We are currently building our first home and after researching flooring options, we are confused by the mixed reviews.

Basically we love the 'timber look' but have been warned that real timber can be easily scratched and dented (although we do like wood with real character and natural faults). Timber has varying hardness depending on the species, this will reflect in how easy it is to dent. In relation to scratching, that is to do with the surface coating, not the actual timber. If you like character in your timber flooring, then look for a featured, matt finished timber, maybe even the rustic euro oak flooring that is so popular in Europe and North America. It has so many features that when you dent and scratch it, it simply ads to the floor !

Then I was advised by a friend that bamboo is the ideal alternative, but after speaking to a few suppliers they have said they cannot guarantee the age of the wood which can apparently cause issues? Quality strand woven bamboo is very popular. Be wary of people who say negative things about a product, they often don't sell it so try to turn you off it. Sometimes they will even have samples but sell "off" them, in some cases per-damaging them to show you how "bad" they are....Bamboo is a grass. Because it is readily available, and the bamboo plant renews every 5 - 6 years, it is regarded as a very Eco friendly option and is drastically less expensive than timber. The strand woven products that are now popular are generally of good quality and are very dense, meaning they dent less easily than the majority of timber floors. The scratch resistance though depends on the surface coating, as it does with timber floors. The Naturally Bamboo range from us has 10 coats of Klump Aluminum Oxide as opposed to acrylic coatings, so it is very good with scratches. Strand woven bamboo comes in a wide array of colours. The coloured boards are stained, whereas the natural and carbonised (coffee colour) are not stained are are solid colour all the way through the boards.

Lastly we were told that laminate is the perfect solution, but we are worried about about the quality and noticed some are quite squeaky to walk on.Laminate comes in super cheap and nasty quality, all the way up to amazing can't-tell-the-difference quality, just depends on your budget. Laminate flooring, when it is a good quality, can be an outstanding choice for families as it is easy to clean, highly scratch resistant (think between 10 and 15 times tougher than a laminate bench top), doesn't require resanding or polishing later on, can be fixed easily (it's all clic theseays) and is lighter on your hip pocket generally. Down side is its not seen as as prestigious as say a timber floor, so won't add much $$ to your property value, like a timber floor might. Depends on if you are planning to sell it (your home) any time soon and the area where the house is......(ie some parts of our capital cities, laminate is shunned....the more affluent areas, whereas the outer suburbs it is seen as practical The sound you notice when it squeaks would have more to do with a) the sub floor under the laminate and to a lesser degree b) the quality of the clicking profile, and is not representative of all laminate floors at all.

Can anybody who has been through this process offer advice/recommend suppliers in Perth?Our Western Australian stores do not carry our flooring products, other than Rugs, at this point in time, so we cannot assist you with that. But best wishes with your flooring project.
All opinions would be greatly appreciated!!

Howdy, how apt that you ask this questions as we are also in the process of making that decision.

We had laminate in our previous home and although we loved it, we decided we wanted to go timber this time but after much looking and making many enquiries we are actually leaning towards bamboo.

We built our first home 12 years ago and the laminate stood the test of time. I dropped a 1.2kg can of dog food and it left a sizeable dent but apart from that it stood the test of time.

I have been told to consider the hardness of wood when shopping around and have been told Bamboo is one of the hardest woods. Bamboo has been around for a long time now so I don't have issues with it's longevity.Just be mindful that there are bamboo's and there are bamboo's meaning the quality variation in the market place is vast and that generally the adage that you get what you pay for is very true. Look for one that meets the E1 standard for chemical emissions (what's called VOC's) and check out its warranty to see what it covers and what it doesn't.

I really think it will come down to what you like the look of the most. In terms of the squeaking, I think that comes down to the quality and thickness of the underlay. It is to do with the level of the sub floor and the quality of the click profile.When I asked a reseller why I should go bamboo or wood over laminate he said he couldn't convince me of why It will add value to your home and is seen as a big plus by estate agents as oppsoed to laminate flooring because laminate is cost effective and it has improved so much in the last ten years that the look is so similar to wood that sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. Yes it has become very convincing and as stated above in the previous post, has a genuine place in many peoples homes and should be considered in its merits.

Go with your gut and pick what you want and not what other people think you should get. You'll be fine.

We were also tossing up between laminate and bamboo, but eventually went with bamboo. We've just finished laying our bamboo flooring and absolutely love it!

We imported our strand woven bamboo. The suppliers in Perth were expensive (quotes I got were $95 above!), therefore we decided to import ours. If you need further info or even pics, let me know. (note: importing is not for the faint hearted)

The main differences between 'hardness' of bamboo is how they are pressed together. You can get the strand woven flooring - which I believe is the hardest and the normal solid bamboo flooring. All our movable furniture (chairs, tables etc) now have felt on it, because even though strand woven is hard it may still scratch.

I hope this information helps.