Big River Timbers - Prefinished Flooring?

[Bin J]

Hi there!

I remember reading not so long ago that Big River Timbers were starting a 'finishing plant'. I emailed them to ask when they thought they'd be producing the prefinished flooring and they said December / January.

Does anyone have an update on this? Are they selling the prefinished flooring yet? Does anyone know what species of prefinished flooring they are selling? (They don't have anything on their website yet)

Thanks!

[Markw]

I even left my name with the rep to be contacted as soon as they were in production which at the time was to happen before Christmas. No contact no interest. :mad:

In the end I went to PM Timbers at Smithfield. This is a far better product. A solid timber T&G board - no ply or MDF just solid Jarrah or Spotted Gum or some other specie with a prefinished surface. BR product is no better than any other engineered floating floorboard

The boards are laid directly over existing boards at 90 degrees and secret nailed. My order is due to be delivered in the next week and a half - can't wait

[bitingmidge]

Mark,

A solid timber floor is NOT necessarily a better product at all, and is susceptible to far more movement than a ply one.

The only benefit of a solid floor that I can think of, is that it can be sanded and re-sanded as need be, but that has to be offset by the need to provide proper room for expansion, and allow for contraction as well.

I have a healthy distrust for pre-finished product, as there is no way of preventing moisture entering the joins, as opposed to a lay/sand/finish product which provides a seal (more or less) over the whole surface.

We have a BR floor which is glued to concrete, is exposed to sunlight every day from the East, North and West, as well as extremes of humidity and after two years, still no sign of movement. You just can't risk that with solid timber!

Cheers,

P

[Markw]

Biting,
This solid floor is no different to laying a floor on floor joists except that you have the advantage of no exposure to the underside of the house. You install a sheet of builders plastic (200um) between the sub-floor (yellow tongue particle board or existing cyprus boards) except where you need to glue (sikka) the first few boards as the secret nailer won't fit.

With regard to moisture between the T&G joints, is this really an issue? As boards move due to expansion & contraction so that any surface seal above the T&G will actually crack apart. The only difference between these boards and say cyprus flooring boards is the material (Jarrah) and these boards are already lacquered on both the top and bottom.

I would suppose if you were really concerned, each joint could have a liberal splash of sikkaflex to seal it and if paranoid, why not give it another coat of epoxy. PM told me what the finish is "mirrortone"

BTW PM Timbers are currently experimenting with a post fitting floor treatment for just this issue.

As far as distrust goes, I would have more distrust of anything with MDF which could swell with moisture or with ply which can delaminate - therefore I wont use an engineered floor board.

[Bin J]

Unfortunately, I would probably need a prefinished floor, since I need it to float over the concrete slab.

[bitingmidge]

Because I have a stick-down floor does not mean it's the only way, but it is possible to direct stick a VERY stable flooring (ply or bamboo), or nail on battens over concrete.

Whatever you do, make sure that you have a proper vapour barrier between the slab and the floor. In a direct stick situation there are compatible products that do this.

Mark, moisture in pre-finished boards is most likely to be a problem in kitchens where there are constant spills, and eventually water will track into the join. We always specify glued joints in susceptible areas, and the floor manufacturers usually have similar requirements buried in the fine print.

A solid timber floor whether glued to a substrate or fixed to joists is still prone to movement with humidity change and the appropriate precautions need to be taken, eg control/expansion joints at all edges, and across large areas.

I build boats of ply, and haven't had one delaminate.

MDF?? Well if you want a cheap floor, go for it.. but seal the joins!

Cheers,

P

[glock40sw]

G'day All.
I drove past BRT on Sunday.
Their Pre finishing plant still has some wall sections to be installed.
I think it will be a little longer B4 they get going.
Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor
Grafton

[Bin J]

Thank you! I was waiting for you to show up!

[glock40sw]

Thank you! I was waiting for you to show up!

Ahhhhhh. Isn't that nice...

Somebody Likes Me...

Where's bloody E.mac (Bruce)?

See Bruce.....You were wrong ya mongrel..

Hooroo.

[E. maculata]

BRTs' finishing plant was going through its shakedown on 23rd Dec which is the last time I had contact, was lookin pretty good for poly IMHO (I prefer Tung personally) re the reps not contacting you that is bad form & not typical of them in my experience. Not sure how the basic product isn't up to scratch as alluded to in a post or two, have had extensive experience with their process and cannot fault the QA. Mind you always take the advice of suppliers & installers with a large grain of salt, vested interests & all that.
If you ring the plant directly and ask for "Shorty" (inhouse sales & he sure ain't short ) he'll point yu in the right direction, and maybe arrange a butt kick for the non-performing sales rep .