What's the timber species, stringy bark? What's the grade? These must be the 13cm wide boards?
Did you have to do any levelling of the slab? Or pretty much just lay the battens?
Did you use some kind of moisture protection (eg. a plastic sheet) underneath?
Is this all through a separate flooring company (ie. not the builder)? Are they going to sand&polish as well? What kind of polish will you use? Was the job pricey? How high are your ceilings in this area?
Is there anything else I actually haven't asked (just joking with this one...)
Hehe . I will try to answer them as much as I can but I am sure my husband will put in his two cents when he sees this too .
You're right Lex, the species is stringy bark and I have the feeling that it's a mixed batch of all of the grades. Some of the timber is perfect and some of it has a bit of marking. But they aren't as bad as some I have seen, not any knots or worm tracks. Yep, they are 130mm boards, I love them although you not only have to secret nail but top nail, we weren't a fan of top nailing but we used a really small nail so you can only see them if you really look). My husband did have to level out the battens quite a bit in some spots but other spots were perfect. It took two days to put down the battens and make them level. He said that if he ever does it again, he would spend the money and do the ply. Saves so much time and apparently it is the best option. No, we didn't use any plastic sheeting underneath as the builder has used it under the slab. We definitely didn't buy the timber through the builder. We went straight through Boral and my husband did the work, so hardly any labour (maybe have to get a case of beer or something ). We are going to get Boral to do the sanding and we are going to have a satin finish (not shiny), I can't remember but I think they charge around $25m2 but I will have to check. Our ceilings are the standard height, we would've loved to pay the extra $6000 to make them higher but you have to stop somewhere hey? . The timber and the battens all up cost us $4000 including delivery and the sanding and polish will cost us about $1800 so about $6000 all up for everything including hiring of the compressor and secret nailer. Not too bad really for such a beautiful floor (in my opinion).
Hope this helps. Are you thinking of doing the same for your house?