Alternative option to Floor Boards

[MTR]

Hi All
OK, I now have my stone bench sorted at half the price thanks to some very clever SS members.

Can anyone give me some great tips for an alternative/cheaper option to floor boards. I understand nothing will beat the real deal, but there must be something that looks good.

Tiles, can look nice, but I think they are very cold looking.

Floating floor boards I have found to be noisy and not necessarily a good idea in a rental property due to wear and tear.

Vinyl strips that replicate floor boards, they are OK, I have used them before but I think I want something that is warm and inviting.

Is there a product that is cheaper than floor boards but still provides a great look, or perhaps a timber which can be used which is far cheaper than standard timbers used??

Any help would be appreciated.

MTR

 

[Aaron_C]

Polished concrete?

 

[MTR]

Polished concrete?

Hi A
I am told this is very expensive, am I wrong??

Also the market I am targeting will possibly be the older baby boomers 60+, I do not think this product would appeal to this group, could be wrong??

Cheers, MTR

 

[Aaron_C]

It can be expensive but you are only really paying for the labour. The materials themselves (the slab) is already there presumably. It is best suited to indoor/outdoor combined areas. Not sure if the baby boomers would go for it but it can look very nice and is effectively a feature.

 

[Ausprop]

polished concrete is one of the msot expensive options.

karndean vinyl strips are warm and hard wearing but lacks the prestige effect ("it's just lino")

there is no real answer. eod I'd just go wood, it's reasonably priced, the real deal, looks great and is inoffensive to all demographics.

FWIW a guy I know (a boomer) bought a luxury house and first thing his wife made him do was lay carpet (the cheapest option of all) over vast areas of polsihed concrete - a real tragedy... probably not as tragic as the guy that lost a millon building the spec home but that's another story

 

[oc1]

Marisa have a look at bamboo too. Material and labour no more than $60m2

 

[westminster]

Hi All
OK, I now have my stone bench sorted at half the price thanks to some very clever SS members.

Can anyone give me some great tips for an alternative/cheaper option to floor boards. I understand nothing will beat the real deal, but there must be something that looks good.

Tiles, can look nice, but I think they are very cold looking.

Floating floor boards I have found to be noisy and not necessarily a good idea in a rental property due to wear and tear.

Vinyl strips that replicate floor boards, they are OK, I have used them before but I think I want something that is warm and inviting.

Is there a product that is cheaper than floor boards but still provides a great look, or perhaps a timber which can be used which is far cheaper than standard timbers used??

Any help would be appreciated.

MTR

I think the cheapest way to get wood feel is to go for one of the prefinished engineered products which has 4mm or more of real wood on top.
As they are prefinished there is no need for sanding/varnishing during the laying process but if you get the ones with 4mm or more real wood on top you can sand them back later on (if you are holding) if needed.
They are glued and nailed directly to the concrete.
I have 19mm solid jarrah prefinished from Gunns in my PPOR - I can't remember what the place is called now. It was the cheapest option I could find at the time.

There is the Boral Silkwood which is similar with only 4mm on top.
http://www.boral.com.au/productcatalogue/product.aspx?product=48

 

[Truly Exotic]

Polished Concrete is very expensive,

I did it for a commercial and did maybe 150sqm,

but more importantly, its damn slippery,

had a few people trip over, I needed to get it treated to make it less slippery,

was not impressed but was necessary or else id get my butt sued off

edit: for PPOR go for it if you like it, for an IP I would say never due to cost vs returns (if any)

dont listen to AaronC, he is too sophisticated to be associated with us commoners

 

[Tigerboy]

Bamboo flooring is a good option. It is a hardwood at about half the price. You'll get years out of it. About $35 to buy and $20 to install.


Huss.

 

[TMNT]

Bamboo flooring is a good option. It is a hardwood at about half the price. You'll get years out of it. About $35 to buy and $20 to install.


Huss.

I just googled bamboo floorboards, they look the same as floating floorboards, whats the diff?

 

[westminster]

I just googled bamboo floorboards, they look the same as floating floorboards, whats the diff?

Pretty much the same but bamboo is easier and faster to grow and is sustainable resource.

