Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 22, 2010 5:15 pm My husband and I are wanting to have 'real' timber floors (not floating floorboards), and our building company ware wanting to know if we are using timber on battens because they will need to raise the skirting blocks and raise the kitchen etc. When I was getting quotes for timber company's some companies said it is best in a new house to use 12mm plywood fixed to the slab (it makes the floor sound hollow to walk on if you use batons) and then solid 19mm australian hardwood over the top, glued and secret nailed. Whilst other companies say that the timber should be put on batons to allow the floors to breathe?? My building company needs to know what option we are doing so they can sort out the plans and I have no idea what option to do. So can you please let me know what your timber floors are like and what the costs are....I would really appreciate your help with this one as I am so confused! [i][b]Krissy & Dave Re: Help with timber flooring... 3Jun 22, 2010 6:56 pm 19mm flooring needs at least 15mm ply under it according to the BCA. 12mm ply is suitable if using a 10-13mm overlay board. This has the benefit of an overall height of 22-24mm rather than 34mm. If using hardwood battens they will need to be 19mm thick, giving a total height of 38mm Re: Help with timber flooring... 4Jun 22, 2010 7:23 pm Thanks so much for your reply, So what do you think is better though having the 15mm ply with the 19mm timber OR having the 19mm batten with the 19mm timber - (have I understood that correctly?) (Thanks for letting me know about the 15mm minimum - perhaps that timber company was *******!) So what benefits are for each way? Would you do the ply or the battens? [i][b]Krissy & Dave Re: Help with timber flooring... 5Jun 22, 2010 7:35 pm i think the builder will allow for 40mm regardless if you use 15mm ply or 19mm batten. 4mm it is not going to be much different in one sense and they will usually be more on the cautious side.
i am using hardwood for ground and first floor. ground floor - raise to 40mm (batten 20mm and flooring 20mm provision) 1st floor - 20mm provision for flooring only (flooring can go straight into first floor without the need to use batten) most important is for the company to check what sort of wood would suit the climate in your area. also the age of the timber and sort of finishing they are going to use. it can make the flooring look darker or lighter Re: Help with timber flooring... 6Jun 22, 2010 8:15 pm Any type of timber is fine provided it is acclimatised in the house for at least two weeks before laying. Personally I think laying over sheet flooring is better whether its ply or chipboard especially if laying wide boards. A first floor where the boards are laid directly over floor joists is a different situation - can't think of any problems there - if top nailed a good long nail can be used for better holding power in the joist as opposed to a 19mm batten Re: Help with timber flooring... 7Jun 22, 2010 9:30 pm i am also thinking of getting floorboards for the house we are building. what is the minimum i should be looking at thickness of timber and is it better to get metricon my builder to do it or getting another contractor after the house is built? will builder charge more generally? same applies to curtains - are builders normally more expensive? sorry i am sounding very naive. have little experience in this matter. Re: Help with timber flooring... 8Jun 22, 2010 9:39 pm Depends on the style of house, though it can be as little as 10mm with direct stick overlay flooring or as much as 38mm with traditional 19mm flooring laid over battens/sheet flooring Re: Help with timber flooring... 9Jun 22, 2010 11:27 pm meatpie i think the builder will allow for 40mm regardless if you use 15mm ply or 19mm batten. 4mm it is not going to be much different in one sense and they will usually be more on the cautious side. Hi Meatpie - thankyou so much for this, this has helped me out so much! All this confusion was doing my head in, and you just made it seem so simple now!! Its all starting to make sense. My husband is so busy so I am trying to sort this out and let's face it..im not good at this stuff! haha Only thing is we are doing timber to the first floor only..would we need to leave only 20mm like you because it's the first floor? Or still 40mm? We are carpeting upstairs. [i][b]Krissy & Dave Re: Help with timber flooring... 10Jun 22, 2010 11:58 pm baley@thefarms meatpie i think the builder will allow for 40mm regardless if you use 15mm ply or 19mm batten. 4mm it is not going to be much different in one sense and they will usually be more on the cautious side. Hi Meatpie - thankyou so much for this, this has helped me out so much! All this confusion was doing my head in, and you just made it seem so simple now!! Its all starting to make sense. My husband is so busy so I am trying to sort this out and let's face it..im not good at this stuff! haha Only thing is we are doing timber to the first floor only..would we need to leave only 20mm like you because it's the first floor? Or still 40mm? We are carpeting upstairs. no worries. its a pleasure if i can help. been in your position and know how it feels when you are lost! if you are doing ground floor only. it is 40mm. 20mm provision for batten and 20mm provision for your timber floor. the timber floor cannot be nailed down to your concrete and hence batten is used on the 1st floor if you ever doing it. you dont need batten. just leave a note to provision 20mm for timber floor. in most cases the provision for the 1st floor will be equivelant to carpet. ie 20mm (but always put a note so that your builder cannot say that you didnt mention that you are going to put timber) are you building in sydney area? and also who is your builder? is your staircase carpeted or timber? mp Re: Help with timber flooring... 