Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Oct 15, 2010 3:12 am I am planning to have 80x12mm grey ironbark in my living and kitchen areas . However, I have some finishes that I need to decide on. please help me . The installer preferred the traditional top nail (if you know what i mean).. I on the other hand wanted the secret nail. given the ironbark is such a hard wood to work with, will secret nail harder for the installer? SOrry, you can tell that I have no idea with this stuff. I dont want them to stuff up the job because of me wanting secret nails. Also, I wanted to have water based finish (bona traffic) semi-gloss - is this a good choice for the timber? I got two little ones with ashtma and can do without smelling the fumes. all floor shops i visited just recommend solvent based stuff -- i feel like i am going against their recommendation with wanting water based finish. I prefer to work with what the installer is good at, though I really want the water based finish. Any suggestions? I heard that ironbark "cups" -- I dont know whether this is an issue with the wood, or workmanship? I would love to hear from anyone who installed ironbark and their experiences thanks heaps in advance Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 2Oct 15, 2010 7:29 am Congrats on your choice, grey IB is a lovely timber! In regards to your Qs, I'd check with the supplier of the timber what is their recommended method of installation. The 80x12mm sounds like slimwood (thinner boards), so I'd say that they would use secret fixing (even just glue only sometimes and in some locations, can also depend on where you are located), not top nail, but I'm no expert. Re. coating - I'd use Bona, but as you say if the installer hasn't used it before, you probably don't want to be his guinea pig ... maybe check with some other installers? My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 3Oct 15, 2010 12:31 pm Thanks Lex. I saw some videoclips online re secret nails - I am definitely going to ask for it... I have put in a small deposit to the flooring shop to do the job - so i am kinda stuck. he seems quite reasonable though - his ATFA membership only rated 1 (I only saw it last night after I paid him). Anyone checks their timber installer rating before doing a job? Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 4Oct 15, 2010 3:09 pm I heard that there's not much difference between those who are members of some proffesional association and those who are not (in terms of quality of their work). In fact, when getting quotes, the guy belongging to an association offered 12 months warranty, while other guys offered 7 years. I don't know what does it mean ... perhaps there is no point in giving longer warranty for floors ... You can also call the association and inquire about a member (although I think they won't say anything bad). BTW, where are you located if I can ask? Which city/state? Did we have the same installer quoting oh probably not ... My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 5Oct 15, 2010 4:41 pm I am in Perth, WA. The labour cost is very high at the moment, I reckon. I am told to add $85/sqm to timber cost to do the flooring at the moment. Sanding and polishing with water based product cost about $35 per sqm. The rest is for installation and moisture barrier. Timber itself is not as expensive. The flooring shop I went happened to get the ironbark at reasonably low price ... Spotted gum standard grade already cost $119/sqm. My quote is above this, of course. I was worried with the NSW spotted gum, being lighter and with narrow board may look too busy (i cant afford wider boards unfortunately) Jarrah was going to cost me nearly the same price as ironbark -sigh- I love WA jarrah too. Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 6Oct 15, 2010 4:41 pm Secret nailing on an ironbark floor is super difficult. We used grey ironbark and due to it's density the wood was bouncing back any nails resulting in the floor having to be nail by hand. I don't think the builder will ever be laying this floor again. Results are superb. Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 7Oct 16, 2010 2:14 am Oh Dollar, can you please share some of your experiences with having ironbark with us? I am curious about the finishes that you choose, the size of your floorboard and how was it with maintenance, anything you would definitely do and dont do now. Apologies, you are the first person that I spoke to that actually have ironbark - getting a lit too excited thanks heaps. Lex, pm if you want the price - being a newbie, not sure i am allowed to tell in forum. cheers Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 8Oct 16, 2010 12:35 pm Abiepo-go to the thread "Grey Ironbark vs Spotted Gum Hardwood Floors?" I have posted some photos of our floors here but bare in mind this isn't the final result of what they turned out like. These were taken throughout the process and I think still needed another sand and coat. We chose Grey Ironbark-well actually my partner did considering floors are his domain. Him and his dad are floor sanders. Many many years of floor sanding and his father taught by his grandfather who was one of the 1st if not only floor sander in Vic at the time. Anyway enough about that...you want to know about the floors... To be honest I love Blackbutt flooring. However it would have cost us an extra $1,000min. In the building quote I think we were quoted for Tassie Oak but I didn't like the look even though it was much cheaper and came with the house price. I love parquetry too however maybe in the next house we may have some. Timber floors are quite easy to maintain as long as you look after them. Basically I just use my dust mitt Enjo mop thing and glide it over the floors. Dust shows every direction. I then just use my other Enjo mitt but the wet one and do the same thing. You don't need to apply harsh chemicals, turps or what not to timber floors. This wil effect the condition of the timberand in future when you get floors re-sanded or coated it can react with the products. I have heard stories whereby one woman would use turps to clean her floors and when it came to coating/re-sanding something odd was happening and reacting funny. We chose 19mm boards and we particularly specified the timber to be sourced from a proper timber company and not from Boral or the like. Grey Ironbark-select grade timber. 