Advice on wood flooring in a Unit

[mshannon]

Hi,

I've been visiting these forums anonymously on and off for the last few years - mainly to read the posts related to the Triton. This is my first post as a member. The posts on this flooring forum have proved very helpful to me, but have now also put some doubt on to how I should proceed.

I'm in the process of renovating a unit (more "demolishing and coordinating" versus actual "building").
The wife and I would like to go with timber flooring in our unit on top of the concret slab - primarily cause it looks great when done well, and neither of us like the idea of exclusively tiling the place.

We have visited a few show rooms here in Brisbane, and seen many great products - bamboo flooring / floating t&g hard woods etc.
We have around 70 square metres to cover, consisting of a long hallway, 2 bedrooms, lounge and kitchen/dining area.

We plan to live in the apartment for around 3 years, then switch it over to a renter. So durability will be key. As we are in a unit complex, we also need to be considerate for the apartment below, so some type of noise dampening is also going to be required. Being in Brisbane, we may also need some type of moisture barrier.

We like the look of the bamboo flooring, but have received mixed reviews as to its quality. In typical friends-of-friends told-me fashion, we heard that bamboo flooring sourced from China is not up to the same quality of that produced in Australia and is likely to shrink/disfigure etc etc. I have not found anything on the internet to confirm this though.

Things that I have been pondering include:
Whether to go floating flooring, or glue directly on the slab?
Whether to use bamboo flooring, or hard-wood t&g
Do the noise dampening products work well, and if so, which do you recommend?
How has the flooring aged? Did it shrink?
Can you sand prefinished bamboo flooring should it get scratched, or after it becomes old (20+ years)?
Is it worth putting bamboo flooring on ply-board, or stick directly to slab?

As you can see, I'm thoroughly confused! We don't mind paying the extra dollars now, so long as that we get a quality product that is going to look good and more importantly last.
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

regards,

Matt.

[coastie]

I had a floating floor in a unit I had in Kiama,it was very noisy to walk on especially with leather soled shoes.Laid on bare concrete,it wasn't hard to look after just a mop over with a just damp mop with a special cleaner.It had the underlay which was only a very thin foam only about 2mm thick ,it didn't seem to deaden the noise over much.In the end we got a carpet square 5m long made and overlocked which solved the noise problem to some extent.I would look for a better quality underlay if I were you,as this seems to be the industry standard. .

[The Big O]

We have just done our study and hallway with Sydney Bluegum 12mm t&g boards stuck straight on top of existing ceramic tiles with Sikaflex (about 2-3mm) which gives a very quiet floor. Three coats of Toby's urethane gave it a glass finish. Very hardwearing and very attractive. Also much warmer on the piggies. My daughter used the cliplock type bamboo on a foam underlay. Very noisy and obviously unattractive. With real estate prices the way they are I wouldn't skimp.

[Gaza]

bamboo direct stuck to ply or concrete is a great hard-waring floor, there is as with all things good and bad brands so just shop around. i would stay away from stained bamboo and stick to the natural color.

We did a bar last year in Bamboo turned out real nice and flash, bamboo does have a micro grove between each board.

do a search for BT bamboo flooring they where one of the first to sell in Aust.

[Larry McCully]

Hi mate, bamboo is a good product, but has only a short wear life, un like solid timber. The bamboo stem is slit open and flattenrd, it is then sized into uniform thicknes and width. It is then glued together in layers, with the grain going in opposite direction at each layer. each layer is about 4mm thick, it ends up a big sheet, then they slice it up and put a tounge and grove in it . it is avail in as a overlay or 19mm thick so that it can be laid on joists if needed. It is a verry strong product and is nearly unbreakable, due to the change of grain at each layer and if you know bamboo, it is hard to snap in half. it looks like ply. The only problem is that the glue holding it all together, wont last 100 years as would a solid timber floor. i am not to sure what the manufacture guarntee is, that will give you some indication on the life of the product. if yo are going to rent, it may be worth considering the maintainance factor and repairs and resanding factor, floors in rentals get thrashed by tennents and may need recoating every couple of years, with a resand every 10 or so years. a solid timber floor will give yo at least 4.resands and loads of recoats. A bamboo floor will only give you about 2 resands at the max, its wear surface is only about 4mm. but you can give it recoats. But first it is a bylaw in the building code and the body corporate will require you to install a sound barrier, which will act as a vapour barrier as well. Regupol is a good product, g p embelton have a product called impactamat. also sika have a paint on product that will insulate against sound. Regupol is the favorite and used in many of the same instances. they are on the web.
I believe you still cant beat a good old fashioned 19mm solid timber species. Many to choose from, and will give you a hundred years of wworking life if not more. as long as you have a sound barrier in place, you can choose between battens or 15mm ply to secret nail your floor down to. i dont think direct stick is all that it is cracked up to be but is fine to do, it also has limitations. But it is good if height is a problem, But it is wise to get a installer who has worked with direct stick a lot. Otherwise you will end up with possible delamination and a uneven surface. I have done a lot of them, and they can cause problems if not done correctly. Give bamboo a go ,you will like it or 19mm solid both will give you joy, but one is better than the other.

[Larry McCully]

Hi mate, bamboo is a good product, but has only a short wear life, un like solid timber. The bamboo stem is slit open and flattenrd, it is then sized into uniform thicknes and width. It is then glued together in layers, with the grain going in opposite direction at each layer. each layer is about 4mm thick, it ends up a big sheet, then they slice it up and put a tounge and grove in it . it is avail in as a overlay or 19mm thick so that it can be laid on joists if needed. It is a verry strong product and is nearly unbreakable, due to the change of grain at each layer and if you know bamboo, it is hard to snap in half. it looks like ply. The only problem is that the glue holding it all together, wont last 100 years as would a solid timber floor. i am not to sure what the manufacture guarntee is, that will give you some indication on the life of the product. if yo are going to rent, it may be worth considering the maintainance factor and repairs and resanding factor, floors in rentals get thrashed by tennents and may need recoating every couple of years, with a resand every 10 or so years. a solid timber floor will give yo at least 4.resands and loads of recoats. A bamboo floor will only give you about 2 resands at the max, its wear surface is only about 4mm. but you can give it recoats. But first it is a bylaw in the building code and the body corporate will require you to install a sound barrier, which will act as a vapour barrier as well. Regupol is a good product, g p embelton have a product called impactamat. also sika have a paint on product that will insulate against sound. Regupol is the favorite and used in many of the same instances. they are on the web.
I believe you still cant beat a good old fashioned 19mm solid timber species. Many to choose from, and will give you a hundred years of wworking life if not more. as long as you have a sound barrier in place, you can choose between battens or 15mm ply to secret nail your floor down to. i dont think direct stick is all that it is cracked up to be but is fine to do, it also has limitations. But it is good if height is a problem, But it is wise to get a installer who has worked with direct stick a lot. Otherwise you will end up with possible delamination and a uneven surface. I have done a lot of them, and they can cause problems if not done correctly. Give bamboo a go ,you will like it or 19mm solid both will give you joy, but one is better than the other.

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