topic Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo in Community Spirit

Floating Floorboards Yes or No?

kabarine — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:03:39 GMT

We are looking at replacing the old worn carpet in the sun/family room .... Options are floating floor boards or genuine timber flooring, so would welcome any suggestions, for and against each type or flooring pls

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?

this-one-time-at-bandcamp — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:08:28 GMT

If the floor in the family room will accept at least 1/2" flooring, you might consider hardwood flooring. We used laminate (floating) in our bathroom and hallway because no decent hardwood was available in 8mm height.

It appears the current choices have bevelled edges (I'm told that they prevent damage to the edges), and I detest the bevels..........just another food, dander, and dirt trap.

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo

jean2579 — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:08:56 GMT

@kabarine wrote:
We are looking at replacing the old worn carpet in the sun/family room .... Options are floating floor boards or genuine timber flooring, so would welcome any suggestions, for and against each type or flooring pls

kabarine, we are going through the same exercise. Genuine timber is much better but so expensive, bamboo is a very beautiful alternative, still a little expensive but less so than timber. Floating boards are usually a type of vinyl and the ones we have walked on at the showroom seemed very noisy but much cheaper. I have also been warned about cleaning the floating ones with a steam mop or spilling water on them. It will be interesting to know your final choice. Good luck.

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?

joz*garage — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:09:45 GMT

what's under the carpet?

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo

this-one-time-at-bandcamp — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:10:40 GMT

Actually, all of the current choices, hardwood, bamboo, and laminates are subject to damage from water...........

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?

simone4010 — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:13:05 GMT

Hi kabarine

We have just replaced our bedroom carpet with "floating timber floor". I absolutely love the look. One thing we did find however, is that your concrete base has to be perfectly level or you may have some movement. We chose not to go with the extra $500 cost to make our base perfectly level. The floor is laid with a 10ml gap all the way around (to allow for movement) which I believe they fill with something at an extra cost. As we were replacing our skirting board, that wasn't an issue. We just laid the skirting over the top so as not to see the gap. We also had to add beading at the bottom of the skirting as we could still see a gap due to some floor uneveness. I absolutely love it. It is more durable than real timber and apparently won't scratch as easy.

To give you some idea:

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?

polksaladallie — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:14:49 GMT

I would not recommend bamboo. It is very soft and marks/dents/scratches very easily.

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo

kabarine — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:15:14 GMT

Jean I have been told the same thing re water and floating floors. Personally I would prefer a genunie timber floor. Yes! they are expensive, so I have been looking ar buying 2nd hand Baltic pine etc. The capet has a masonite under it and we dont really want to remve it as we intend to do this ourselves and it create so much more work, so I was looking at a floating floor as an option.

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?

simone4010 — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:15:33 GMT

Our is an 8ml laminate not vinyl.

Band - companies here will not lay laminate flooring in what are considered wet areas ie bathroom, toilet and laundry. They will lay it in the kitchen though.

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo

joz*garage — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:18:15 GMT

what's under the masonite?

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?

kabarine — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:22:48 GMT

Simone your bedroom looks lovely 🙂 The sunroom is on concrete stumps and is level, I know this 'cause not long ago we restumped the main part of the house and it was checked at the time. Not sure what under the masonite Joz, will take a look and see

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo

***super_nova*** — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:22:33 GMT

I would not put them in bathroom, but my daughter put them in kitchen of a house she had few years ago and it was fine. Really nice to walk on with the soft underlay.

I would consider floating floors again, but I would go for the bamboo or other better quality ones.

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo

kabarine — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:25:59 GMT

The bathroom has a slate floor which we are keeping, the kitchen has lino over masonite with timberboards underneath. I want to keep the floor boards in the kitchen and as this room runs off the kitchen I need to put something that complements both rooms.

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo

joz*garage — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:37:35 GMT

@kabarine wrote:
The bathroom has a slate floor which we are keeping, the kitchen has lino over masonite with timberboards underneath. I want to keep the floor boards in the kitchen and as this room runs off the kitchen I need to put something that complements both rooms.

if youre lucky, the sun/family room wasn't an extention and was orginally part of the house build construction, therefore it might have the same timber floorbords as in the kitchen

if so, theres a few options on finishing the surface of the floorboards you can take

some people just sand and polish - apply a few coats of clear lacquer

or hammer the nails down lower then the surface, fill all gaps with timber putty sand it all down then seal it

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo

simone4010 — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:38:48 GMT

Thank you kabarine. I guess what you have to keep in mind is your family room would be considered a high traffic area and therefore you need something durable that won't scratch or mark too easily. Bamboo, as much as it looks beautiful is considered a soft wood and furniture can mark it easily.

We actually have the vinyl foor in the main areas of the house. We didn't put it down, it was there when we purchased our house. Apparently it has been down for about 10 years and most people don't know it's not real timber lol.

Here's a pic of that floor:

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo

this-one-time-at-bandcamp — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:40:38 GMT

Our bathroom laminate is only in the area where the vanities are..........but, when I get out of the shower, I drip, and in 3 years, those drips haven't impacted the laminate one iota.

As I said, even hardwood floors are subject to damage from water. Unless you purchase solid wood, which has its own problems, such as expansion and contraction, stain it yourself, then wax it to prevent water penetration, you'll always have to be careful of water.

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo

fayekinnitt — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:42:34 GMT

For an DIY job, there's no beating the floating floor - both for labor and materials. Floating floors are available with real wood surfaces (veneers). You want to watch the depth of the wood veneer, deeper is always better, but more expensive. Also, with a floating floor, you do not have to worry about the subsurface (for nailing purposes).

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?Genuine timber or bamboo

i-need-a-martini — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:50:27 GMT

Nothing is as good as proper timber floor boards. If you can afford to do it, then this is what I suggest.

If you must laminated boards, they MUST be good quality. Even more so in your case because (if I read that correctly) you are leaving the real boards in the kitchen. The comparison will always be there.

The other thing about laminate floors is that there is no movement in them. So if your house has any movement and the layers haven't allowed for any (as they generally don't) then they can/will buckle over time and the only way to fix this is to pull it up and relay it. I have also seen cheaper laminat floors do this - most likely due to poor quality substrates. In comparison, timber floor boards don't do this.

In regards to type of wood - I am not sure why everyone keeps saying bamboo is not hardwearing. Bamboo is extreme;y hardwearing. That is why it is becoming so popular as a flooring material. Not to mention that it is a renewable material. It is my number one choice for selection when I talk to clients these days about floors.

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?

harley_babes_hoard — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:54:58 GMT

I have solid blackbutt flooring throughout my house except wet areas and 15 years later with 2 large dogs and a cat that loves to skid around the corners chasing each other it still looks amazing. Yes expensive but in my opinion well worth it. I think the reason it still looks good is it is not the highly polished gloss finish (which I love by the way) but we were advised against it. We got what is called a satin finish. It has not been repolished in the 15 years.

I do nothing to it other than vacuum and old fashion wet mop.

Re: Floating Floorboards Yes or No?

i-need-a-martini — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 23:07:14 GMT

Lovely floors harley.

We have always laid new timber floors in our houses and wouldn't have anything else. I'm not sure why floating boards never, ever feel the same.

We laid top quality floating boards in a basement room being converted to my sons bedroom. We picked a quality laminated blackbutt. Yeah they look beter than what was there before. But no, they just don't look the same as our floors upstairs. I think it's too do with the factory finish they all get.

BTW we have never had to resand a timber floor - EVER!