Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 28, 2012 3:04 pm Does anyone have any suggestions/tips for flooring choice for living areas - we are building a family home and plan to have kids once we have built (no pets). The options we are considering: - engineered floorboards: main benefit cheaper/affordable and durable enough for the kids but possibly lacking the finish of other options - wood floorboards: more expensive but warmer finish - woodgrain style tiles: a lot more expensive and possibly not the best option for kids Refer to http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=57954 for the floorplan. Any thoughts? Demo + Build in Rivervale, Western Australia Moved in June 2014 http://rivervale.tumblr.com/ Building Thread Re: Living areas flooring choice 2Dec 28, 2012 3:59 pm You didn't mention bambo, which is more popular than hardwood flooring these days. It's cheaper or comparable to 3 strip engineered hardwood price wise, yet it's a solid wood board and extremely hard (refer to Janka hardness rating). If price is not an issue, I'd get a solid timber floor. But, it will cost close to double the price when compared to bamboo these days... If you ask me, that's money better spent elsewhere. I was going for solid spotted gum until I saw a finished bamboo floor (looks great) and realised it was 10k less! Hello gas log fire, 1200 pivot door and double vanity. Re: Living areas flooring choice 3Dec 28, 2012 4:27 pm This was one of our hardest decisions - and boy did we agonise over it!!!!! We have approx 100m2 to cover and we were tossing up between solid floor and engineered. We have decided to go with engineered for several reasons.... My hubby can lay it himself (saving us thousands $$$), easier to replace boards if damaged and the overall savings to our budget! Probably if I had the money I would have chosen solid boards, but by the end of a build money becomes an issue and we decided to save on flooring. That said - we LOVE the floor we've chosen (a spotted gum) and know that the product is great quality. My mum has had her engineered floor down for ten years and its still looks brilliant. We also invested in good quality underlay as I don't want a hollow / clip-cloppy sound to the floor- the flooring company has assured me it won't be! If you consider bamboo, just see if it can be sanded. We've been told by about 3 different companies that it can be a problem... Not sure how accurate this is, but worthwhile getting some opinions on it before you commit. Good luck! Re: Living areas flooring choice 4Dec 28, 2012 5:15 pm I love hardwood and if the budget could reach, I'd get that. But I know it can be expensive, and we have chosen a wood laminate. It still looks great and is a lot cheaper. If you're after something a bit more durable for the kids, maybe consider vinyl. Settlement: 10.02.13 Slab: 06.03.13 Frame: 08.03.13 Lock-up: 05.04.13 Handover: 03.06.13 Build thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=59555 Brisbane Photography Re: Living areas flooring choice 5Dec 28, 2012 6:48 pm We're going with wood look vinyl planks by Karndean. We wanted wood flooring but wanted something to last and didn't want to hollow sound many of the laminates make. My partner and I weren't convinced till we saw the vinyl planks in real life, we actually preferred them to any of the wood laminates we saw and it comes with a 15 year warranty and was less then $1500 more then the amount in our original build contract for the builders standard range of tiles. Re: Living areas flooring choice 6Dec 28, 2012 11:16 pm We are looking at timbernate - has the look of a real wood floor but is far more durable and will stand up to kids and dogs, which is what we'll need. It's eco friendly and cheap too. Re: Living areas flooring choice 7Dec 29, 2012 7:18 pm Thanks for the responses. Price is a factor but it is more from a point of view of how soon will I need to replace them if we are having kids too. Marto54 You didn't mention bambo, which is more popular than hardwood flooring these days. It's cheaper or comparable to 3 strip engineered hardwood price wise, yet it's a solid wood board and extremely hard (refer to Janka hardness rating). Bamboo fell under my "wood" category I've had people recommend both ways on bamboo - was there a particular reason for you not wanting to use engineered boards? bbuilder2012 This was one of our hardest decisions - and boy did we agonise over it!!!!! Part of the problem is that it is the last detail after having made so many decisions already - when you have locked them away, you then spend all your time focusing on one or two decisions and I think it makes it harder Our preference is actually for the tiles but they are the most expensive option and perhaps not great for little kids running around. So my thoughts at the moment are to perhaps do some flavour of either bamboo or engineered floor boards initially and then tile once the kids have grown up a bit. Has anyone had much experience with pulling up floorboards of any sort and how easy/costly this is? I've been told engineered could be slightly easier but there seems to be some variation in how things are installed. Demo + Build in Rivervale, Western Australia Moved in June 2014 http://rivervale.tumblr.com/ Building Thread Re: Living areas flooring choice 8Dec 29, 2012 9:02 pm Hi Zaxon! I have a 6 and 3 year old who have grown up on a tiled floor! Never had a problem with them at all - they've learnt to roll, crawl and walk on tiles! If anything, I'd personallt go with tiles when you have little ones and install wood later on when they're bigger - walkers, high chairs, toys, cars and general baby things can scratch wood pretty badly! But that's just my preference The only reason we're going for floor boards in our new home is because we want a change, and love the look of wood! Re: Living areas flooring choice 9Dec 31, 2012 1:11 pm Thanks for the feedback. I guess the issue with tiles -> wood is the amount of effort pulling them up. Plus the tiles that we really like would be 3x the cost of doing engineered boards or bamboo. Will have to think about it - I was kind of hoping that someone would have some real positive or negative experiences that would help make the decision but it seems more like budget and personal preference might be the factors involved Thanks all. Demo + Build in Rivervale, Western Australia Moved in June 2014 http://rivervale.tumblr.com/ Building Thread Re: Living areas flooring choice 10Dec 31, 2012 1:34 pm zaxon Will have to think about it - I