Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Sep 06, 2012 2:07 am Design stage of building new house in Sydney: House will be built on concrete slab. Family room, playroom and kitchen on will get ample sunlight in winter (shaded in summer) so we'd like to use the thermal mass of the concrete slab in those rooms. First thought to have polished concrete, but read in other threads about so many things that go wrong with them, decided safer option was to cover with tile. But I was worried about dirt collecting in the recessed grout lines they always seem to have. Did some reading & now even more worried about the trouble cleaning tiled floor (like having to manually dry the floor). Ease of cleaning is one of my top priorities! The floors I like best are engineered bamboo (which we'll have in the rooms without good solar access) but if we used that in the rooms in question we'd lose all our thermal mass. What's my best option? Are there any floors with thermal mass that are easy to clean? Thanks! Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 2Sep 06, 2012 5:43 am We chose a slate floor with the darker colour and the rougher surface the grount lines don't seem to be as obvious and aren,t an issue. Slate is also not as slippy as tiles even when wet, The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 3Sep 06, 2012 5:11 pm There are many pros and cons to choosing the right floor, but because we walk on them everyday they will always need to be maintained. Slate floors a good but they also will need cleaning, if you apply a topical sealer ( wet look ) on them they will need to be re done as the sealer always wears off in the foot traffic areas and can be expensive to strip and seal. For an easy tile to maintain I would go with a double glazed or glazed ceramic 600 x 600 as they make awesome designs these days and if you colour seal the grout then your maintenance issues will be 10 times easier. Craig Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 5Sep 06, 2012 7:19 pm We've tiled our last two houses (all living areas) and steam mop works great. Kids make mess on any type of flooring. In new house we'll have larger darker tiles in our north-facing sunny winter living area, and lighter bamboo floating floor in west-facing upstairs living area.
Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 6Sep 06, 2012 8:28 pm Tiled floors Pros Looks great. Easy to clean. Low allergenic. Lots of colour and finish choices. Hard wearing, pretty scratch resistant...especially if you have dogs ...ie claws.....kids with trikes...footy boots etc Good water resistance...unlike wood floors...where you have to be careful with spills Longevity...requires no maintenance apart from regular cleaning. Able to be DIY laid Cons Cold under foot in winter. Hard on your feet underfoot. Hi gloss finish can be ultra slippery to walk on when wet. Also shows every footprint, dust, dog hair etc Big job to update...have to rip it up and lay new...whereas if wood could lay something else on top perhaps Grout can discolour and be hard to restore to original colour. If you drop china etc on it will guaranteed break....unlike cork floors (had it before)...plates, glasses etc bounce. Drop something heavy/sharp, will probably chip or break the tile....whereas timber or cork will mark and dint. In the past...we have had cork floors, tiled floors, carpeted floors and are currently building the latest home with some bamboo wooden flooring for the first time. Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 7Sep 06, 2012 9:00 pm Never been a fan of tiles They date over time. Solid timber floors will never go out of fashion, can be repolished and are warm. Timber as a natural product will only get more expensive. I would use timber in the laundry if I could get away with it in my new house. Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 9Sep 06, 2012 9:26 pm Thanks everyone! I read on some other thread that you shouldn't use a steam mop on tiles (or wood or bamboo). I love timber and cork floors but we're wanting a floor with thermal mass; that's the only reason we are considering tiling this particular floor. Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 10Sep 10, 2012 8:11 am Steam mops are fine it all depends on the type of finish or coating you have. They are very easy to use saves manual labour. The trick is to dry the floor or grout after use. Craig Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 11Sep 11, 2012 12:31 pm Quote: Thanks everyone! I read on some other thread that you shouldn't use a steam mop on tiles (or wood or bamboo). Possibly because those tiles ( think softer and/or porous limestone or travertine ) were coated with a sealant after being laid and the steam may destroy it ( like it would also on timber flooring ). Normal hard ceramic tiles do not need any sealing so a steam cleaner will be fine. Stewie Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 12Sep 12, 2012 6:08 am Also because over time the grout can be blown out by constantly having boiling steam injected into it !!! CALL 1300GOHARVEY www.harveynormanflooring.com.au Carpet, Rugs, Timber, Bamboo, Laminate, Vinyl & Vinyl Tiles TIMBERMAX Real Australian Hardwood Flooring IN STORES NOW Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 13Sep 12, 2012 11:47 am HN Flooring Team Also because over time the grout can be blown out by constantly having boiling steam injected into it !!! WTF , the steam is dispersed through the microfiber pad, there's no direct injection of steam. Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 16Oct 24, 2012 5:41 pm Have you consider excellent quality laminate flooring - like Quick Step. It ticks all the boxes when it comes to durabilty and longevity, with the added bonus that it looks so authentically like timber floor, minus the price tag. Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 17Oct 24, 2012 7:13 pm I'm a real fan of the wood-grain look tiles. I'm thinking they are much more suitable given I have a cat. The claws would badly scratch a wooden floor. Build thread: here Land Nov 12, Contract 6/07/13, Consent 15/08/13, Start 20/09/13, Slab 25/09/13, Frame 4/10/13, Brick 21/10/13, Roof 2/11/13, Lock-up 17/12/13, Handover 3/3/14 Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 18Oct 24, 2012 8:05 pm kylie40 Thanks everyone! I read on some other thread that you shouldn't use a steam mop on tiles (or wood or bamboo). I love timber and cork floors but we're wanting a floor with thermal mass; that's the only reason we are considering tiling this particular floor. The effect of timber flooring over your concrete on the thermal mass will be small. Go for a non baton solution (ply then timber with no air gap) and your level of insulation will be small. Darker colours will ensure more of the solar energy gets absorbed into the slab. No need to go too dark, just don't select very light colours. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Pros & Cons of tiled floor - please help 19Oct 29, 2012 2:22 pm Quick Step Laminate and Ready Flor perform well with floor heating. Take a look at this: QS floor heating http://www.premiumfloors.com.au/brands/ ... dsubfloor/ RF floor heating http://www.premiumfloors.com.au/brands/ ... subfloors/ Standard uninsulated double brick has an R value of around 0.7. An insulated standard 90mm stud timber frame can have an R value of around 2.7. Even if you insulate a… 17 12062 No, I even have sections of narrowness where the tiles won't slide up any further. When I manage some spare time, I might play around with the first DIY part of my… 7 4938 Thank you so much. We ended going with the terrain that’s part of our brick. 2 2540 |