Engineered Flooring

A simple guide to engineered/floating flooring

The terms Floating Floor and Engineered floor both apply to the same product. It basically means that the floor can be 'floated' on an underlay, however, this type of floor can also be direct stuck onto concrete. For the purposes of this article we will refer to the product as a floating floor.

Advantages of a floating floor

The advantages of a floating floor are that it can be removed and used again elsewhere if required, it can be sanded and repolished up to 3 times (see picture below of a Kempas floor that has been re-coated in Gloss) also the fact that it is pre-finished means that there is no mess or fumes when being installed also it can be walked on within hours of being laid. Floating floors can be laid over any level, dry, structurally sound sub floors such as Tiles, old timber flooring, plywood and concrete slabs.

Method of construction

Our floating floors are made up of 3 layers;

  • The top layer , or surface layer, is made of 4mm solid Hardwood, and is made in either wide board (1 - strip), or 2 lengths of timber running side by side (2 - strip) or 3 lengths of timber , again running together along the length of the plank (3 - strip).
  • The middle layer or core layer is made from pine or plywood and is glued at right angles to the top and bottom layer (cross bonded)
  • The stabilising base layer is either Australian plantation timber or plywood.

The middle and base layer together are 11mm therefore the whole board measures between 14 and 15mm in thickness. Depending on the supplier the boards are between 1.2 and 2.0 meters long and fit together with a tongue and groove system, or in the case of Readyflor the timber comes in either tongue and groove or click-system. The top hardwood layer has 6 coats of UV cured acrylic coating and we carry both gloss and semi gloss boards depending on which make is chosen.

Brands Stocked

ReadyFlor

We have a large range of ReadyFlor products on display both on floor and on display stands. The ReadyFlor product is one of the finest quality products available in the market. They are also available in various timber options which are all backed by a Lifetime Structural Warranty and a 25 Year Residential Wear Warranty.

Our engineered / floating floors are available in a huge range of species including Jarrah, Tasmanian Oak, Spotted Gum, Southern Box, Flooded Gum, Blackbutt, Pacific Blackbutt,  Pecan Blackbutt, Red Ironwood, American Walnut, American Oak, Kemas, Merbau and Hevea. Most of these floors carry a 25 year residential wear warranty. Most of these are available in wide board at very competitive prices.

These timbers are all installed in our walk-on floor displays in the Osborne Park showroom. Other species are available to order.

*We often carry seconds of Kempas 1, 2 and 3 strip, usually at sale times, they retail at half the price so check with us if you want to pick up a bargain.

Accessories

We stock the full range of accessories for the installation of floating floors, from door and edge trims, to beading and glue. We carry 3 types and price ranges of underlay, plain white foam, 'Supalay' which is silver and contains a moisture barrier, and the top of the range is our unique heavy Acoustic underlay which is very effective sound insulator with a built in moisture barrier (suitable for all applications)