Solid timber flooring may be expensive to install if it hasn’t already been built into your home. But compared to carpets, tiles and lino, which have to be replaced eventually, a solid timber floor once installed will last a lifetime

In fact, a properly selected and installed floor can last through entire generations of your family. You can lay a solid timber floor over concrete – if the concrete slab is less than five years old the floorers apply a membrane between the slab and the timber so the moisture still emanating from the slab doesn’t damage the timber. We are fortunate that in Australia we have some of the most attractive native hardwoods for flooring found anywhere in the world.

True hardwood vs ‘floating’ floors

When hardwood timber floors are compared with pre-finished floating floors, there is no comparison. The pre-finished product is so commonly used for offices and cheaper installations, such as retail outlets, that many people have not encountered a true hardwood floor – or have forgotten what one feels like. Although they take longer to lay, need sanding and polishing after a decade or so, and cost more than pre-fabricated alternatives, the solid feel of the timber, the sound it makes when walked on, the sheer strength and durability of hardwood timber floors is second to none. There are alternatives, such as pre-fabricated floating floors, which are actually a thin veneer of quality wood over a cheaper wood. But pre-finished floors can only be sanded back a couple of times before they need replacing – they do not have the depth of wood in them to take much treatment. Solid hardwood timber floors can be sanded back numerous times before they need to be replaced, and they continue to have the same depth of colour, sheen and solidity all the way through.

Australian hardwood floors

Because of plantation timber and sustainable forestry management practices, the Australian hardwood timber floor continues to be a boom product for timber merchants. A popular choice for architects and interior designers, solid timber floors are aesthetic and versatile and can be either a dramatic statement (Jarrah) or a more neutral comment on domesticity (Blackbutt). Within the vast range of timber flooring products available today, the traditional and still the most popular style of timber floor is solid tongue and groove wooden floorboards. These can be either structural timber floor boards (19mm) or non-structural overlay floorboards (12mm).

Superstars of Australian floors

• Jarrah is world-renowned for its durability and its title ‘King of the Reds’ with its ruddy hue
• Rose Gum is a moderately durable species with a beautifully warm pinkish hue
• Spotted Gum has a brown undertone with olive hues, burnt orange and creams, and blue-grey streaks
• Blackbutt has a straight and uniform grain with an attractive range of neutral colours from cream to pale brown

Solid hardwood floors have been around for hundreds of years and now have the advantage of modern oil-modified polyurethane coatings, which are very durable and hard wearing – more so than the traditional Tung Oils once used. These finishes will withstand a degree of abuse, but care should still be taken to avoid major damage by objects being dropped. The floor will eventually have to be sanded back and recoated with sealant, but not for a decade or two! In the meantime, the biggest enemy of wooden floors is moisture… Keep that at bay and you will enjoy your wooden flooring for decades to come.