Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Feb 05, 2015 4:45 pm Hi all, I figure you OB's would know about this I'm considering purchasing timber floorboards directly from a mill and getting someone to install it. I'd appreciate hearing about any experiences in this area. Thanks! Re: Anyone purchased timber flooring direct from the mill? 2Feb 06, 2015 9:33 am I did this when I built my house. I bought all my jarrah weatherboards and floorboards directly from a sawmill in the southwest. I used my in-laws' truck to get them to the site. I don't remember the figures but the savings were enormous. The issue to be aware of is the freshness of the timber. Because it had recently been milled it needed seasoning. The timber my tongue and groove floorboards were made from had been seasoned for several years before they were actually milled however I was advised to lay them out in situ and let them dry for as long as possible before fixing them down. I think I had them out for a good month but they still shrunk a little after fixing down and I have small cracks between most boards. But they are good straight and strong boards and I am pleased with the result. Next time however I will get my order in earlier and let the boards acclimatise longer before fixing them down. Unfortunately, like so many others, that small family sawmill just south of Donnybrook has now closed. Re: Anyone purchased timber flooring direct from the mill? 3Feb 06, 2015 10:17 am The other issue to consider is whether you will able to buy small quantities in the future from the same sawmill if you run short when you start laying them (unless you purchase extras). Note some boards can get damaged in transit or when they are fork lifted). My experience is that no two sawmills cut the tongue and grooves exactly the same, which makes joining new boards to old boards difficult (it may mean recutting the tongues on the first row of new boards) A fellow worker purchased a cancelled order from a sawmill but he purchased pack lots (2km per pack). He had a lot of timber left over which he recut and used to make built in cupboards. Re: Anyone purchased timber flooring direct from the mill? 4Feb 07, 2015 12:02 pm Thank you Betaloo and RuffTuff. Yes transport and delivery issues had occurred to me, but it seems that there's a lot more to it than that. Unfortunately, I think it will be too much stress at this point so I'll probably just go through the regular channels. I was hoping that the mill can season the boards before picking them up. Re: Anyone purchased timber flooring direct from the mill? 5Feb 09, 2015 10:46 am Hi Trixee, We investigated this when we were building, we even called into a number of mills on our way up to Brisbane one trip and asked about pricing etc. What we found was the mills were quoting a pretty high price per sqm - around $65 at the time (3-4 years ago)......there was even one mill prepared to sell us a pile of their mixed seconds which they would run through the machine again and tidy up (and take another 10mm off the width, making the boards only 80mm wide!!) for about $60 sqm When we finally sourced a local flooring tradesman to come and quote on our job he sent us to the local distributor with whom he does all his business and we were able to choose from any type of timber for $42 sqm.....go figure.... So what we learnt was that the mills were charging a pretty high price for something we could buy from the local timber distributor at a much cheaper price delivered to our door. Owner Building on 1800sqm Sanity Intact so far Locked up March 2012 Re: Anyone purchased timber flooring direct from the mill? 6Feb 09, 2015 10:53 am Trixee, my uncle has very wide and very long jarrah boards that have been cut and stored for years. When I looked into it, when all was said and done it was not worth pursuing because he would get a better price selling to the mill. It all became too hard to work out logistically too. Its a different story if you are in the business but I think the risk is substantially more if you're going to do yourself. Re: Anyone purchased timber flooring direct from the mill? 7Feb 10, 2015 2:21 am LynnyJane - how interesting! I'd wondered about that actually, if getting it from a mill might not be cheaper as they'd see new coming a mile away and charge accordingly! Mark, seems the world just wants us to pay high prices for everything :/ viewtopic.php?t=72683 Re: Anyone purchased timber flooring direct from the mill? 8Mar 01, 2015 2:26 am Hey Trixee I purchased some jarrah tongue and groove from a mill down south which I found to be better than what all the flooring places in Perth where trying to sell me especially on price, and they delivered to a warehouse in O'connor to which I picked up, as RuffTuff said the wood needed time to dry out a bit to I let it sit in the room for about four weeks to acclimatise which still was not long enough, it was a 105mm wide 14mm thick overlay which I layed and sanded and polished myself to which if I ever did it again would get it laid and sanded by professionally, oh it did come with the paper work telling you the water content of the boards, and yes I would recommend them www.whitelandmilling.com.au. Cheers! 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 4411 Hey guys, what’s everyone opinion on James Hardie linea direct fix to frame? Would this be the most common method and anybody ever had any problems down the track? 0 3639 Engineering timber is certainly a less fuss option, times cheaper to supply and install and better withstands humidity. 1 10699 |