TIMBER FLOORS
PARQUET STRIP - PLANK
TIMBER FLOORS is a term that applies to all flooring
products manufactured from WOOD.
Timber floors or Wood floors are available in a great variety of types
and physically different forms. Timber floors include all types of Parquet,
Strip and Plank flooring and may be either Pre-finished or Site-finished. All
types of timber floors may be used in conjunction with an extensive array of
sub-floor materials to deliver specific requirements such as :-
- Sprung
- Sports Floor
- Performing Arts
- Structure Borne Sound Isolation
- Thermal Insulation
- Field Impact Isolation Classification
- Acoustical Benefits (Recording Studios etc)
Your selection of a timber floor should be influenced by much more than
just a choice of colour !
It should also be influenced by consideration of quite a number of site
requirements, which will vary, depending upon both the geographic location of
the site and upon the type of timber floor system that you choose.
SELECTION of any WOOD FLOOR should take account of the following facts
:-
- The time necessary to acquire, prepare, receive, store and
acclimatise your timber floor before even the installation process begins, will
be dictated by the type of timber floor that you choose.
Whereas
Pre-finished floors are generally installed straight out of a shrunk-wrapped
pack, at the other end of the spectrum conventional strip floors must be
stripped out and acclimatised on site for a minimum of 4 weeks, prior to
commencing the installation process. Therefore, whether one is involved in new
construction or a renovation of premises that are being lived, these decisions
can have a bearing on just how convenient or inconvenient each type of floor
might be to undertake, in your circumstances.
Pre-finished floors are
generally able to be installed in one visit to the site.
Conventional
Parquet floors require a minimum of six (6) visits to site over a period of
around 3 weeks from start to finish
Conventional Strip Timber Floors
over concrete sub-floors, require a minimum of nine (9) visits to the site over
a period of not less than 8 weeks from start to finish.
- As timber is a natural product which is hydroscopic, this means it
lives and breathes and gives off and up-takes moisture through a range of
climatic conditions. Because of this some consideration of proximity to any
large body of water (ocean, lakes, rivers) and the expanse or extent of the
area that is involved in any installation, requires careful consideration of
the construction method and certainly worthy of thought to consider a choice
between either one-direction or multi-directional floors.
As timber
expands and contracts across the width of the board and negligibly in its
length, conventional one-directional board or strip floors, expand and contract
at twice the rate of multi-directional floors. To express this another way,
parquet floors (installed in any multi-directional pattern) will reduce the
amount of movement that takes place in your floor, throughout a range of
climatic conditions, by exactly 50 %.
It is worthy of note that many
people are surprised to find that Parquet is not expensive !
When you
realise that the cost of timber is greatly influenced by the length
and width of the materials you are dealing with. The longer and
wider the piece of wood the more you pay for it. Therefore, Parquet floors can
often save you quite a lot of money, especially if being installed over a
concrete slab.
- When contracting the installation of any timber floor, it is
essential for the home owner to ensure continuous responsibility for the whole
of the works, or ultimately, guarantees are not worth a stamp. The importance
of this advice cannot be over-emphasised. To emphasise this point further. If
timber flooring is purchased from one person, installation is carried out by
another and the sanding and finishing process is undertaken by yet someone
else, any problem that may arise with that floor, will become the common
excuse of all. Not my fault - its his ! The result being that
there is effectively, no guarantee in place, at all ! Great wisdom is therefore
effected by contracting a comprehensive supply and full installation package.
THRUST FLOORS International P/L uniquely back every installation
with a comprehensive TEN (10) YEAR GUARANTEE which covers both
workmanship and materials.
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