Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Apr 16, 2012 3:18 pm Hello All - I've been researching a lot lately to help me decide whether to go with engineered floating timber or solid. From what I undrestand most people say go solid if you have the budget. Well at first, we thought we had the budget (for 115sqm floor) but having a quote from a Boral distributor has made us doub that judgement. We looked at the 19mm blackbutt solid timber. We prefer the wider planks (130mm) as opposed to 85mm. We have concret under the existing carpet so will be going with ply wood underlay (15mm?). Here is the pricing that we have for 19mm solid timber (OPTION 1)....$105/sqm for the wood, $35/sqm for installation (including ply I think), and $30/sqm for sand and polish (i.e. finish). Plus $6 for skirting which is too little to take into account i think. So all up we have $170/sqm adding up to a whopping $20K for the total job. That is a lot!! we thought we would be looking at $10-$15K max! Keep in mind, this is excluding the bedrooms which we are going to carpet. So we have to watch what we pay for the timber in lounge, dining, kitchen etc. Is that a fair price? (OPTION 2)We looked at engineered floating timber to compare...we checked out Boral silkwood and even that was going to be around $160/sqm laid... so almost simlar to the Solid option!!!! (OPTION 3) Boral also has another solution (slimwood i think) which is 10-13mm planks of solid timber which needs to be glued to the conrect. I guess the real advantage I saw in this option was the cost saving ($120/sqm-laid) whilst still having the solid timber option. what to do!!!!!!!!! In order to bring the cost down and still stay with the 19mm solid timbers, we can have a look at the narrower planks (85mm as opposed to the 130mm) but we don't really like the looks of it as we have an open plan design and I think it would be too crowded. HOWEVER, the upside of this option apart from the cost saving is that people say on similar sites that it is less prone to cupping and bending or whatever...is that really true? So questions are: 1) is $65/sqm a feasible quote for installation, sand and polish of solid timber? 2) Should we consider the slimwood (10-13mm planks) with direct glue to concret? 3) IS BORAL JUST TOO EXPENSIVE? should we consider other firms apart from the mainstream suppliers such as Boral? 4) How can we possibly know if the carpenter is any good and is going to do his best to ensure we don't get any cupping/bending at a later stage? I guess this post is more informative and investigative as I personally had difficulty finding a decent post that includes different options with some budgetary pricing... most seemed to drifft into a convo that was far from the subject LOL but hey if you can use the research/options that we have found, then I'm glad we could help I guess! Thanks in advance for your input!! Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 2Apr 16, 2012 5:27 pm Hi there MRMR, Have just had the blackbutt solid timber lay'ed through my home, it's the wide board,130mm x 14mm. Cost was just under $16,000 for 85m2, installed,sanded and polished. Apparently we were told that we did not have to go for the 19mm, that 14mm was all we needed, lay'ed over ply on concrete slab. I do love the wide 130mm board though, the look over a large area is just beautiful!! Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 3Apr 16, 2012 6:05 pm Hello Hemi, they do look nice don't they. T hat pretty much answers my question about the quote I had...yours was about $188/sqm...hmmm good looks dfntly comes with a heavy price tag!! What brand timber did you use if you dont mind me asking? What grade (standard, select?). Just curious as Boral doesn't offer a 14mm solid timber that can be installed on ply...so you must have used another brand? still pretty expensive even if it is 14mm. Were you concerned about the wider boards being more prone to cupping, warping? Well all timbers have this risk but apparently wider the board, the more risk you carry. Thanks in advance... Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 4Apr 16, 2012 6:24 pm Hi mrmr, I considered putting down timber, not sure where your located, but I would try and find a builder who will do it for cost plus. I looked around for what I wanted, got prices on 19mm boral spotted gum in 130mm from Wilson timbers. Then spoke to my brother and he sent in the same and got a quote at 60% less, no joke. A mix of 60/40 select grade and normal grade or whatever they call them. I had 110 square meters to do, and estimated it at around 13,000, laid on ply and polished. No painting or removal, replacement of skirtings, doors etc. It will add a fair height and may cause problems with existing doors etc. Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 5Apr 16, 2012 6:32 pm wow!! Yeah I have heard that builders can get a discount but sixty percent is pretty impressive almost suspicious discount. I only say that as I have tried a couple of Boral distributors and it appears that they (Boral) keeps their pricing well controlled as I got similar offers from both. So from what I understand your brother was the builder? How long ago was the offer? I'm in Sydney and checking Wilson Timbers it appears that your in QLD. Well for 6K less offer, i am sure that even shipping interstate is an option. That's $118/sqm... wow again!! as I can't even push the suppliers to give me the timber under $105 per sqm. Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 8Apr 16, 2012 7:12 pm Boral are running a promotion for March/April where by you could purchase, and have installed Boral Naturally Australian Spotted Gum 15mm 127mm wide x 2.4mtr long boards for as low $125 m2 (depending on individual HN Franchisees offers) for an order over 100m2. With a 4mm veneer, it's only 2mm less than an average "solid" floor and will save you a fair bit of money up front, plus you can use it the same day ! Silk wood is not the only Boral Spotted Gum flooring on the market. Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 9Apr 17, 2012 9:16 am Hi again MRMR, Yes blackbuttt did come with a huge price tag!! Our flooring also looks much nicer with out beading all around the skirts and kitchen, our builder was happy to let the flooring guys in before skirting and kitchen cabinetry went in. It's just more of a quality finish. No, our wood is not from Boral, it is from another company. You don't have to necessarily go with just boral. I went with the standard grade, so it has some feature. I personally don't like the pristine look with select. I love the feature grade though, but in a brand new house, over a large area, it was to much. No, i am not worried about warping, cupping, maybe it's how you look after it with not letting water spills sit on the floor? You will be so happy with the look of the 130mm wide though, it just looks beautiful up the hall and through a large area, i would not have got it if a small area was being done, would have selected the 85mm board. Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 12Apr 17, 2012 7:28 pm If your in Sydney try Renovator Auctions Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 14Apr 18, 2012 8:18 pm @ Hemi - yep, unfortunately we have to work with an existing kitchen, etc so will have to work around it. The builder I spoke to brought a good point and asked what we are going to do about the elavated areas. As in when we timber the lounge, it will be slightly higher than the carpet in the joining room. Never through about the different height issue. He even suggested to perhaps lay direct onto concret, but I've read that can be risky...so didn't entertain it much. Any experiance with the height issue? @ namtrak - Don't really want to go through Auctions. Warranty tends to be an issue, so I've heard. @ - skapinad - Nice...Impressive discount mate!! So this is all up in QLD right? as in the builder that you went through for this? Having a builder come around on Firday to see the job. He suggested the same, in that he can go in after I have got my quote and get a trade discount. No idea how good/bad it's going to be....fingers crossed as I need a good discount to pull this off!! We may try couple of different stores (out of my area) as well as couple of builders I guess. Need to find more options which is a bit hard as there is no other light colour timber that we actually like to have. Well there was Tassie Oak which turned out to be far too soft. Any input would be appreciated. Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 16Apr 26, 2012 1:46 pm We did actually look at them... stringybark we found was not as consistent as we would like, as in the wood type had a lot of variants even in the select grade. And Vic ash was far too soft on the Janka rating (4.5) I think Blackbutt is the one for us... right now I'm just trying to shop around to see if we can find a better offer. We found out that our area is 130sqm which is even more than what we expected. ouch!! Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 17Apr 26, 2012 4:20 pm Why don't you go for prefinished Blackbutt timber... secret nail and glue on plywood. There are places around Sydney doing it for $100 per square metre laid. Pay cash and get it for $90. Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 18Apr 26, 2012 4:30 pm TheMusicInMe Why don't you go for prefinished Blackbutt timber... secret nail and glue on plywood. There are places around Sydney doing it for $100 per square metre laid. Pay cash and get it for $90. That's actually what the builder suggested as well... would the prefinished stuff be 130m wide as well? I heard you can't/shouldn't secret nail 130cm boards (prefinished or raw)...only top nail is recommended? Do you know of any place that I should try? how about the pros and cons of prefinished when compared to raw? Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 19Apr 26, 2012 4:47 pm Don't over think it mate. Thats what I was doing... In the end I decided to go with Prefinished timber flooring. I've seen the final product at a friends house and it looks great. I'm getting prefinished blackbutt floors over plywood done in a month. I'm going 85mm wide... One day I'll go through the process of sanding and polishing. Just not now Re: Solid Vs floating timber flooring...price seem too high! 20Apr 26, 2012 4:50 pm Yes I have heard there can be issues with 130mm wide... 85mm looks great if you ask me! Engineering timber is certainly a less fuss option, times cheaper to supply and install and better withstands humidity. 1 15918 They using concrete or timber sleepers? Timber or steel uprights? Any drainage behind sleeper? 3 5882 It will be neat but you won't have much freeboard. At least they are not weep holes. Are you in a high intensity rainfall region? The regulatory slope is only required… 3 8268 |