Timber Buyers Guide

It’s easy to add immense value, style and fabulous functionality to your home with the range of timber flooring options from Carpet Court. What’s not quite as easy is deciding which type of flooring is the perfect one for your home, budget and lifestyle.

KNOWING YOUR TIMBER FLOORS

Timber floors can be installed by the floating floor method where planks click and lock together, seemingly to ‘float’ above the subfloor, or by directly adhering the timber floorboards (engineered or solid) to the subfloor using specialised adhesives which is commonly referred to as a Direct Stick installation. ‘Floating floors’ and ‘timber floors’ are terms loosely used to describe a range of timber flooring products. Use our Timber Flooring Buyer’s Guide to clear up the confusion and know which type of timber flooring is right for you.

TYPES OF TIMBER FLOORING

As opposed to laminate flooring, vinyl flooring and hybrid flooring which resemble the appearance, sound and feel of authentic timber floors, the term ‘timber flooring’ generally refers to timber flooring products such as:

1. Solid timber floors
2. Engineered timber floors
3. Parquetry floors

While all types of timber floors offer the beautifully luxurious aesthetic of natural wood floors in a variety of stunning colours and woodgrain textures, it’s important to be aware of the different types of timber floors in order to choose the right floor for your home.

TIMBER FLOORING OPTIONS

1. Solid timber flooring

A timeless type of floor covering and a popular choice for hundreds of years, solid timber flooring best describes solid wood floorboards which are nailed into place and fixed to the subfloor.

Typically, the solid hardwood floors which are featured in old and new homes throughout Australia are made from Australian and International wood species such as Spotted Gum, Jarrah, Pine or Oak.

Solid wood floor coverings are considered luxury floors in comparison to other forms of hardwood flooring, partly due to the higher costs of both product and installation. Solid timber floorboards require periodic sanding and polishing to restore shine and lustre which dulls with wear and tear.

Solid Timber Floors are very sensitive to moisture and humidity in their environment, so the more popular choice these days is the more stable engineered timber flooring.

2. Engineered timber flooring

Cleverly designed to provide the greatest durability and resistance to issues such as expansion and contraction of boards, warping and swelling, engineered wood flooring looks, feels, and sounds just like solid timber planks. The main difference? These floors have a layered construction and offer a different price point to solid wood floors, partly due to cheaper installation costs.

Versatile and resilient engineered timber flooring is designed with a layered construction in a range of plank widths and lengths. Beneath multiple layers of protective coating and water-resistant sealant sit a strip of real wood, commonly Oak, Spotted Gum, Brushbox, Ironbark, Jarrah or Blackbutt. Beneath the real wood layer are core layers providing the floor with stability.

Different core layers:
The substance of these core layers can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and product to product.

1. Some engineered timber floors are constructed with bonded core layers of plywood. These are typically used with wood species, which boast natural strength and stability such as Oak.

2. Other engineered wood floors are designed using core layers of Hevea rubberwood. Hevea is sometimes used with premium timbers such as Spotted Gum, providing it with more core stability and protection against warping.

3. Parquetry floors

Timeless, elegant parquetry floors make a statement in any home. Boasting historic French origins, the traditional parquetry floors use many small pieces of real wood to create zig-zag patterns, made from luxurious wood species with rich textures such as Cherry, Oak, Mahogany and Walnut.

Carpet Court’s distinctive Chevron and Herringbone floors in timber (with a laminate flooring option) reproduce the luxurious visual appeal of parquetry flooring with a stylish contemporary flair. These Chevron and Herringbone products are also available in authentic Australian species timbers such as Spotted Gum and Blackbutt.