Flooring In Caulfield

Installed flooring in Melbourne varies widely by product. Laminate and hybrid are the most economical, engineered timber sits well above them, and solid tongue-and-groove hardwood, which then needs sanding and finishing on site, is the most expensive of the four by the time it is walkable. Across a standard living area you should expect the product to be roughly half the installed cost, with the rest in preparation, labour and trims. What catches people out is preparation: levelling a slab, replacing bearers and joists, or making good a subfloor can add substantially, and it is not optional. We quote the floor and the preparation as separate lines after we have looked underneath, so you know which part of the number is which.

A standard living area is typically laid in one to three days once preparation is complete. Floating floors are walkable immediately. Direct-stick floors need the adhesive to cure, which usually means staying off them for at least a day. Solid timber that is being sanded and finished on site is the long one, because after installation it has to be sanded, coated and cured, and that adds several days during which the area is out of use and needs to stay ventilated. Acclimatising the product on site before laying adds a few days at the front, and skipping it is the single most common cause of gapping later.

That is exactly the question, and the answer starts with what is underneath. Over a concrete slab, moisture is the deciding factor, so we test it before recommending anything, and a slab with high moisture rules out direct-stick timber unless a barrier goes down. Over bearers and joists in an older home, the deciding factors are whether the joists are sound, whether they are at spacings the product allows, and how much movement is in the floor. Solid timber over joists is traditional and works beautifully when the structure is good. Hybrid and engineered are far more forgiving over both slabs and imperfect substrates. We look under the house before we recommend, not after.

On a slab we moisture-test, grind or fill to get within the flatness tolerance the product specifies, and lay the correct underlay or moisture barrier. Over bearers and joists we get underneath, check for rot, borer and termite damage, re-fix or replace anything that has failed, pack or sister joists that have dropped, and eliminate squeaks at the source rather than screwing through the finished floor later. In both cases we leave the product on site to acclimatise, then set out the first row so the last row is not a 20mm sliver against the wall. Expansion gaps go in at the perimeter as specified and are covered by skirting or scotia rather than filled.

Squeaks are movement, almost always a joist or bearer that has dropped or a fixing that has worked loose, and they get fixed from underneath rather than from on top. Cupping, where board edges rise higher than the middle, is moisture coming from below and is the classic sign of a damp subfloor or a slab that was not tested. Gapping between boards in summer is timber that went down too wet and dried out, which is what acclimatisation prevents. Lifting or peaking at the edges of a floating floor is almost always an expansion gap that was not left or has been blocked by a fixed skirting or a heavy fitted unit. Each has a different fix and we diagnose before quoting.

Solid timber is the premium option and the only one you can sand back and refinish repeatedly, so it is the right choice for a period home where you want the floor to last decades and look right. Engineered timber gives you a genuine timber wear layer with far better dimensional stability, and it is what we recommend most often over slabs and in rooms with underfloor heating. Hybrid is waterproof, extremely tough, and the sensible answer for kitchens, laundries and houses with dogs and small children, at the cost of not being real timber underfoot. Laminate is the budget option and modern versions look far better than they used to, but it cannot be refinished and water is still its enemy. Tell us what the room is used for and what is underneath, and the answer is usually obvious.