Flooring Showrooms in Melbourne

[vGolfer]

Anyone have any recommendations for any showrooms that have floorboards on display in Melbourne? I just want to get a better idea as to what they look like when layed and polished?

I'm talking about actual floorboards...not floating floors etc


Thanks in advance.

[Metung]

There are two places that I know of:

The Home Ideas Centre, 1686 Dandenong Road, East Oakleigh,near the corner of Clayton Road

The Timber Merchants Association, 1/180 Whitehorse Road, Balckburn.

[Chesand]

Shiver me Timbers in Altona and Aust Recycled Timber in Campbellfield both have sample sections of recycled flooring on display

[Dusty]

Tait, Timber and Hardware, Somerville.

Bellbird Timber, Hampton.

Boral. (wherever the hell they are)

[seriph1]

all the above PLUS WHELANS WAREHOUSE is a must .... PLUMMER STREET PORT MELBOURNE - Mark Snow runs the show down there and is ex-Nullarbor Timbers..... he knows his stuff. BIG displays too, which for me, really helps when deciding which way to go.

have fun

[elphingirl]

Skinnywood Timber in Punt Road, Abbotsford were extremely helpful, have a good showroom including overlay (12mm suitable for slab or over particle board) flooring timbers.
Cheers
Justine

[vGolfer]

Checked out Shiver Me Timbers - really helpful and some nice flooring. Took away some samples. Jarrah, Blue Leaf Stringy Bark and Queensland Spotted Gum.

Jarrah is a bit dark (I love it but...), the Blue Leaf seemed a bit pale and the Spotted Gum was a bit too 'brown'.

I'm looking for a hard wood that is a bit more of a honey/orangey/red colour. Not too dark but with a bit of richness. if anyone has the 'Home' Magazine from the Herald Sun on Saturday, the floor on the cover is something like what I am after.

Any recommendation helpful. Thanks again for all the help.

[seriph1]

Sounds like Sydney Bluegum may be the answer ..... I believe a display of it is at Whelans as mentioned.

have fun!

[vGolfer]

Sounds like Sydney Bluegum may be the answer ..... I believe a display of it is at Whelans as mentioned.

have fun!
I went to Whelans...very good. Mark was helpful. They have the Blue Gum but not any polished. It does look nice though. Not too dark.

I'm thinking this may be suitable in both the more traditional part of the house (hallway and dining room) and also the more contemporary part of the house (kitchen and living room).

It looks like a good all-round choice.

[seriph1]

Glad they were helpful!

Another timber you "may" want to consider is Douglas Fir, though it does start out light, it ages down or can be stained to suit. It is available in relatively wide boards of 208mm. Depending on the age and style of the home, this material has been used with great success..... I bought some and actually made a cabinet from it - it was good to work with and the finished product (door-sized DVD cabinet) turned out nicely.

[Gumby]

Boral have a big show room at 17-19 Summit RD Noble Park. That's where wew went last year and they had quite a good set up. They were building an even bigger show room at the time so it is well worth a look. They don't sell it there but will put you on to a supplier.

There's also Floorworld in Wellington Rd Rowville who had a really good show room. You could do both at the same time.

[vGolfer]

Had a look at the Boral showroom attached to Tait Timber in Tooronga. Really good setup with a lot of different types of flooring.

Sydney Bluegum is looking good, as is Forest Reds (large % is Bluegum and is a fair bit cheaper).

I also like the look of the Rose Gum, but they told me it wasn't available in 130mm width boards.

Would you guys in here use Boral to buy your timber or would you source elsewhere?

[Gumby]

I may be wrong but when I got my floors last Xmas, Boral didn't sell direct. You had to go through one of their outlets.

[vGolfer]

I probably should have clarified. The centre is actually Tait Timber and it is predominantly (if not all) Boral wood.

[Gumby]

My spotted gum came from Boral, laid by a mate who does it . Very happy with the finish and quality. Been down 7 months, very little movement and darkens up really well. It's spectacular timber in my opinion. (13mm boards over particle board existing floor)

[Dan_574]

I went with boral too, Karri natural grade, layed by me and if I do say so myself it looks fantastic, especially with the black putty the sander used, he did a great job. Little movement. Just a word of warning stick with some one reputable I have heard some horror stories about people who bought on the cheap from the auctions and the like and when they have opened the pack they had throw half of it away. I payed about $38/m last year from connollys timber in coburg, good bloke.

[vGolfer]

My spotted gum came from Boral, laid by a mate who does it . Very happy with the finish and quality. Been down 7 months, very little movement and darkens up really well. It's spectacular timber in my opinion. (13mm boards over particle board existing floor)
Hey Gumby, I liked the Spotted Gum as well. I just thought it was a little too brown. What are your thoughts?


