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Timber Flooring

Timber flooring in your home is not just an attractive flooring option, but is practical to clean, timeless in appearance and long lasting.

Traditional Hardwood Flooring

Timber flooring is beautiful; relatively maintenance free & depending on the timber can be virtually indestructable. Timber flooring holds character which cannot be matched by any other flooring type. The natural knots and colours in timber will enhance and changed in colour over time, making the floor truely unique.

Allergies 

Timber flooring in your home is not just an attractive option, but is very sensible for people who suffer from Asthma, Hay Fever and other allergies. The reason being that timber flooring is protected by a tough layer of polyurethane sealer. This means that no dust mites and particles can inhibit the flooring, unlike carpet etc, therefore triggering allergies.

Timbers

There are a number of timbers that can be used in Timber Flooring, each having there own characteristics and colour. Some of these include: Alpine Ash, Tasmanian Oak, Jarrah, Spotted Gum, Pine, Blackbutt, Blue Gum and the list goes on.....

You can mix timbers to create patterns, or just have a dramatic colour variation and pattern. Some of the patterns you can have include: Parquetry (criss cross), Square on Square, Herringbone, Brick, Borders, Solid Corners, Mitred and Staggered.

Refinishing Hardwood Floors

There is certainly a trend today of restoring older homes. As this continues to be a popular move, more and more people are pulling up existing flooring to find that underneath they have the makings of a beautiful Timber Floor. Refinishing hardwood floors can be easy to do yourself, and you can also save a lot of money this way. 

Preparation

Once you have removed the old carpet, vinyl etc and found the timber flooring you will need to remove the bonded pads, which were holding down the old floor. This can be done by scraping them off with a putty knife. Electric sanders can also be used if the pads are too hard to remove by hand.

Sanding

Local hire shops will generally hire out electric floor sanders. Start by sanding the floors with the coarsest sand paper first, do this about 3 times, each time using a finer sand paper. It is important that you keep moving at a steady pace, to avoid uneven patches. Corners are often sanded too much, because of the machine passing over them more often, so be careful here. Often there will be areas which the electric sander cannot get into; these patches can be done by hand using the same process of using the finer sand paper gradually. Once the floors have been sanded 3 times over, you should be ready to stain them. You should now clean the area; a vacuum clean will do, by getting rid of all the extra dirt and dust.

Staining

After you select a stain for your flooring, you will need to gather up some old rags and old clothes etc to help with this process. Apply the stain in a circular motion with the rags. Try to apply evenly to avoid any colour inconsistencies. The product should display the drying time and other important information on the label. If the stain is too light after the first application, you can repeat until you achieve the desired colour.

Buffing

Buffing is the next step. Once again, you can hire a buffer from a hire shop. You will need to ask how to operate the buffer before you take it home, because sometimes they can be difficult to opertate. Take it slowly at first until you get the hang of it. Again you will need to remove any dust or dirt.

Finally  

The floor will then be ready for its first coat of polyurethane. The easiest way to apply this is by using a mop. This will be easier on your body, rather than going around on your hands and knees for hours. Once the recommended drying time is over, repeat the process twice more making it 3 coats of polyurethane in total.

FINISHED!

Now your hardwood floors should be ready to go! You should wait about 2 or 3 days before using the room to ensure that everything is right. You should also wait a week before putting any rugs down. You wouldn't want them sticking to the floor would you?!

HIDC Exhibitor(s) who specialise in this area;

Bamboo and Timber Select

Floors 2 Live

Mountain Timber Products

Perfect Timber Floors

Royal Oak Floors

Southern Timber Floors