Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Aug 06, 2010 12:20 pm Hi Folks, We are building a new house and want to install floating timber floors in our main living areas. I've been doing a lot of reading and I think a floating floor will be best for us, I want the 'real' wood, but haven't been able to change our plans to have propoer full timber floorbaords put in. So, in sydney, what floating timber floor brands are available and what are your experiences with them? positive, negative, how easy to clean, how does the finish look, would you recommend them and so on. Cheers Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 2Aug 06, 2010 5:25 pm Hi, Im not a fan of floating because although they are easy to install, they can scratch and have problems if there is excess water. Have you heard of vinyl wood planks?? I like these, they have a texture to them, they are glued direct to the slab and are soo hard wearing, they have them in most david jones stores... Have a look at polyfloor brand Garden - viewtopic.php?f=19&t=44214&p=670323#p670323 Decorating - viewtopic.php?f=6&t=47218&p=715743#p715743 Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 3Aug 06, 2010 9:01 pm Wen't have boral spotted gum 1 strip in our apartment, been down for over a year and hav'nt had any probs. Every floor is going to scratch its just a matter of time. We looked at readyfloor product also but I thought the boral looked better, not as pink. Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 5Aug 09, 2010 10:33 am I have Boral Silkwood 1 strip Spotted Gum (Australiana finish). It's been down for almost 12 months. I love the colour, but my one big mistake with the whole new house was getting a floating floor. I've lived with solid timber floor for 12 years (house on stumps) and I didn't get nearly as many scratches and dents in it to what I have now in 12 months. I also prefer the gloss finish, and the finish on these I find really slippery for some reason. I do find it easy to clean, though, but then any wooden floor is. Just a quick vac with the hardfloor head, then a mop with a damp microfibre mop and a spray bottle of water and a small amount of Methylated Spirits. No messy buckets. I usually sweep several times a day in between (kids are messy with crumbs). The first 'damage' was done putting the fridge in...big dents gouged in it, and others have happened as you drop things. There's also large scratches under the chairs in the meals area, despite us not wearing shoes and cleaning all the time. I think it looks terrible, and I'm quite mortified. It's not practical to have a rug under the table either, as the kids still drop food constantly. It might 'look' great, but for practicallity wise, never again. I want to live in my house, not be worried about every little thing that's dropped on it as it dents, or every little tiny sand particle as it scratches. Let me know if you want to see some photos... Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 6Aug 09, 2010 7:21 pm I'm finding that Boral Silkwood and that newer product ('natural' something or other) has the best choice in colours/species and these actually look better than other companies' products. Also noticed that, for some reason, solid timber can often look quite different to engineered timber in the same species, except perhaps Tassie Oak. There also seems to be a much greater colour contrast within engineered timber than solid timber, eg. blackbutt - I can't find an engineered blackbutt that has a more uniform colour like solid blackbutt - they are all a mix of very dark and very light boards! I have never seen such chocolate dark blackbutt boards in solid timber . Anyway, I read before that you are not impressed with the spotted gum in terms of scratches Stormy, sorry to hear that . Would you mind posting some of those piccies? Are they really very noticeable, or is it maybe under a certain angle and light? I think that one day it will be very easy to replace this floor (if you ever decide to) since, from memory, it was floated, not glued? BTW, did they have to self-level the slab for this type of installation? Sorry, lots of questions are coming to mind while I'm typing My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 7Aug 09, 2010 8:26 pm Hi Lex, I'll have to post some pics tomorrow when it's lighter and not use a flash! Yes, it is more noticable in certain lights, and I know I'm probably the only one that knows they are there, but I still see them everyday and stress about shoes, toys and dropping things. The plantation shutter installer often dropped things on it and I would cringe every time I heard it from the other end of the house. They did have to self level the slab in a particular spot in the family room as Henley wouldn't do it as it was 'within tolerances' for slabs...but not for the floating floor. $80 extra thanks very much... Every now and then I step on it and still know it's 'not quite right' but it's OK. Yes floated, not direct stick! Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 8Aug 10, 2010 8:50 am Thanks, Stormy, no rush at all, whenever you get a chance. Maybe there is something about engineered boards that they don't really keep all the characteristics of the species when they are in solid boards (like perhaps the Janka rating) Spotted gum is a very hard specie ... My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 9Aug 11, 2010 8:20 pm Hi Lex, I've photographed the scratches (as best I could!). These are under several chairs in the meals area (I keep it clean and we have a no shoes policy in the house): Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This is a dent in the floor where the surface coating has bubbled or lifted (hence the lighter look), so it looks terrible. No idea what was dropped, but could have been something as simple as a kids toy (most are kept upstairs): Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ And this is the gouge in the floor (top of frame through the centre to the bottom) that happened the day we moved the fridge in. It was hard to photograph and unless you knew it was there you wouldn't see it...but I know it's there...and it happened really easily. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The scratches under the chairs in the meals are by far the worst. The chairs have the little nail in felt pads and get vacuumed/wiped often too. I wasn't as 'clean consious' with my solid timber boards and they suffered a lot more harsher treatment (toddlers, parties etc) and they stood up to everything. These have not been down a year... Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 10Aug 11, 2010 9:15 pm Thanks, Stormy ... I must admit they don't look too encouraging, except for the last one which seems to be just an indentation, don't worry about those ones, they add character Now, this might be totally inappropriate to suggest for your new floors, but have you thought of using something natural over the worst worn areas and scratches? We have stained pine floors here in rental and I cannot stand a few long scratches (from previous tenants). So I got a bit of hardwax oil and wiped it into the scratches, so they are not "white" and visible any more (you can just see the indentation from a close distance). Excellent visual result! Not sure if using the oil is OK as it does penetrate (and I don't know what will they use in the future, if anything), but still, even if they sand this floor very soon, I think the threadline of oil won't matter and it will still be OK. I've done the same with an area where the gloss has worn off from sliding the chair - the result is superb, can't say that there was a problem! My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 11Aug 11, 2010 9:27 pm Having the other half as a professional floor sander we deliberately did not source timber from Boral. We ended up getting grey ironbark and I absolutely love it. I left the timber species to be chosen by him. I'll have to confirm where exactly we got the timber from. I've never been a fan of floating floors and never seem to understand why people choose floating-maybe cost wise but anything else I'd prefer to go with tiles or some other form of flooring. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ NB: photo with table is the finished product other ones are between coats. Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 12Aug 11, 2010 9:28 pm Stormy Hi Lex, I'll have to post some pics tomorrow when it's lighter and not use a flash! Yes, it is more noticable in certain lights, and I know I'm probably the only one that knows they are there, but I still see them everyday and stress about shoes, toys and dropping things. The plantation shutter installer often dropped things on it and I would cringe every time I heard it from the other end of the house. They did have to self level the slab in a particular spot in the family room as Henley wouldn't do it as it was 'within tolerances' for slabs...but not for the floating floor. $80 extra thanks very much... Every now and then I step on it and still know it's 'not quite right' but it's OK. Yes floated, not direct stick! Those bloody blind installers need a lesson or two in house-hold etiquette!!!! Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 13Aug 11, 2010 9:32 pm Grey IB is glorious!! What type of finish it is (water, oil, poly, other)? What's the installation type (battens, ply, other)? Do you have any areas where your timber floor meets some other floor surface and has a height difference? Is there some floor transition on pic 1? My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 14Aug 11, 2010 9:37 pm Hi Lex its a water based finished I think but would need to check with other half. Yes there is timber that meets carpet and height difference which I CANNOT stand the sight of HOWEVER I know someone who renovated recently and their floor "sinks" down-carpet is lower than the timber which I think looks worse. What is floor transition? You mean the height? Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 15Aug 11, 2010 9:38 pm ...and on battens too I think. Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 16Aug 12, 2010 8:55 am Dollar Hi Lex its a water based finished I think but would need to check with other half. Yes there is timber that meets carpet and height difference which I CANNOT stand the sight of HOWEVER I know someone who renovated recently and their floor "sinks" down-carpet is lower than the timber which I think looks worse. What is floor transition? You mean the height? Thanks, $! With transition I meant where one type of flooring adjoins / flows into another ... like your carpet, or my (future) timber / tile. Would you mind taking a few shots of that join that you have and posting it for me, especially from an angle so that the height can be seen? What is your height difference, is it too much? I'm thinking that our floors should not be more than 10mm different, but it's all up to the installers, they can stuff it up or make it even better. Plus, ours is not in 2 different rooms, it's in the same room (kitchen flowing into family), which is much worse!!! My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 17Aug 12, 2010 10:56 am Ooh Lex I'd def ensure they allow enough room to ensure they have the same heights. You do not want any joining recesses in these areas. You'd think they'd know how to do it but it can be so tricky sometimes. Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 18Aug 12, 2010 5:46 pm Stormy These are under several chairs in the meals area (I keep it clean and we have a no shoes policy in the house): The scratches under the chairs in the meals are by far the worst. The chairs have the little nail in felt pads and get vacuumed/wiped often too. That is the problem. nail on pads. Glue them on ,not nail. Bit late now though. Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 19Aug 12, 2010 7:54 pm Mark S Stormy These are under several chairs in the meals area (I keep it clean and we have a no shoes policy in the house): The scratches under the chairs in the meals are by far the worst. The chairs have the little nail in felt pads and get vacuumed/wiped often too. That is the problem. nail on pads. Glue them on ,not nail. Bit late now though. No, it's not the problem. There are no exposed 'nails' as such, just the felt pad that has a 'spike' that goes into the end of the chair leg. I don't think I would be that stupid to leave exposed nails under the chair legs on a wooden floor... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ As I said before, these get cleaned often and it's not the problem. The problem is the coating on the floor scratches so much easier than solid sanded and polished floors (which I lived with for 12 years and NEVER had this probelm...). Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: Floating Timber Floors - What brands are available 20Aug 12, 2010 8:05 pm Uh, didn't even notice that! I make my own pads - super cheap and easy. In this house I've actually doubled them up for the most frequently used chairs. My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Thanks Simon, I guess I'm no concerned with the volume of the noise rather that dead and hollow sound and feel that is associated with floating floors. But I'm not sure… 3 6135 Thank you fro your response, Simeon. It is good to hear that you have had a positive experience with Parisi. I am always on the lookout for reliable products, and personal… 2 4337 Thanks, that's the motivation I needed to give it a try sooner rather than one day! 4 3001 |