Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Oct 16, 2010 11:09 am Hi, we are expanding our original kit home. It is on piers and situated on creek flats in rural NSW. Heating in winter is our major energy use. The original home has timber t&g floorboards which we have always had carpet or vinyl over them. The new section will have cosy underfloor insulation. I have had in my mind that the new areas (which are mainly kitchen & living areas) will be 19mm yellow tongue sheet flooring with an engineered timber floor laid over in all living areas. Laying the same engineered flooring in reclaimed living areas and hallways in the original home, therefore bringing old and new together. A friend has said to me that solid timber t&g floorboards are better than the engineered flooring systems with regards to wearability in high traffic areas, which most of mine will be. Or would this be excessive? Or is my idea excessive? Our house will be in a H shape, and the hallway will be a L shape, in that regard I'm guessing solid timber t&g floor boards will be a better choice for changing of directions, I am also guessing solid timber floorboards are a better option in the kitchen than engineered timber. I haven't done any pricing yet, just trying to make choices on what will work best, as long as not excessive. Any thoughts? Re: Solid timber vs engineered timber flooring. Difference?? 2Oct 16, 2010 12:07 pm As far as durability goes, the usual difference is about 2mil. IE your solid floor will have about 6mm of timber prior to hitting the t&g, and your engineered will have about 4mm. Not many people will ever sand their floor enough to warrant worrying about the difference. The other thing is species. Many engineered floors are exotic species from Asia such as kempas or merbau. They are generally softer than most Australian species. Solid floors tend to be 90% Australian species, hence why people claim solids are more durable than engineered. The biggest difference in my opinion is the acoustics. A solid floor in your case, would be glued and secret nailed, or even top nailed, to your chipboard, creating a real dense solid feel. The engineered would float on underlay. So it would have a poorer drum sound. The ease of laying and the time to lay (they are prefinished) means they are very popular. Solids will require a longer installation process and include sealing it and sanding it. The odour of this is usually pretty strong. As far as direction goes, you would be best to run them all the same way IMO. Lastly, solids will cost a bit more (sometimes a fair bit). It's up to you. That hasn't helped much I guess!!! Haha. Re: Solid timber vs engineered timber flooring. Difference?? 3Oct 16, 2010 12:13 pm Maybe go a bamboo solid floater. See the bamboo thread on here. It's all the rage ATM and is VERY hard. It is prefinished and can be installed in just one day. It will still be a bit drummy, but if your floor is level you'll get a great floor, installed quickly with no fuss. Re: Solid timber vs engineered timber flooring. Difference?? 4Oct 16, 2010 12:28 pm We bought up the issue of the drummy sound to flooring place. He reckons with 12mm ones we could just stick with the normal blue underlay stuff or pay extra $425 for soundproofing underlay. Which hubby insists on Re: Solid timber vs engineered timber flooring. Difference?? 5Oct 16, 2010 4:48 pm If I could have afforded it I would have put in a solid timber floor instead of the engineered floating floor that was installed last week. And I would have put some other option other than timber in the kitchen. Think very carefully before putting in a floating timber floor in the kitchen. Make sure your wife knows what she's in for with regards to liquid spills. I was told by the retailer after I had the floor installed that he did not think that you should have a dish washer on a floating timber floor. Ask your insurance company what they would recommend because they bump up your insurance premium every time you have part of your kitchen floor replaced. Replacing is the only option because there is no barrier to stop liquid pooling in the expansion gap and under the floor. Don't let a sales rep tell you that the scotia offers a barrier, that's not the case. Be realistic about how many towels and mats you would need on the floor ready incase of spills: the pot boils over, your plumber forgets to plug the dishwasher fitting on the P trap after removing the dish washer, or the kids leave the fridge freezer door open, or visiting grandma drops the tea pot. These spills are ok if they are in the middle of the room and you are on hand to do the wiping up immediately BUT if they occur on the perimeter of the room the liquid runs under the scotia, skirt, trim and into the expansion gap. Re: Solid timber vs engineered timber flooring. Difference?? 6Oct 16, 2010 5:55 pm However, there are ten's of thousands of very happy people in Australia who have installed laminate, bamboo and timber engineered floors in Kithens right around the country who have no problems. I am one of them (under a dishwasher too!!). You have to live life. It's like saying don't drive in the rain, or avoid peek hour traffic, or school zones with heaps of mums picking up kids, just in case you have an accident... Re: Solid timber vs engineered timber flooring. Difference?? 7Oct 16, 2010 6:00 pm I was going to say we asked few people about spills in kitchen etc and no one has had any issues. You must just be unlucky sunflowers Re: Solid timber vs engineered timber flooring. Difference?? 8Oct 16, 2010 6:06 pm LeanneR I was going to say we asked few people about spills in kitchen etc and no one has had any issues. You must just be unlucky sunflowers I see it often. Somepeople just get fixated on an issue and cant let it go. No disrespect intended. But I see this forum as important and like people to get the facts from an industry stand point, not just the 1 person who had a bad experience with a wool carpet so tells everyone to buy nylon, or someone who scratched their laminate floor and so rubbishes it to all and sundry. Sunflower is not wrong, it's just I feel there is too much weight being added to the issue of water. Unles you are seriously unlucky, people just don't have problems. That's the reality. Re: Solid timber vs engineered timber flooring. Difference?? 9Oct 17, 2010 7:09 am The examples of water spills and insurance claims that I quoted in my previous post are all from problems that other consumers have been experiencing that I have read in postings on other forums. The floating floor that I have recently had installed still looks good. Iām just saying that it should not have been installed in the kitchen as it is because I can see that it is not designed to keep water out of the perimeter expansion gap, this is not what I was expecting and I do not want problems to arise in the future. Industry needs to sort out this problem about the kickboards and perimeter so that consumers can confidently put them in kitchens. Re: Solid timber vs engineered timber flooring. Difference?? 10Oct 17, 2010 8:15 am Just don't be tricked by the good looks (of floating floors). They are more often laid unevenly/unlevel with each others, have sound and moisture issues, can be quite expensive and softer even within the same species as full timber, have less resanding opportunities. On the plus side, but only if you float them, you can replace or repair them easier. In your case, I would install no less than 19mm raw hardwood floors. Your additional plus is that your YT will not be swallen on edges from exposure to rain (well, hopefully), so you would have quite a solid and level subfloor too (except that your joists could be up/down). My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Solid timber vs engineered timber flooring. Difference?? 11Oct 17, 2010 12:16 pm I disagree Lex. But then, that's the good thing about a forum, Anyone can express an opinion which is fair. Engineering timber is certainly a less fuss option, times cheaper to supply and install and better withstands humidity. 1 11524 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 4588 If this is a custom build then I would expect the builder to set out the door frame closer to the wall to avoid the gap between architrave and the wall and or specify… 9 6295 |