Timber or tile floors

[Sunnygal]

Hi,

I am over carpet so I am thinking of doing the timber floors instead (real timber over chipboard).

Has any one else had timber floors laid.

FWIW I was quoted $128 per square metre fully installed (i.e. delivery, installation & laquer/polishing) for Vic Ash.

Any info appreciated including opinions on which you think is better: timber or tiles (I could go either way but prefer wood just for the way it looks). So long as it's not carpet again

[Julie-Ann]

I think both tiles and wooden floors have their pros and cons.

We have wooden floors in our current house and the thing that annoys me the most is the dust! I constantly have dust bunnies - even an hour after vacuuming. I recently bought the Roomba vacuum that vacuums by itself. The best thing since sliced bread! We had sandy coloured tiles in our last house and you would feel the dirt and still not be able to see it.

The negative with tiles is the grout. I have had a kitchen tiled floor recently sealed in the hope it keeps the grout clean. I will let you know in a few months how it goes.

I am also banned from wearing heels in the house to avoid the dent factor.

A lot of people who discover their houses are cold with floorboards usually live in houses where the floorboards aren't lined - i.e. old houses that have floorboards and that aren't built in underneath - the cold air gets under the house and the cold air comes up through the floorboards.

There is an underfloor insulation product on the market at the moment http://www.expol.com.au/ (http://www.expol.com.au/) that you can install yourself (it actually goes under the house itself) rather then between the chipboard and your floorboards. Its originally from NZ and very popular over there so perhaps it may be worthwhile considering

[Flora]

We had timber floors (glued to the concrete slab) put in 6 years ago. The wood was masmate - we still love it. It was about $150/sqm

With timber you cry when you get the first scratch but then you get over it. I use cedar oil on a cotton tip from the supermarket on any scratches, and they disappear.

[Jac Newcastle]

hey sunnygal......go with wood..... you will never look back. Just make sure that you get a recommended tradesman to lay the floor. There are some cowboys out there. Ask your friends if they can recommend a company's work AND their tradespeople. I have had a couple of floors laid in previous houses. The best one I found was someone that I did the homework on..... even went to a house that he was working on at the time and looked at portfolio of photos of previous jobs. Good luck

[Sunnygal]

Thanks for the input.
It sounds like the quote was reasonable.
We have decided to go with the timber floors. But I will ask to see houses they are working at - good idea.
Julie-Ann, where did you get the robot vacuum cleaner? Does it do a decent job?

[Julie-Ann]

Great idea to look at the work of whoever is actually going to install the floors.
The vacuum was from Harvey Norman.(see thread Robot Vacuum)
Good luck with the floors

Thanks