was kind of hoping that someone would have some real positive or negative experiences that would help make the decision but it seems more like budget and personal preference might be the factors involved Thanks all. Yes this is definitely it. We like the wood look tiles too but for the expense, especially with young kids and dogs, it's just not a viable option for us. We can put in hard wearing floors which have a 25 year warranty for less laid than we can buy the tiles - it's a no-brainer really. Re: Living areas flooring choice 11Dec 31, 2012 7:58 pm SmithiesWife zaxon Will have to think about it - I was kind of hoping that someone would have some real positive or negative experiences that would help make the decision but it seems more like budget and personal preference might be the factors involved Thanks all. Yes this is definitely it. We like the wood look tiles too but for the expense, especially with young kids and dogs, it's just not a viable option for us. We can put in hard wearing floors which have a 25 year warranty for less laid than we can buy the tiles - it's a no-brainer really. And what option did you go with? Re: Living areas flooring choice 12Dec 31, 2012 9:55 pm We haven't yet but looking at timbernate as mentioned above. Re: Living areas flooring choice 13Jan 01, 2013 7:05 am we have had tiles for along time and also four children that have grown up running around with tiles on the floor. we are going with tiles in the new home Re: Living areas flooring choice 14Jan 01, 2013 10:49 am We had hardwood jarrah floorboards in our old house. We had it for five years and desperate for a new polish after having a dog (who was scared of the boards...too slippery) and a baby/toddler. Every toy scratched them and although we can sand buff and polish, was i really going to do that to remove all furniture and put up with smell of polish? So we hated them! They also creaked a lot but it was an old home with traditional floorboards. New house we had our no brainer...tiles. And love them. So much easier to keep clean and streak free (depending on tile type), ours weren't overly expensive as we got them half price and a good price to lay. We now have toy prams on them with no scratching and the occassional scooter goes on them too. Dog isnt scared so he is happy. And love them in winter and summer. No fading, cool underfoot, no creaking, no slipping. I love my tiles!!! Re: Living areas flooring choice 15Jan 01, 2013 4:44 pm We have 8mm timber laminate (pics on my thread), and it is beautiful, looks like a proper wood floor. It's nice and cool to walk on in summer, and during winter it was lovely and warm. Tiles are nice during summer but your feet freeze to death during winter! It was very inexpensive and we got it throughout the house, excluding bedrooms & wet areas. It's easy to clean (vacuum and a dry mop), and no grout to take care of. We have had one or two scratches from heavy things (eg. dropping a heavy plate that smashed) but you can honestly not see the scratch, and I can't even remember where it is cos I can't see it. We got a thick underlay for it and there are no clip cloppy sounds at all my only bad thought is that it shows dust quite easily, but we did choose a light one and we still have quite dusty/sandy pavers around the house which makes it easy to track it in. Good luck with your decision! Re: Living areas flooring choice 16Jan 01, 2013 9:43 pm SmithiesWife We are looking at timbernate - has the look of a real wood floor but is far more durable and will stand up to kids and dogs, which is what we'll need. It's eco friendly and cheap too. Hi SW, I will be interested to find out what you went for. I mentioned on another post that we had trouble with extra heavy duty wood look vinyl planks. I like the look and warmth of timber but never want to experience watching my floors go to rack and ruin in front of me again. At the moment we are favouring tiles, never had any problems with them even when kids were little but they are a rather expensive option, especially the wood look ones. Flooring is one of the toughest decisions to make and not something you can easily rip up if you change your mind. Good luck everyone. Re: Living areas flooring choice 17Jan 18, 2013 12:13 pm If it were me and it once was I would opt for laminate like daveanddally. It's affordable and unlike "real" wood we found that ours did not scratch and we had a dog and raised two little girls on it. We only literally had one or two dints that only I noticed but the stuff did not scratch. Regretting that we did not go laminate again. The rental we are in has ceramic tiles with large grout and I hate it with a passion and these tiles must have been cheap as I have noticed a few little chips on the edges and a fine crack in one in the kitchen. Tiles though with a thinner grout would be much more lovely though and not as difficult to live with as ours. Re: Living areas flooring choice 18Jan 18, 2013 2:55 pm Serialbuilder SmithiesWife We are looking at timbernate - has the look of a real wood floor but is far more durable and will stand up to kids and dogs, which is what we'll need. It's eco friendly and cheap too. Hi SW, I will be interested to find out what you went for. I mentioned on another post that we had trouble with extra heavy duty wood look vinyl planks. I like the look and warmth of timber but never want to experience watching my floors go to rack and ruin in front of me again. At the moment we are favouring tiles, never had any problems with them even when kids were little but they are a rather expensive option, especially the wood look ones. Flooring is one of the toughest decisions to make and not something you can easily rip up if you change your mind. Good luck everyone. believe it or not SB I'm back to thinking about tiles. Tash these days with rectified tiles and wood look tiles the options are endless and much nicer than we have had in years past. However it all comes down to affordability and personal preference. Who knows what we'll end up with! Re: Living areas flooring choice 19Jan 18, 2013 6:57 pm Thank you Tash you're right, it's surprisingly hard wearing and even when it does scratch, it's barely noticeable! I would be wary. Is you site demilished but nothing else done? Sounds like liquidity problems to me. Our builder did the same. Got hundreds of thousands of dollars of… 2 15413 3 5596 Can anyone suggest a house layout where the kitchen-dining - living runs the length across the rear of the house left to right where our best view will be we… 0 4348 |