11Jun 23, 2010 12:05 am Okay thanks Meatpie, yeah we are definately carpeting upstairs. So on the ground level do i need battens or i do the plywood and the timber right? does it matter on the ground floor? Yeah we are building in shell cove (shellharbour) which is in between wollongong and kiama. (if you google killalea state park, that's a park at the end of our street, it's a well known surf spot. We are building with clarendon. And you? are you finished building? what stage are you at? and where are you building? [i][b]Krissy & Dave Re: Help with timber flooring... 12Jun 23, 2010 12:08 am oh and our staircase will be carpet..would like to do timber but i think that might be pushing our budget a bit high the front living room on the left as you walk in on the ground floor will be carpet and the staircase goes off that...the rest of the ground floor is timber. [i][b]Krissy & Dave Re: Help with timber flooring... 13Jun 23, 2010 12:52 am baley@thefarms Okay thanks Meatpie, yeah we are definately carpeting upstairs. So on the ground level do i need battens or i do the plywood and the timber right? does it matter on the ground floor? Yeah we are building in shell cove (shellharbour) which is in between wollongong and kiama. (if you google killalea state park, that's a park at the end of our street, it's a well known surf spot. We are building with clarendon. And you? are you finished building? what stage are you at? and where are you building? hi again i dont know why the reason that plywood is better than timber? i always thought hardwood batton is better than since it is harder. but i never consider plywood or done my research on its benefit so i am biased towards hardwood batton sorry i should have look at your profile that you are in shell cove. been to kiama before we are in sydney eastern suburb. we are waiting to finalise electrical. we have our DA approval already and hope to commence in august Re: Help with timber flooring... 14Jun 23, 2010 12:57 am baley@thefarms oh and our staircase will be carpet..would like to do timber but i think that might be pushing our budget a bit high the front living room on the left as you walk in on the ground floor will be carpet and the staircase goes off that...the rest of the ground floor is timber. the reason i ask is becos i think its worth getting all timber if possible in my opinion. clarendon stair case is made from MDF material. they are not very durable and i was told it will tend to squeak after a while. we are upgrading to maple stair case to be left as raw. we will put up our own finishing after handover. our timber will be black butt i know it cost more but stair case is high traffic area and will hate to hear the squeaky sound later on and wish we should have upgraded it. cos to upgrade stair case later will be very expensive once the house is done. just my personal opinion. Re: Help with timber flooring... 15Jun 23, 2010 4:39 pm any staircase can squeak - its quite easy to fix if you can get under it. Paying for a maple staircase to then cover in blackbutt is a riculous waste of money IMO Re: Help with timber flooring... 16Jun 23, 2010 4:50 pm Dukekamaya any staircase can squeak - its quite easy to fix if you can get under it. Paying for a maple staircase to then cover in blackbutt is a riculous waste of money IMO oh no no, staircase will be maple as it is. it will be handed to us raw and we will just finished it off by lacquering it instead of staining. staining will make the maple look darker and the black butt is lighter in colour the rest of the flooring will be black butt. to make a black butt stair case is just way too expensive. maple will be more reasonable in price. Re: Help with timber flooring... 17Jun 23, 2010 4:57 pm oops sorry if you use F27 structual blackbutt instead of furniture grade blackbutt, it will be around the same if not cheaper than the maple staircase!! Re: Help with timber flooring... 18Jun 23, 2010 5:06 pm Dukekamaya oops sorry if you use F27 structual blackbutt instead of furniture grade blackbutt, it will be around the same if not cheaper than the maple staircase!! the problem is we dont have a choice our builder subcontract to another company which the price quoted is ridicilous and we didnt think it was worth paying. we settle for maple instead to upgrade the threads, risers, stringer, handrails, posts and capping is $2005.00 in total we upgrade the balustrade to stainless steel as well for $240 black butt cost like 5 times ie almost to 10k! Re: Help with timber flooring... 19Jun 23, 2010 7:22 pm we supply F27 in blackbutt all the time for staircases, the most common being 290x35mm which sells for about $45/metre off the top of my head Re: Help with timber flooring... 20Sep 06, 2010 9:13 pm Hey guys - i've just read through the timber flooring posts... we're doing all of that at the moment too! Our main concern is picking a timber - thats the hardest part if you ask me!! We like the look of the QLD Spotted Gum... but because it is treated, some of the timber has a green tinge that I'm not keen on... so we've put it in the decision pile and are leaving it for a little while... Krissy & Dave, we're also building in Shell Cove, down near the Golf Course http://www.laurenandrichard.blogspot.com Engineering timber is certainly a less fuss option, times cheaper to supply and install and better withstands humidity. 1 15952 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 6487 Thanks Pulse, thats really helpful and very much appreciated. Also thanks for the pointer on sheathing, thats me watching too many american youtube videos! 6 2856 |