At present, timber flooring in the Sydney market is mainly divided into four categories: solid wood, engineered flooring, hybrid SPC flooring, and laminates. You can find all four categories of products on our website. But how to choose products suitable for you? We may try to consider from following perspectives.
Price
If the budget is relatively high, solid wood flooring and engineered timbers could be options for you. Especially the herringbone engineered timber, a recent hit, they are luxury and beautiful, but the price of it is even higher than the price of solid wood.
If the budget is average, laminates and hybrid products should be the best choice for you. They are the most cost-effective products with long service life.
Performance
The performance of the floor mainly includes waterproof grade and abrasion resistance. As far as waterproof performance is concerned, hybrid flooring is the best, which is completely waterproof and very suitable for places with high water consumption such as kitchens and laundry rooms. Laminates also have collections with relatively high waterproof grade. Although it cannot be 100% waterproof, it is completely no problem for daily use. Compare to laminates and hybrid products, solid wood and engineered floors are more sensitive to water.
For the abrasion resistance, laminate is the best, followed by hybrid flooring. Because the surface of solid wood and engineered floor are natural wood, compared with laminates and hybrid floor, the abrasion resistance level of them is lower. After several years of daily use, scratches will inevitably appear. Therefore, when choosing products, we need to consider whether there will be some uncontrollable factors in the installation place, such as pets and children.
Colour
The colour matching should take into account the overall home style, more detailed, to match the furniture, wall and other decorations. Laminates and hybrid planks have wider colour ranges, including classic solid-wood-imitated colours, as well as grey, brown and creamy ones. For engineered products, oak collections are relatively diverse in colour, including warm and cold, dark and light colours. The engineered wood-colour products and solid wood products retain the original colour of the wood. Therefore, for interior design, if solid wood products are your choice, it is highly recommended to start from the floor colour and select other decorations later to match; if laminates or hybrid products are selected, don’t worry, you can always find the right colour in the wide range.
For the colour itself, neutral colours, such as cream and light grey, are more versatile; wood colours are warmer while cold-tone ones are more modern; light colours will make the room brighter and larger visually while dark colours will appear more luxurious and dignified. In addition, in the overall design, the colours of large areas, such as cabinets, walls, floors, etc., can be different, but the colour tone is better to be kept in consistent, which will look more coordinated and neater.
Installation conditions
The main considerations here are the material and levelling condition of the plain ground, the levelling issue with other floor materials, and the type of house.
First of all, if the plain floor is cement, solid wood flooring cannot be laid directly, and plywoods or battens need to be added, which will increase the cost and may cause levelling issues with other flooring materials. Solid wood flooring is not allowed to be laid in the apartment.
Secondly, if the level of the plain ground itself is problematic, its severity needs to be considered. If the levelling difference is small, it can be solved by some technical means of laying planks, but if the difference is large, additional adjustment is necessary. Among these products, hybrid planks have the highest requirement for the condition of the plain ground, and it cannot be laid if it is uneven or not level.
Finally, if there is a height difference between timber flooring and other floor materials, solutions are depending on whether you can accept it. If it is acceptable, we can just install. If it is unacceptable, extra adjustments are needed or products with different thickness need to be selected .
Property Nature
If it is a rental house, hybrid planks and laminates are the first choices, which are cost-effective, wear-resistant, and have no pits when things fall. At the same time, waterproof grade are higher. After several years, they are easy to replace at a lower cost. If you have children at home, laminates may be the option due to its high wear-resistant level, better foot feeling compared to hybrid products. If there are no pets and children at home, and the decoration budget is relatively high, solid wood and engineered timbers are very suitable. After all, the texture of solid wood is incomparable.
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