flooring issues

[dansmum03]

I have a dilemma.

In our small three bedroom PPOR we currently have floorboards throughout in poor condition, haven't had any hint of sealing or protection. I would like to have them polished but I am finding the thought of moving to a hotel with my two wee kiddies for a week very daunting. The thought of it almost makes me dizzy with fear!

Would it be crazy to have vinyl laid instead? It would be kitchen, bath, laundry, hall and living. We are looking at Gerflor anti slip, which requires no sub floor prep so wouldn't cause a new owner too much fuss to take it up and polish floors themselves. We plan to keep this house for at least five years, making it an IP in about two.

How much difference in value is there between polished floors and well laid, good quality vinyl?

 

[JFisher]

Some time ago we sanded and polished our own floors (bad move!). In hindsight the $25 per sq mt the sanding guy charged for sanding and lacquering would have been cheaper and a better quality job.

Vinyl is also very user friendly, but if there is some talk of pulling it up in the future to redo the timber floors I would want to be sure that the fixing method didn't ruin the timber floorboards. In days of old they used a glue. These days they lay masonite sheet (check to see how this is fixed to the floorboards) and then they stick the vinyl to that. A standard vinyl here is $25 per sq mt and the masonite is about the same again (supplied and laid). These are the amounts I use in my quotes etc so I would ask around and find out the sq mt amount of each method (or work them out yourself as it isn't hard). You may find that polishing up the floorboards is cheaper in the long run, even with a couple of days in a cabin/room, and maybe more durable.

I can see the point with kids though, we did ours with 3 kids at home and had to lacquer at night after the kids went to bed so it was dry (and not as smelly) by the time they woke up in the morning. Good luck.

 

[wylie]

Have you thought of a timber or timber look floating floor. We put the cheapest we could find into our last purchase in the front bedroom and sunroom as these rooms had been verandah, so the floorboards had big gaps and had been carpeted for years.

They look great and protect the floor underneath without any fixings.

Wylie