19mm wide. Layed on slats. Satin finish. Hope that helps Abiepo. PS: If you do actually choose Grey Ironbark I can assure you, you will have no regrets. Many of our boards are so characteristic the photos just don't do it any justice. Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 9Oct 18, 2010 2:54 am Thanks Dollar. I will have a look at the forum you suggested. I wonder whether you know about using secret nail on ironbark? should i just use top nail? abie ps. it is beautiful with your partner's family sanding woodfloors for generations. they must have seen the changes in the industry over the years Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 10Oct 19, 2010 9:23 am Abie the builder layed the flooring and found it extremely difficult nailing in the nails with the machine. They kept bouncing back apparently as the wood is so dense. I think in the end they did it by hand and by the end of it I think they were totally over the idea of ever doing another ironbark floor again. Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 11Oct 20, 2010 2:50 am Thanks Dollar. I am starting to think about the finishing, and a bit concerned how the skirting and quarter round will look. I wanted to paint the skirting in semi-gloss white - but I have been told the quarter round will be raw timber to match the floor. please, anyone seen this done before? they dont look that attractive to me and I cant find any pics on line Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 12Oct 20, 2010 6:21 am Quad is quite common with floating floors, however I always lean towards removing the skirts and replacing them after the job if it means you can dodge the quad look. If it is unavoidable then I think that quad painted the same colour as the skirt is much better. Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 13Oct 20, 2010 9:20 pm Abie are you building or renovating? What we did to minimise any gaps and prevent having the quad was to sand back the floor do the "edges" around the walls which can be time consuming requiring care. Once the floors are done that's when they put down the skirting (well I think that was the order...can't remember). IMHO I think the quad skirting thing looks awful. http://skirtingbaseboard.com/skirtingstyles.html Is this what you mean? 2nd last photo? Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 14Oct 21, 2010 9:56 am Hi Guys This is a bit of luck. We are also looking at laying iron bark flooring all be it western iron bark. As I have never even tried to lay this before, in your opinion roughly how long would it take to lay and be able to move furniture onto. We are only doing the living areas, Kit, dine, lounge and hall. We were told by the mill that it is easy to lay and we could either use batons or ply. Also we are only going for the rough country look not the polished finish. He also recommended that we remove the kitchen cupboards (to retain the right height and achieve a better finish. Also removing and refitting the skirting boards. If anyone knows of a good installer in the Sydney area their number would be appreciated. cheers Russ Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 15Oct 21, 2010 11:49 am Grub it's a very dense wood so it may take longer the amount of time to lay than you think. Our builder had to do it by hand as the nails kept bouncing back with the machine. If you can have the floor in as early as possible and also to wait at least 2wks before moving any furniture on it that would be idea. The longer the better. I think ours were even 3wks after the final coat and sand and no shoes were allowed inside during this time by the builders etc. Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 16Oct 21, 2010 4:34 pm Yes Dollar - that will be the quad and skirting pic. It is clear in mind now that it will look horrible!! I am renovating, my house is from 1970s. We tried to remove the skirting to see how easy it would be - and worked out that it is going to be too difficult. All skirtings were nailed to the wall and so removing them would damage the plaster surrounding it. I am going to have to keep the skirting in wood and hopefully quad blends in better. Unless someone could advise me other ways to remove the skirting... Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 17Oct 21, 2010 6:53 pm Google ... or do as I did ... use a very fine (thin) stanley knife to break the bond between the paint (on the skirts) and the plaster walls (also b/w skirts and floor). Once you have that, insert a very strong 10cm wide paint stripper (actually, a strong steel spatula, best&strongest you can find in Bunnings) and very carefully insert it in b/w wall and skirts and ... just slowly pull (sort of). There might not be enough room to slide the spatula behind the skirts, so shop around the skirts and try several locations. Or, get a blunt knife with round top (I used one for spreading margarine etc as it's not sharp and has no sharp peak) - the knife is thinner than the spatula so you may get lucky. BUT, it may still prove too hard, especially in an older house. My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Please help - ironbark flooring 18Oct 22, 2010 8:04 am Cheers Dollar I was dreding some one would say something along those lines. I think we may have to purchase the flooring and lay it at a later date as we wont have that much time. Atleast this will split the cost up, I'll just get to move the furniture 3 times instead of once joy. Thanks for the info. If anyone knows of good layers in the nth wst of syd their number would be appreciated. Cheers Russ Hi there, I'm a conplete newbie to this, but I'm looking to put a floor down in my 6x9m shed. It's currently sitting on a 100mm thick concrete perimeter (dirt floor… 0 7150 All 3 items listed are defects and are of concern. 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