Timber Flooring
When I first visited my pal’s apartment when he moved in, the first thing that struck was the impressive timber flooring. This was more than 8 years ago, when it first started getting popular in mid-price homes. Back then, lower and mid-priced homes all either used parquet or homogeneous tiles for bedrooms and upper floors.
We’ll go into why I dislike (a polite word chosen) parquet.
Coming back to timber flooring, the technology has come a long in the past few years, making it increasingly popular. But what are the factors that have made it so? Let’s look at some of the factors:
Affordability – as mentioned, what was once only used in high-end bungalows, is now quite popular in apartments and linkhomes. By using competitively priced timber and more streamlined manufacturing processes, timber strips have been made accessible to a wider range of potential customers. In addition to that, more and more suppliers and installers are appearing in the market, making prices more competitive and offering a wide range of prices, from the expensive imported Tasmanian oak to the local merbau and cengal.
Ease of installation – What makes timber strips popular is that the tongue and groove locking mechanism makes it easy to install and simple to achieve a smooth and impressive surface. Some buyers even lay the strips themselves to save labour costs.
Durability – in the old days, timber flooring tend to get scratched or come loose over time, especially if exposed to humidity, dampness, termite attack and heavy foot traffic. For examples, the area in front of your bathroom tends to get ‘fat’ and pop up, making it unsightly and discoloured. Now with the laminating and chemical treatment, the quality of the product has vastly improved. My friend’s timber strip supplier even offered him 10 years warranty, and even approaching the end of this tenure, there hasn’t been any problem at all.
Variety – These days, timber strips come in many different shades, sizes and textures. You can have light cream coloured strips to match your sunny bedroom, or dark stained wood to make your dining room look cosy and with ambience. For those interested in interior decoration, the different types of textures and colours offer depth and different dimension to your home, at the same time still affordable.
My dusty old house still has parquet in the bedrooms and staircase. The problems are well known – they come off at the slightest hint of water, uneven, prone to poor quality finishing, unsightly skirting, etc. Everyday I have to put back the loose pieces like a jigsaw puzzle.
The recent tongue and groove seems to be the best product in the market now. However, comparing the earlier real timber strips, is there a difference? Most people are under the impression that tongue and groove is still somewhat lesser in terms of quality compared to traditional timber strips, hmm, i wonder why..
Comment by PNP — April 8, 2006 @ 3:18 am
i think the earlier types were just an ‘L’ shape interlocking mechanism, a bit like pavement tiles. But whatever the mechanism they use, a lot boils down to the workmanship and finished products…
Comment by Administrator — April 11, 2006 @ 9:59 pm