opinions on pre-finished wooden flooring

[zendo]

Just after somo pros and cons of pre-finished floating wooden flooring (Verneered not laminiate) from any one who has experienced this type of product.We are looking at doing our kitchen family room , D.I.Y tips on laying and any other comments welcomed.

[jags]

Hi zendo

Will to start your are on the right track stay well clear of laminates they are crap and if you have a leak in the kitchen they will swell as they have a MDF or HDF core .I would rather lay cardboard on the floor than use them . (but they are great for rentals )

i have done quite a lot of research into this subject when i but my floor down and i ended up paying a bit more and going for two strip Boral Blackbutt .It looks amasing and is super hard wearing . i left the leftovers outside in the rain for two weeks and once it dryed you could not see that it had been drenched .
Personally i would uses one or two strip and long boards did not like the three strip as you can see the joins .

also it pays to go over the tongue edges of the boards with a mini plans so there lock together better .


best of luck

[Wood'n Floors]

Have you costed up and real timber t&g floor, i've managed to get them in for a reasonable cost compared to a quality timber floater.
Do some ringing around for overlay timber and compare the differance, the service life is far better from solid timber, but if your going to sell up go the cheaper option.

[gpkennedy]

I saw a very expensive prefinished (banboo) flooring that was being laid. There was a very slight variation in the depth of each board. This difference could be felt by the bare hand (or bare feet). It really needed to be resanded, somewhat negating the prefinishing.

[Metung]

I've just finished putting down over 100 sq.m. of Trueloc yellow stringy bark on an acoustic underlay. Looks and feels great and was a breeze to put down. I was most impressed with the quality control and precision of the product. It end locks as well as side locks and fitted together perfectly.I layed the lot in a couple of days, no mess, no fuss, finish guaranteed, which was the main reason I went down the floater path in the first place.
However I have opted for lino in the kitchen. For some reason I don't trust a floating floor in an area like that.