 

[Tigerboy]

Bamboo is a solid timber floor. Most other 'engineered' products only have 2-4 mm outer layer that us hardwood, the rest is usually just ply or chip board.

It's cheap, heavy, durable and looks really good.

 

[redwing]

Whilst I was up north we visited a few sites that had polished/honed concrete floors as the wife had visited a show-house in Perth that had it done throughout, it apparently looked great and was expensive as per others comments above

The guy up North said a number of people with the polished concrete floors had since tiled over the top of them?

How about the new style porcelain tiles that look like wood?

 

[bbinns]

I have used bamboo properties as well and I have been very happy with finish

 

[MTR]

Bamboo is a solid timber floor. Most other 'engineered' products only have 2-4 mm outer layer that us hardwood, the rest is usually just ply or chip board.

It's cheap, heavy, durable and looks really good.

Hi Tigerboy
This may be a very good option, I will look into this closely.

You don't happen to have any photos

 

[MTR]

Whilst I was up north we visited a few sites that had polished/honed concrete floors as the wife had visited a show-house in Perth that had it done throughout, it apparently looked great and was expensive as per others comments above

The guy up North said a number of people with the polished concrete floors had since tiled over the top of them?

How about the new style porcelain tiles that look like wood?

Looks good, however its cold on the feet and it aint wood.

 

[Tigerboy]

MTR I will be installing bamboo in five townhouses in about 3 weeks. If you can wait, I'll take some and send them to you.

We are going to use 'coffee' coloured bamboo. Very nice.

 

[Africandaisy]

Marisa have a look at bamboo too. Material and labour no more than $60m2

I went to a flooring shop today to ask about bamboo floors. The guy told me they have almost double the 'hardness' rating as jarrah, which means they wont get dented as easily as softwood floors.

They looked pretty good to me - very similar to timber veneer floating floors, but without the knots and variations. Also as someone else said, the bamboo goes all the way through the board ( not just 4mm on top of ply). There are some pics here http://www.cliquefloors.com.au/Gallery.html


The ones I saw were like floating floor with a click in laying system. I am not sure if you can get the type that is just glued straight to the slab. I'd like to find that out (if anyone knows) because the layout of my floor plan might prevent me using a floating floor.

 

[Queen Bee]

Would just like to put my two cents in here about bamboo so there are two sides to the bamboo flooring story. I'm not anti bamboo, I'm just giving the facts.

Firstly, bamboo is not a hardwood, it's a grass. Bamboo is highly regarded as being incredibly strong, tests have shown that it has a higher tensile strength than many alloy steels. Bamboo is promoted as being a highly durable flooring product but what the manufacturers fail to tell people is that there are many different qualities of bamboo.

While bamboo grows at an extremely fast rate, it reaches full length in three months, and in China it is harvested just after three months because they need a fast turnaround. But it actually takes 3-5 years for the plant to fully harden. Thus, there are actually complaints from homeowners that their bamboo floor dents easily.

The bamboo flooring industry is based entirely in China, where there are no governing regulations to control product quality. The result is there is a massive difference in quality from company to company.

Because bamboo is a grass the bamboo needs to be glued together and compressed under extreme pressure. The chemicals in the glue in cheap bamboo flooring is often formaldehyde and urea, which gasses off. But there is also no way to tell if your more expensive bamboo flooring contains these chemicals as well.

Finally, when laying bamboo, you need to get an installer that knows what they are doing. They need to ensure they leave a 10mm expansion gap around the perimeter of the room (which will be covered by skirting boards), and if the floor is over 6 metres wide, there needs to be an expansion gap in the middle of floor as well (cork). If you live in Queensland where it's more humid than other parts of the country, then you need to be even more careful. You should also be aware that timber/bamboo imported from Asia is manufactured for the American and European market where the houses are more climatically controlled year round. They supply timber to these markets at around 7-9% moisture content. Most floors laid in Australia are between 10%-14% and even more in tropical Queensland, so flooring does need to be acclimatised nearly always if it's imported from Asia.

If your flooring installer doesn't own a moisture meter, then don't hire him.

Hope this helps.

QB

 

[Africandaisy]

Thanks Queen Bee, that was really useful info to consider.