Prefinished "solid" floor, or raw?

[Art Martin]

Hi,

Anyone have any advice on the pro's/cons of using a prefinished floor(not floating floor, but real timber), vs getting it raw and then having the floor sanded and polished once layed? Is it much of a muchness, or fair difference between the two?

I'm leaning towards prefinished, as there seems to be a significant cost advantage to this method, but just worry it won't look as "tight" as a floor that has been sanded and polished once layed?

[Dusty]

Hi,

Anyone have any advice on the pro's/cons of using a prefinished floor(not floating floor, but real timber), vs getting it raw and then having the floor sanded and polished once layed? Is it much of a muchness, or fair difference between the two?

I'm leaning towards prefinished, as there seems to be a significant cost advantage to this method, but just worry it won't look as "tight" as a floor that has been sanded and polished once layed?

Not only will it not look as tight it also won't be flat, as it's impossible to get each stick of timber to sit exactly the same as the one next to it. This is why raw timber is still the most commonly used method for solid timber flooring, as it allows the sanders to come in and get it flat prior to the coats being applied. This is the most important step in the overall look.

[glock40sw]

G'day.
Pre-finished floors do not look "right"

Always go for the raw flooring and have it sanded and sealed in the normal manner.
It may cost more, but you get what you pay for.

Dusty, Great Website, mate.
Love the Spotted.
Why was the Vic Ash top nailed? Looks like crap compared to Secret nailed.

[Art Martin]

Thankyou both for your comments.

The lack of "evenness" I assumed would occur with prefinished was what I was worried about...so thanks for letting me know.

Just out of interest, do you think this level of unevenness occurs with floating floors as well? i.e the 3-4mm timber veneer boards with a ply backing. Or are they more well engineered to be even?

[Dusty]

G'day.


Dusty, Great Website, mate.
Love the Spotted.
Why was the Vic Ash top nailed? Looks like crap compared to Secret nailed.

Thanks, Trev.
The 3 Vic Ash floors featured in these pics are all old floors that were laid some thirty to forty years ago on stumps, bearers and joists. Not a lot of secret nailing went on back then.

Actually, most of the work I do is restoring the old stuff, with only a smattering of new work when I need an easy week or two.

[Dusty]

Thankyou both for your comments.

The lack of "evenness" I assumed would occur with prefinished was what I was worried about...so thanks for letting me know.

Just out of interest, do you think this level of unevenness occurs with floating floors as well? i.e the 3-4mm timber veneer boards with a ply backing. Or are they more well engineered to be even?

No. Floating floors seem to sit much flatter. Might be more what your looking for. Perhaps.

[WorkForBuilders]

hello again:

the advantage of using pre-finished solid timber:no sanding and coating is required (may suitable for some families) , if you lay them yourself then you can also have a big saving on the sanding and coating. depends on what type of pre-finished, most of the time the coating on pre-finished is better (less imperfections)than traditional coating done manually by a sander

disadvantge: as ppl have already said, finish is not as flat as raw solid.(it also depends on how flat is your substrate and how good the boards are).You will have those little gaps between every board as they can't make square edges on prefinished . So unfortunately , you will get bevel edges.

[roy]

Ive just gone through this and decided to go prefinished. it was layed on an acoustice underlay and is totally flat. mind you it was a new house so everything is square. Probably wouldn twork as well in the old timer house which have become somewhat wonky. but im very happy with it.