Floor boards

[Fat al]

Haya, Can anyone give me advice regarding timber floorboards?I have some asian guys who want to sell me solid timber floorboards to put in my house. However, the timber is imported from either indonesia or china (prefinished). It looks great but I am suspicious of the qualities and the durability etc, even though it is much cheaper than australian timber, I do wonder if I should be spending the extra moola and buy australian products instead. can anyone help in relation to advantages and disadvantages etc. cheers

[Bob38S]

Go the extra and get the Oz stuff - most of the imported timbers [I have come across] are inconsistent [quality - twist and cup - hardness and sizes] and I tend to class them in the same class as chipboard and MDF.

Also bear in mind that if we [ie all of us] do not support our local blokes then our locals will go broke and we will lose out completely.

I would certainly ask for a few samples of the "other" stuff for testing purposes.

[Markw]

Fat al

Don't know the company you spoke to but I used PM Timbers at Smithfield and got good Aussie Jarrah hardwood floor in pre-finished. Its all laid and looks great.

[Shedhand]

G'day. Its not only 'asians' who sell this stuff. A lot of sharks out there. Talk to a flooring contractor they'll happily advise you..a couple of them hang around here...
Use Aussie stuff if you can and look after our workers.

[Larry McCully]

Is it solid hardwood or is it laminated. also ask what species it is and its botanical name if they know. Then look up the web to get a reading on it. Although i am faithful to Australian products, I have used some overseas species that have a different character and grain structure to ours and some times you can get a very special floor, I do know that their is a timber being sold by Asian sellers called kempas. Which is sold in some timber yards anyway. We got heaps of timber here, we are a very lucky country, we have a rich source of hard and soft woods to choose from. I have seen some of the timbers Japanese turners and cabinetmakers use and they are incredible timbers. I reckon have a look but be discerning.