Synteko Timber Floors...

Types of Wood Floor

Choosing the perfect timber floor for your home or office is simply having the facts, comparing the types and making a selection. We, at Synteko, have briefly outlined the various options to assist you in making a decision. Timber floors come in a variety of styles to meet the demands of today’s busy lifestyles - tongue & groove, overlay, floating floor and prefinished.

There are three categories of wood flooring on the market today. Following is a comparison that will assist you in making the right decision. The various options are:

• Solid wood floors
• Floating floor or engineered floors
• Prefinished

A. Solid Flooring
All timber flooring regardless of width or length, is one piece of wood from top to bottom is considered solid flooring (commonly known as tongue and grooved or parquetry). The choice of species, sizes, patterns, borders, surface finish and stain (if necessary) all contribute towards giving you the opportunity for customising your floor.

Solid flooring is broken down into:

1. Tongue and groove floorboards
2. Overlay
3. Parquet

   (1) Tongue & Groove
   This is a solid timber floor 19-25mm thick, milled in random lengths between 60-200mm wide. It creates a linear effect in a room.

   (2) Overlay
   Overlay flooring means “laid over” where the timber is too thin to be self-supporting between joists/battens and has to be fixed over a flat level surface, either a concrete slab, plywood or old timber floor. As in solid flooring, this system creates a linear effect. Overlay flooring is between 10-14mm thick and 80-90mm wide and has the advantage of overcoming height restrictions either in units or where the timber floor meets other surfaces.

   (3) Parquet
   Parquet is a number of solid wood blocks precision milled and laid to create a geometric design. Parquetry blocks range in size from 260x65x18mm to 340x85x18mm and can be manufactured in larger blocks such as 400 to 450mm long. Parquetry is also manufactured in a mosaic format. These are small fingers 120x20x9mm glued to a paper backing.

   Parquetry is glued to either a concrete slab or timber sub-floor.

   Parquetry offers a multitude of design options.

B. Floating Floor (Engineered flooring)
This pre-finished wood flooring product consists of layers of plywood glued together with the grain running in different directions. It is available in 3mm and 5mm ply with a solid 3-4mm timber veneer glued to the top surface.

C. Prefinished
Acrylic impregnated solid flooring is a derivative of pre-finished flooring. They consist of solid t&g 19mm thick planks 80-90mm wide in set lengths. This type of floor is laid over a concrete subfloor or secret nailed over a timber subfloor.

D. Species
Solid timber flooring comes in a variety of species spanning the spectrum of colour options, grade, hardness and price range. One can achieve a design using a specific species, coupled with a layout, border and timber floor surface treatment.

Grade
The appearance of the timber determines its grade. All grades are equally strong and serviceable, but each affords you a different look. The grades are commonly broken down into:

Classic
Classic Grade is a subtle feature grade of timber flooring which provides a limited variation in natural characteristics. It has been carefully graded, board by board, by experienced personnel to ensure that it meets strict quality standards. It has a sleek, uniform look that is well suited to modern, minimalist and traditional styles.

Australiana
Australiana Grade is distinguished by highlighting selective gum veins, spirals, burls, insect trails and other natural variations that give timber floors a unique character as individual as a signature. This grade is a visual chronicle of forest history including bush fires, floods, brought, insect travels and the natural variations that appear in the grain of Australian native hardwoods.
Australiana is carefully graded to include the most interesting variations and distinctive timber markings to enhance the look of a timber floor.

Natural
Natural Grade is a conservation grade that features a high level of natural characteristics. This grade offers a unique rustic aged appearance with extenuated natural features.

E. Cuts
The angle at which a board is cut from the log determines how the finished product looks. Timber flooring is either plain sawn, quarter cut or rift sawn.

Plainsawn
Plainsawn is the most common cut. The board contains more variation than the other two cuts because of grain patterns resulting from the growth rings that are more obvious.

Quartersawn
Quartersawn produces less board meters per log than plainsawing and is therefore more expensive. Quartersawn wood twists and cups less and wears more evenly. Another advantage is that this type of cut results in a more dimensional stable timber floor

Riftsawn
Riftsawn is similar to quartersawn, but the cut is made at a slightly different angle.

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