Laminate flooring -

[vaughan]

The reason why people do not go for the real thing which is timber is because a) it costs triple the costs or even more depending on quality and b) it's not as scratch and dent resistant. A person with a rock stuck in their shoe would ruin the wooden floor immediately even if its top notch hard wood. If you have kids, say good bye to it. You don't have this problem with laminate or bamboo. In fact, you don't need to worry about it after its installed when it comes to someone dragging furniture across it weighing 100kgs. You would defiantly not put a wooden floating floor in an investment property. It beats the purpose of even putting such a thing in. For a house where you will live in and look after, I can see why you would put it in but many still prefer laminate due to its commercial grade level of resistance to getting damaged.

Cypress pine is extremely hard, dent resistant, pest resistant and relatively cheap. You've gotta like knots though.

The "repairability" of the floor depends on the finish applied. Thick, glossy polyurethanes and 2-packs cannot be repaired if scratched. The whole finish needs to be sanded off back to bare timber and started again. Oil-based finishes like Tung don't give a thick glossy finish but can be easily recoated and replied with a light sanding.

I just re-coated an very sad looking hallway that was done in Tung oil about 10 years ago. Ran over it with a hand sander 120 grit paper to lightly remove the grime and dirt and take the top off the old finish, then gave it 2 coats of tung oil with a mop. Looks great, in fact looks better now than when new. (Just remembered, I rubbed-in a bit of oak stain to give it a bit more colour.) No need to sand off a couple of mm back to bare timber, which means the floor will last for decades.

 

[WattleIdo]

Can you do it this way if it wasn't previously treated with Tung oil?
What would they have put on the floorboards 80 years ago (besides lino)?

 

[vaughan]

Black Japan if the floor was polished. Possibly Some oil like Linseed or Tung. Other coverings were Persian rugs if affluent or felt if not.

Just renovated a Victorian terrace and it had layers of Lino and felt carpet. The felt had a pattern stencilled or printed over it.

Newspaper. Lots of newspaper.

 

[WattleIdo]

Saw some early 1940's newspaper when the landlord polished the floors in Croydon, Sydney about 15 years ago! Very interesting - Italy was still with the Germans - a little confronting for my landlord.

Felt doesn't sound too bad at all. I seem to have a vague memory of a felt carpet somewhere ... showing my age.

Black Japan would look fantastic, wouldn't it?
Anyway, would you just pull up the carpet and whatever else is there, sand (hand sander, why not), repair where necessary and then mop on the tung oil?

 

[WattleIdo]

Would you consider hand sanding around the edges and using a bigger (hired) sander elsewhere? Or do you get a better finish with the hand sander?

 

[Crankshaw]

Crankshaw, are you fairly 'handy' when it comes to DIY? My hubby is not at all handy. If he watched an installation video and then tried to do it himself would he be ok? He's fairly practical but I wouldn't leave him in a corner with floorboards and tools and paper instructions! I have to assemble IKEA items as he ends up with the sh*ts!

ummm, you could say that, renovated the whole house by myself, bathroom, kitchen etc etc etc.
Floating floor is very easy, the hardest part is cutting the 'boards' to required length, search youtube, I am sure there will be videos of how it is done

 

[Tim86]

Because pine is a soft wood. It dings and scratches very easily and would look ratty again within 1 to 2 years?



Thanks.

The areas in question: http://i.imgur.com/WN678nf.jpg & http://imgur.com/6UG8Nny

I would be going for hoop pine floors over laminate any day

vs

or $23m2 aust mixed hardwood character grade:

http://somersoft.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13737&d=1420262983

 

[Connolly]

We put the laminate flooring in our last project. Double sided tape, a sharp knife, straight edge, small timber block, a hammer and some patience. Layed straight onto the existing slab; very easy to do.
Edging of each plank is beveled so transition pieces are seamless.

Nice to walk on, easy to repair and or replace, highly durable but as stated by others can pick it a mile away.

As for pricing not sure as family friend was high in the company so got at cost price.

Would be silly to pay someone to lay it, will charge a fortune and is simple DIY.

 

[Magnet]

Thanks for the advice Crankshaw, watched a few Utube videos and can see it's not worth hiring someone. Could save some $ towards something else. Might even tackle some other jobs ourselves. Worst that can happen is we need to call in a trade to rescue us and take over. Worth a go I think.

 

[rizzle]

We put the laminate flooring in our last project.

Did you go with a kitchen friendly choice? Some others on here mentioned that it is not ideal for wet areas/kitchens because of the MDF underneath.

 

[Kinnon Bell]

I will be laying some glue down vinyl planks in the next couple of weeks. I was originally looking at clip lock laminate but was talked out of it. I was dubious about vinyl as I had these images of flimsy sheets like the roll stuff is. I ordered a few samples and was pleasantly surprised - they're quite thick and rigid. Looking forward to laying them as it seems quite straight forward and I've gone for a charcoal colour so not a natural timber colour which I think can lead to that type of product looking fake.

 

[Connolly]

Did you go with a kitchen friendly choice? Some others on here mentioned that it is not ideal for wet areas/kitchens because of the MDF underneath.

To be honest I couldn't tell you, as I said family member was high up in the company at the time and comes from a flooring tradesman background. He said the product was suffice for kitchen area. We tiled bathroom and laundry.
Worst case scenario I pull up the old stuff and lay half a dozen new planks.

The product was by polyfloor an I believe they supply carpet court who have coined the selection 'laneway' if I remember right

 

[Robbiep]

I will be laying some glue down vinyl planks in the next couple of weeks. .

Which rooms did you lay down the vinyl? Do you have pics?

 

[Kinnon Bell]

Which rooms did you lay down the vinyl? Do you have pics?

They're going in an office (50sqm) and haven't quite gotten to the laying yet. Still at least a week away from doing so but will post pics once done.

 

[Robbiep]

Thanks..

You views on vinyl in a main bedroom of a PPOR?