Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Aug 26, 2014 11:31 am Hi all, so we are building on the central coast in Blue Haven. We are building with beechwood and are currently at council with our plans. We have decided to do our main flooring after handover but we are totally stuck on what flooring to do. We have never lived in a house with floorboards or the floating floorboards and have only had tiles. If we go down the tile route we will be getting the big 600x600 tiles we have gotten quotes for the tiles we love and how much to lay and to go with the floating laminate floorboard option we will save about $4000 - my question is can anyone give me some pros and cons about living with both? I am scared of getting the floating floors and not liking them or after time they show signs of water damage etc. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you Deposit paid 09/02/14 Plans received 26/04/14 Land registered 01/08/2014 Settled on land 18/08/2014 Plans to council 20/08/2014 http://verdelhofourtwist.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Floating laminate floorboards or tiles? help please! 2Aug 26, 2014 1:22 pm There's that old saying you get what you pay for. I have seen a display home with floating laminate were the floor under the dining table needs replacing already and have been told a toy car will scratch them but you can always replace them fairly easy. They can become creaky and start to lift off the ground with the expanding and contracting due to temps changes. If you like a wood look there are vinyl planks, they look like wood and are glued down and because there vinyl there water proof. The price for this varies on the product and wear layer you buy. I brought the vinyl planks at $69 a square metre but I brought the commercial grade product. Tiles are great but I hate how quickly the grout gets dirty and if one cracks it's harder to replace so really comes down to what you want to live with as they all have pros and cons. Re: Floating laminate floorboards or tiles? help please! 3Aug 26, 2014 1:53 pm You shouldn't get water damage issues unless the floors are always wet. Regular mopping or even splashing won't cause this, it seems pretty normal to use floating wood-panel floors in a kitchen. Tiles are easier to keep clean, except for the grout. Tiles are less prone to damage (eg. high heels or chair legs). Wooden flooring is less cold underfoot, and slightly less echo-ey. Tiles give you more colour choice. In a 2-storey house, tiles upstairs may not be doable due to a lack of flexibility compared to wooden flooring. You can sometimes use tiles in north-facing rooms that catch winter sun (but are shaded from summer sun) to use some of the sun's energy. I personally prefer the look of wood, tiles are very ... don't know the word, but tiles are a better match for red leather couches & gold tap fittings. Re: Floating laminate floorboards or tiles? help please! 4Aug 26, 2014 2:02 pm They all have their pros and cons, just depends what you are prepared to give on! We've had tiles, we've had floating laminate, hardwood, My dad has floating Bamboo, engineered timber. So I like to think we've experienced a good lot of types! Honestly, for me anyway, I don't have a preference. They all balance out in different areas. We chose floating timber (not laminate) for this build, only because my hubby loved it as a design feature to tie in with a lot of other stuff we were doing, it fitted the best and added some needed warmth to our other elements. Tiles I like a lot, but wasn't game to have them in a cooler hills climate where we are now, the rental we have up here now has tiles in the kitchen and dining rooms - freeeeezing underfoot! But we had a full house of ceramic tiles in the last place and it looked lovely and was cool underfoot in summer. Very durable for our 2 dogs as well. I did lose a few plates and glasses to it though - very unforgiving in that aspect. If you don't get the other elements of your decorating right, tiles can look cold and sterile, BUT with the other things done right, they balance beautifully. Laminate I had in my first build. Fine, nothing special - but it was 2004 and laminates were a little less nice back then, very obviously laminate. Our friends have some higher end QuickStep boards they installed a few months ago on a good underlay and I can barely tell that it's laminate! As for water, general household spills that you clean up promptly are ok - they wont die. They just cant be soaked for long periods of time, but in general household applications, this shouldn't be an issue. I had them in the kitchen and they copped a fair bit, but held up fine. Dad's bamboo is lovely. Not much humidity down here though, so it's suited. Sort of the same pitfalls/benefits as laminate and wood. Weigh up your budget vs. decorative and how you want your place to look, how you use your home etc. and you should find what you need. Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66299 Slab: 16/6/14 Frame: 4/7/14 Roof: 22/7/14 Lock Up: 20/8/14 Fixing: 26/8/14 PCI: 9/10/14 Handover: 20/10/14 Re: Floating laminate floorboards or tiles? help please! 5Aug 26, 2014 2:13 pm This will be our first house with tiles in the main area and we are basically going for that because we believe they are more hardy but otherwise I would have gone for solid timber. I've had solid timber floors previously which are great and regardless of how real a floating floor seems it is obvious they are still floating floors and a reason they are cheaper. If budget stretches go a real timber floor and expect to refinish them in around 10 years to keep them looking great. If you go for floating floors spend a decent amount but I'm yet to be convinced that it is practical or cost efficient to refinish one that has a genuine veneer surface so don't over do it. Also it is not easy to just replace one damaged board in the middle of a room. I had a shop of around 50sqm with a good quality floating floor and it stood up well to the traffic and daily mopping but because they are floating (is not fixed to the floor) and interlocking a damaged board in the centre means you have to pull up half the floor and remove the skirting/scotia to replace it. If anyone tells you its easy, ask for a demonstration not just description of how to do it. Don't get me wrong I love floating flooring and think its a good option both in look and price but it is often sold with promises that are not real. http://camdenbuild.blogspot.com.au/ by invite only please pm me Re: Floating laminate floorboards or tiles? help please! 6Aug 26, 2014 7:14 pm I'm trying to work out my best flooring option for my home office/radio shack in my new build. Carpet is nice under foot Floating floor doesn't look too bad, and is 'warmer' than tiles. Tiles are solid and very easily cleaned compared to the other two. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Floating laminate floorboards or tiles? help please! 7Aug 26, 2014 11:03 pm Thanks so much for all the responses! It's such a difficult decision to make and I am finding it quite hard. I think we'd really love tiles but it all comes down to $$$. Ahh the choices. It's such an expensive choice to make if you end up not liking it! Deposit paid 09/02/14 Plans received 26/04/14 Land registered 01/08/2014 Settled on land 18/08/2014 Plans to council 20/08/2014 http://verdelhofourtwist.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Floating laminate floorboards or tiles? help please! 8Aug 27, 2014 12:27 am In the end tiles will always be a little more expensive. Our first choice We went for floating timber floors and even upgraded to the ones that seem to look like the real ones. But we changed our minds completely and went for 600x600 polished porcelain tiles all throughout the house even extented them in our bathrooms and around the bath hobs so it all just flows. We choose the 600's mainly because we love the look of bigger tiles, so modern! And less grout... ohhh i dislike grout lol. Ive read somewhere that tiles add value to your home and so do downlights. But don't quote me on that. To put anything over slate you will need to put self level compound over the entire area as slate various in thickness and is very un even. To install most types of… 1 393 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 6141 Thanks, that's the motivation I needed to give it a try sooner rather than one day! 4 3002 |