Hardwood Timber Flooring
Timber has been a favorite choice of floor covering in Australia for decades and still leads its niche. Over the years traditional timber floorboards have changed to a more variety of options in sizes and finishes, but still, be a worm natural solution to inlight character and style of any real estate.
If you are thinking of installing new flooring in your home, this is a pretty big decision to make! You are likely researching the different types of flooring that would suit the climate, lifestyle, size and decor of your home. In this blog, as you will have gathered from the title, we’ll be exploring hardwood timber flooring, and how it can improve the quality, style and practicality of your home.
Hardwood Timber Flooring As A Home Floor Option
What makes hardwood timber flooring a good home floor option? Every type of flooring has its pros and cons, but hardwood floors are a truly brilliant option for almost all homeowners.
Firstly, hardwood flooring is super durable. Wood is a material that lasts hundreds of years when it is cared for properly, meaning that you will have beautiful flooring for life if you choose it for your home. When you choose timber flooring, you don’t have to worry about replacing the floor in a few years’ time.
In addition, timber flooring provides a stunning aesthetic for your home. If you are searching for ways to make your home more elegant, classy and timeless, beautiful timber flooring is the way to go. With gorgeous shine that allows sunlight to bounce beautifully around the space, hardwood floors take your home from average to unforgettable.
In the past year, we have all been more attuned to the cleanliness of our homes, in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Timber flooring is definitely the cleaner option, when you consider how much bacteria carpets can hold. Wood floors are super easy to clean, making your home feel and look cleaner, brighter and overall more hygienic.
Overall, hardwood timber flooring is the perfect addition to any home that wants to increase its elegance, durability, sustainability and cleanliness.
Available options for timber flooring
When it comes to timber flooring, there are more options available than you might originally have thought. Traditional wood flooring is, of course, cut down to size and created from natural tree wood. This is just one available option in today’s world - and here we’ll explore it further, along with another option that has emerged in recent years.
Solid timber flooring
Traditional solid timber flooring, as we said before, comes from natural trees that have been cut and shaped for flooring purposes. With solid timber, you can have flooring from many different types of tree, including species of Australian hardwood to choose from:
Australian Beech - This attractive hardwood has a warm tone and ranges from golden brown to a slightly pink shade.
Blackbutt - Blackbutt is a straight-grained hardwood with a pale brown hue.
Brush Box - This richly coloured hardwood is a popular choice for flooring as it features an even texture and attractive tones of brownish-red through to pale pink.
Flooded Rose Gum - Flooded Rose Gum has a unique range of hues which range from the soft rose pink, which is where it gets its name, to rich reds and brown tones.
Forest Red - As its name suggests, Forest Red is a distinctive blend of warm red tones.
Iron Bark - Iron Bark provides a varied range of tones that range from light brown to richer shades of red.
Red Mahogany - Mahogany is a rich brown with red tones, which has a luxurious feel.
Spotted Gum - This mottled wood features shades of brown.
Sydney Blue Gum - This distinctively coloured timber features red and pinkish tones.
Turpentine - Turpentine is one of the most durable types of timber flooring and features brown hues.
Western Australian Karri - This attractive hardwood ranges from a soft pink colour through to shades of reddish-brown.
and some other:
- Pine
- Oak
- Maple
- Cherry
- Walnut
- Ash
- Mahogany.
Solid timber flooring requires availability of good quality natural wood, meaning you will need to source it from a reputable company that has sustainability values too. In today’s world, where deforestation is rife, there are many timber flooring companies that are committed to sustainable use of natural wood - so make sure you source these if traditional flooring is the one you want!
Engineered timber flooring
Engineered timber flooring is very common, yet not many people actually know what it is. The difference between engineered flooring and traditional hardwood flooring is that engineered flooring has a real wood top layer, but the rest of the floor underneath is made of a different material.
What does this mean? Well, firstly, engineered timber flooring probably has a lower cost, because the actual wood, which is the expensive part, is much thinner than solid timber flooring. This means you can cover more space for less with engineered timber flooring.
Additionally, you can have much better stability with engineered floors. This is because natural wood expands, contracts and warps over time; if the layer is thinner, and reinforced with other materials underneath, this is much less likely to happen.
Installation types
Not only are there many types of timber flooring you can have in your home, but there are also multiple ways you can have the flooring installed. This will affect both the cost, quality and aesthetic of your floor - so let’s explore the different installation types of timber flooring!
Tongue & Groove floorboards
Tongue and groove boards are traditional and the most popular with solid timber floors. Installing T&G flooring involves fitting wood panels together; the wood fits together in a perfect puzzle, with the “tongue” part of a board fitting into the “groove” part of another. This type of flooring can be nailed and glued down.
Floating Floor
A floating floor is a budget-friendly way of achieving a beautiful wood floor. Floating floors don’t need to be glued or nailed into the subfloor; they exist as an overlay, without any chemicals or equipment needed. This is a good option for someone looking at cost-effective natural timber flooring! Usually, you will find the engineered flooring would be laid using the floating installation method, even though solid and engineered timber flooring can be laid as floating floors.
Glue-Down
All floor types can be glued down, whether they are engineered wooden floors or solid timber floors. The glue needs to be suitable for the wood itself, and this needs to be done professionally or with an experienced hand in order to get the placement bang-on. It is also essential that there isn’t any dampness on the subfloor so that you don’t have mold and damp problems down the line as well as floor buckling up and lifting as a result.
Cleaning and maintenance of timber flooring
Once your beautiful solid timber floor or engineered timber floor is successfully installed, it’s time to research the maintenance side of things. You need to research how the type of wood you have on your floor, and the types of cleaning products that are compatible with the material. This will mean avoiding substances such as bleach, which will ultimately damage the wood over time. The best option is to choose a floor cleaner that is designed for wood floors.
Additionally, you will need to finish the floor once it is installed, with a wood varnish or other finishing product. This way, the floor will be protected (for the most part) from scratches, stains and other damage - although this will need to be refreshed every so often for maximum protection.
Conclusion
All in all, choosing the right kind of hardwood timber flooring for your home is an important process that requires careful consideration! Use this blog post to help you decide the type of floor and installation process you want for your home.