I went with boral too, Karri natural grade, layed by me and if I do say so myself it looks fantastic, especially with the black putty the sander used, he did a great job.
Dan74, my brother laid some Karri and it was VERY red. I don't think they had it stained. Was your Karri very red?

One other thing - how long should it be left on site to acclimatise before it is laid?

[Gumby]

Hey Gumby, I liked the Spotted Gum as well. I just thought it was a little too brown. What are your thoughts?

One other thing - how long should it be left on site to acclimatise before it is laid?

Mine didn't aclimatize at all. It was in the garage for a couple of weeks and then straight on the floor. Maybe a bit of time in the house would have been better but it was summer.

I love the contrasts in the spotted gum. Yes, it's mainly brown but we did a copmlete reno so we just stayed with colours that would match it. I had new plaster walls to replace to crappy old pine boards and did all new window archs, skirtings, the lot. It depends on what is available. We had to wait for the spotted gum as they had run out and we couldn't get any in melboure anywhere at the time. The grain is magnificent and it's about the hardest of them all. It's lovely just walking around on it with a pair of thick socks. :D
You can get it with or without those sap marks but i prefer them left in - it looks more natural. (apparently that is what most people do)

[vGolfer]

Thanks for the pics. The floor looks great.

I think we have decided on Sydney Bluegum. Hopefully it looks good at our place.

The guy at Tait told us to allow for 5% wastage. He also reinforced the point that the timber will move (expand/shrink) and that we should put curtains in rooms that get a lot of sunlight.

That made me a bit anxious. One of our rooms faces west and gets tons of sun. we don't have any window coverings at all (I know we should but we don't). Is this going to age the timber a lot more than in other rooms in the house?

[Dan_574]

here you go, Its not too red, I think the blue gum is redder.

[vGolfer]

Looks great Dan. Tait told me that the current batches of Redgum they have been receiving have been a bit lighter.

The quoted me about $71 per sqm reduced from $88. That's for the classic grade. Does that sound about right?

And as far as sanding and polishing goes, is it advisable to get a pro to do this? I've been told it can be around $50 per sqm for sanding and polishing which sounds like a lot.

[Gumby]

That looks really nice Dan but I'd move that mat under the table unless you've had the timber for a while. We were told that we shouldn't put down any mats for at least 12 months because you'll end up with light patches underneath as the surrounding timber darkens. At the end of our family room the widow faces North and we get a lot of sun in there, particularly in winter when the sun is down low. No indoor curtains yet either.We have an outdoor blind which comes down every day when we are at work to protect the floor. Even so, it has darkened marginally more down there than the rest of the room. It's almost impossible to notice unless you know it's there. I don't think there's a lot you can do about it. I certainly wouldn't worry about different rooms though. They will change if there's a different amount of light but you'll be the only one who notices.

As I said, watch out for mats, and move any furnture around for the first year. Even the small section under my sub-woofer is slightly lighter so i move that too. I have furnitue on small legs which is preferable (you can see the cabinet in the photo I posted). That allows light underneath.

Unfortunately, being natural timber , there isn't anything you can do to stop it. Just be aware it happens. (I love how it has darkened though, it's stunning)

[Gumby]

Looks great Dan. Tait told me that the current batches of Redgum they have been receiving have been a bit lighter.

The quoted me about $71 per sqm reduced from $88. That's for the classic grade. Does that sound about right?

And as far as sanding and polishing goes, is it advisable to get a pro to do this? I've been told it can be around $50 per sqm for sanding and polishing which sounds like a lot.

Sounds about right . The spotted gum was around $65/m and I think about $55/m to have it put down, sanded, sealed and finished. It was $7000 all up for about 60sqm

Another tip, take the skirting boards off before laying the floor and then put them back (or new ones). That means you don't have the quad all round the room. You can't avoid it in the kitchen though, unless you intend to renovate that as well.

[Dan_574]

Golfer, I think I mentioned earlier that it cost me about $38/m about 12-18 months ago. Give Craig a call at connollys timber and see what he can do, he's in coburg 1300855031.
Yeah the flooring under the mat is alot lighter, thanks for the advice. Im not going to worry about it just yet because with a 4 and 5 year old its hard to get them to lift the chairs(even with felt under them it hasnt helped) the kids are pretty hard on the floors, so I will wait another couple of years when they are older and get them redone. I might be finished the house by then as well(but I doubt it).
Definately get a pro in to sand and finish the floor, I went with 1pack poly satin and it's great. I used clarkefield floors and they charged about $25-30/m. Where in melb are you. Connolys can supply the glue as well.

[Gumby]

and get them redone. I might be finished the house by then as well(but I doubt it).
l.

IU don't think getting them redone will solve the light/dark problem. I have big felt pads from Bunnings and the chairs slide just fine. (21 year olds don't lift chairs either )
;)