fixing
- Click, floating
- Spaces
- Living area, bedrooms, hallway and corridors
- Condition on arrival
- Finished and empty. Stone floors, doors, skirting and fitted wardrobes all retained
- Scope
- Supply and installation, Urban Flooring in-house team
- Area served
- Dubai, Abu Dhabi and all seven emirates
The Floor Was the Only New Thing in the Apartment
Most flooring projects happen in one of two situations. Either the property is a bare shell, in which case the floor goes down early and the skirting, the doors and the joinery are all fitted to it afterwards. Or the property is being stripped back, in which case whatever is in the way comes out.
This apartment was neither. It was finished. The walls were painted, the doors were hung, the skirting was on, the wardrobes were built in and the entrance and wet areas already had stone down. None of it was coming out. The owner wanted a new floor in the dry rooms and wanted everything else left exactly as it was.
That reverses the usual order of work. The floor was not the first thing in, it was the last, and it was the only part of the apartment that had to accommodate anything. Every other surface in the place was a fixed point it had to arrive at correctly.
It is a common brief in an apartment that is a few years old and in good condition. The flooring is the surface that wears first and dates fastest, and replacing it alone is a fraction of the disruption and cost of refitting a home. What it asks for in return is precision at every edge, because there is no second trade coming behind to cover a gap.
Where the WPC Meets Retained Stone and Fitted Wardrobes
Two junctions decided this job, and both are visible in the photographs.
The stone. The entrance and the wet areas kept their existing stone floor. The plank runs up to it at the door openings and stops there, which makes every one of those openings a meeting point between two floors laid at different times by different trades, at slightly different heights, with no scope to move either one. Those lines are what a visitor sees first walking in, and they are the ones that show immediately if the work was rushed.
The wardrobes. The fitted wardrobes were staying, so the floor runs to them and finishes against their dark timber plinth rather than against white skirting. That is a different line to resolve. A white skirting gives a clean shadow to close against; a dark plinth in a different material and a different colour does not, so the floor edge has to read as part of the wardrobe rather than as the end of the floor.
Neither of these appears in a bare-shell fit-out. In a shell the skirting is fitted after the floor and hides the edge, and the joinery is installed on top of a finished surface. Here the sequence was the wrong way round in both cases and the floor had to solve it at the edge.
WPC Through the Corridors and Wall Returns
The corridors are where a plank floor in an apartment is most obviously either right or wrong. A corridor is long, narrow and lit from one end, so the boards run in an unbroken line and any drift along that line is visible from one end to the other.
This apartment also has several projecting wall returns, the short sections of wall that step out where one room meets another. Each one interrupts the skirting at an angle, and the floor has to carry around it without the run changing direction or a cut board appearing exactly on the corner.
The straight lay helps here. There is no pattern to set out and no angle to hold, so the whole decision is where the run starts and how it is kept square over distance. What it does not do is forgive an error. A pattern floor can absorb a small deviation in its geometry. A straight plank run in a narrow corridor puts every board edge in a line and shows anything that is not parallel to the wall.
Room by Room
The photographs below show the same floor in each of the spaces it was fitted to.
What is worth looking at is not the boards, it is the edges. The stone at the door openings, the dark wardrobe plinth, the wall returns in the hallway and the track of the balcony door. Those are the four things the floor had to arrive at, and they are the reason this job took longer than the same area in an empty shell.
Urban Flooring supplied and fitted the WPC flooring only. The stone floors, doors, door linings, skirting, fitted wardrobes and decoration shown were already in place and fitted by others.
Where WPC Suits a Finished Apartment in Dubai
- Apartments a few years old where the floor is tired but the rest of the property is not
- Homes where the owner wants the joinery, doors and stone left exactly as they are
- Properties changing hands or being prepared for a tenant, where one surface has to lift the whole place
- Layouts with several openings onto retained stone, because that is where the work actually shows
Specification, formats and indicative prices are on our WPC flooring page, and the wider family is covered on vinyl flooring. For a different material in the same community, see our brown SPC floor in a JVT District 8 villa.
WPC Flooring FAQs
Can a new floor be fitted in an apartment that is already finished?
Yes, and it is one of the most common jobs we do. The floor is fitted around whatever is staying: the skirting, the doors, the joinery and any stone or tile being kept. It asks for more care at the edges than a bare shell, and it disrupts far less of the property.
Does the skirting have to come off to fit a new floor?
Not necessarily. Where the existing skirting is in good condition and the owner wants it kept, the floor is fitted to it rather than under it. Removing and refitting skirting means making good and repainting afterwards, which turns a flooring job into a decorating job.
What happens where the new floor meets stone or tile that is staying?
The new floor runs up to the existing one and finishes at the opening. Because the two floors were laid at different times there is usually a small difference in height, so the junction is worked out before anything is laid. It is the first thing a visitor sees, so it gets the most attention.
Can flooring be fitted around built-in wardrobes without removing them?
Yes. The floor is fitted up to the wardrobe and finished against its plinth. Taking fitted wardrobes out and putting them back risks damage to the units and to the walls behind them, and in most apartments there is no reason to do it just to change a floor.
Is WPC a good choice for an apartment in Dubai?
It suits apartments well. It is a wood-look plank that handles the humidity and the air conditioning cycle of a Dubai home, it is quieter underfoot than a hard tile, and it goes down over a sound existing subfloor without the wet work that tile or stone would need.
How much of the apartment is out of use while the floor is fitted?
Usually one room or one zone at a time, so the property is rarely unusable as a whole. The exact sequence depends on the layout and on what is being kept. We work it out on the site visit rather than quoting a number that will not hold.
Do you supply the flooring as well as fit it?
Yes. On this project we supplied and fitted the WPC. We can also fit material a client has already bought, though supplying it ourselves means one team is accountable for the board, the fit and the finish rather than two.
Do you work across Jumeirah Village Triangle and the rest of Dubai?
Yes. We work throughout JVT and every other community in Dubai, and across all seven emirates. Site visits and measurements are free, and for a property that is already finished a visit is worth considerably more than a floor plan.
Changing the Floor in a Finished Apartment?
Book a free site visit and we will measure up and come back with a quote. On a property where the skirting, doors and joinery are staying, a visit matters more than a drawing, because the edges are where the work is. Site visits and measurements are free anywhere in the UAE.
Or call +971 56 689 9831 · See more projects
Urban Flooring Maintenance and Decor Works 7 24A Street, Al Quoz Industrial First, Al Quoz, Dubai, UAEHours: Saturday to Thursday, 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM GST, Friday closed
Phone: +971 56 689 9831 · Email: info@urbanfloorings.com
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