I work in flooring - do you have a flooring question?

Hi Michelle!

We have just started building in Perth. It's through a family friend and we are quite involved and for a lot of items its a case of find what we want.
Flooring will be one of the final things we organise and based on current price trends we might be looking to save $ towards the end of the build. We would like to have wood look floors (no carpet). We have 1 toddler and hopefully they have a partner in crime in the next year or so, therefore hard wearing (scratch, water) will be pretty important.
Given we will be on a budget now and with young kids, we are thinking that we would be selecting flooring to last 10-15 years and then asses whether we look at other options.
It's single story, around 190 square metres will be needed across living, bedroom and games room.

What are your recommendations for flooring type and ranges to look at and things to be wary of?
I'd love to be able to get something supply and install under $75 psm.
I assume I should be looking hybrid for that price? Engineered timber seems to be $100+ installed.
Is 0.5mm wear layer too little when looking at hybrid?
Are there any things I should be looking out for in particular?

Any advice is appreciated!
Thanks,
Jason

[/quote]
I haven't had anyone tell me their Hybrid flooring is moving and making noises, its extremely ridged. Any flooring with a locking system needs to have a fairly level sub floor. 3mm sounds about right. Did you install the floor or was it done by the store where you bough it?[/quote]

Hi Michelle, yes we were advised 3mm was the max deviation. We had a professional installing the hybrid over large format tiles and the grout joint was about 3mm and they had been filled. Our floor is now making noise when stepped on. We can push it down and the plank moves maybe 1 or 2mm? We can feel the plank moves at the joints very very subtle move. Will this somehow settle as its only a few days old?

I haven't had anyone tell me their Hybrid flooring is moving and making noises, its extremely ridged. Any flooring with a locking system needs to have a fairly level sub floor. 3mm sounds about right. Did you install the floor or was it done by the store where you bough it?[/quote]

Hi Michelle, yes we were advised 3mm was the max deviation. We had a professional installing the hybrid over large format tiles and the grout joint was about 3mm and they had been filled. Our floor is now making noise when stepped on. We can push it down and the plank moves maybe 1 or 2mm? We can feel the plank moves at the joints very very subtle move. Will this somehow settle as its only a few days old?[/quote]

I asked an installer today and this floor should not be making noises.
Having said that, it sounds like it was installed perfectly!

I would ask the installer about this.

Thank you very much Michelle - much appreciated!

Hi Michelle, yes we were advised 3mm was the max deviation. We had a professional installing the hybrid over large format tiles and the grout joint was about 3mm and they had been filled. Our floor is now making noise when stepped on. We can push it down and the plank moves maybe 1 or 2mm? We can feel the plank moves at the joints very very subtle move. Will this somehow settle as its only a few days old?[/quote]

I asked an installer today and this floor should not be making noises.
Having said that, it sounds like it was installed perfectly!

I would ask the installer about this.[/quote]Spoke to installer and was advised the 3mm deviation is the cause of the slight/subtle movement at the seams. Does installation over tiles always result in issues like this?

Hi Michelle,

We've just purchased a home and want to change to hard surface. Been around to 4 different flooring retailers in the area and they all seemed to recommend the Preference Flooring Oak leaf HD brand laminates over anything else.

I was quite surprised because from reading forums and reviews around I had always believed the order of choice in hard flooding would be timber > engineered timber > hybrid >> laminate.

Any reason why we were pushed to this product? We were told laminates are very hard wearing and don't chip and scratch like engineered timber or hybrid, so should last. Also told they don't have the water proofing of hybrid but unless you have a major Avicenna in the home it's never an issue.

Cheers.

Hi, sorry, I'm currently on 3 weeks holidays and about to pull my office apart for new flooring.

Preference Laminate 12mm is a good flooring. It really just depends what you are after.
Laminate will chip just as easily as the rest of the flooring's.
Totally agree, unless you have a major leak you really don't have to worry about the water issue.

Me, I prefer the Hybrids. But that's just me.
Laminate's have stood the test of time.

Hi Michelle
What are your thoughts on the Eucalyptus Steps by Imagine / Airstep? This is what our builder is giving us but we haven't been able to find a lot of feedback on the product.
Our next option would be the Korlok but I believe it's a significant upgrade?
Can both options be mopped or not really?

Thanks

Hi all/Michelle - what's everyone's experience on carpet installers vacuuming after install? Is it unheard of? Or reasonable expectation?

Thanks

Good morning, yes, this one has been the question of installers for years.
We have only just last year made our installers do the vacuuming when they have finished. Many installers who are contractors don't consider its something they should do. Not all home owners expect them to do it, but you will get those who just assume it's a part of the install.
Just ask your carpet store do they offer this service with there installs.

Michelle

What would you recommend for a pet friendly timber or engineered timber floor? To minimise scratches, and if scratched occur, have them be less visible.

We're thinking a light colour wood, but should we be trying to get the hardest wood we can afford or do they not make much of a difference?

We will have tiles in the main thoroughfares.

Good morning,

Oaks are the way to go if you are concerned about scratching of timber floors.
They hide the scratches much better than an Australian timber. Don't do a dark floor, they show everything.

Thanks for the guidance

Good morning Michelle,
Did you have any thoughts/feedback on the Eucalyptus Steps by Imagine / Airstep?

Hi Michelle,

We have been looking more intently now - I've been pleasantly surprised about pricing so far.

Mostly we have looked at the hybrid (with interlock, 0.5mm wear later and built in underlay) but have seen a few luxury vinyl planks (to glue down).

Audacity have both and some info we found interesting: https://www.flooringxtra.com.au/wp-cont ... ure_FA.pdf

My impression is that the LVP's are solid vinyl? So that means no wear layer?

In the spec sheet they have acoustic properties with the hybrid quieter - maybe due to the underlay? Do you find there is a difference in the type of sound it makes? Sounds like a silly question I know..

The pricing seems good. For the Audacity it was $85/sm installed for HRC, and $69/sm for the LVP installed.
We gave them our plans for a preliminary quote (for https://www.flooringxtra.com.au/product ... otted-gum/) and it came back at $70/sm installed (inc 5% wastage).

Does that seem too good to be true?
Do I need to be wary of these products?

Check out my new 2mm vinyl plank from Karndean recently installed in my laundry!

Hi
Sorry to be late in on this, we have existing Kardean floorboards and we are about to start some renos and was wondering if anyone knew the best way to remove the glue from the back and then store the planks so we may re-use most of them??

All I know is, we use a heat gun to soften the glue and lift the planks.
I guess once you get them up you could try a scraper.