Tiles VS Engineered Timber VS Bamboo - help!!

Hi All,

DH and I are building a house and trying to decide on the floor coverings. At first we were keen on bamboo - done a lot of research and think we've found a good product but still not sure about it. A lot of people have had bad experiences with it.

So we also looked at engineered timber - we like it but not sure about how well it holds up to spills. Also we've been told to only mop it with a damp mop - will this keep the floor sanitary? (especially with a baby crawling/spewing/spilling all over it)??

We like the look of porcelain tiles but just not sure about cleaning the grout all the time - also it's very cold in winter but that's not a huge issue.

Any experiences/advice would be very appreciated :D

Haven't had any experiences with bamboo, but was given a quote for $175/square metre (ouch)... but it looks nice.

What sort of floor are you laying it over. We have a suspended timber floor and have tiles in the kitchen - boy its cold under foot (minus temperatures in winter) - much colder than the vinyl/lino that was down before.

Cheap timber floors wear badly (from living in a rental house that had it down).

HTH

Hey Babymama

We have bamboo flooring in our house atm. I think it's a great option. We have had ours for about 2.5 years. It's lovely to walk on, and looks really great. As for cleaning, I just wet a towel, then squeeze out the excess, then clean the floor with that.
The main issue I have with ours it that the floor boards are very glossy..which looks lovely, but they scratch sooooo easily. So we have scratches everywhere which bugs me a bit.

We have now sold our house and are building too, and are undecided on what to put down in this house. We do love bamboo, but I want something that wears a little better (but not tiles..I'm not a big fan). It's a tough choice!

All the best! I'll let you know if we find any super good flooring deals anywhere!

Don't do tiles. Too many people hate them if you want to resell. I would refuse to buy a house just on the basis of tiled floors even if the floorplan and location was fantastic.

Bamboo all the way!

VERY hard wearing, renewable resource, will last and last and looks fantastic!!

Like Fiona - I HATE tiles with a passion. ...To the point where I would rather have lino than tiles lol

Bamboo costs more, but in the long run and for the environment which is the top consideration for me, it is the best option.

Good luck! :)

Thanks for all the advice.

The bamboo product we're looking at is Bamboozle - it's $138/sq m. It seems to have a good reputation.

Thanks for the tiles advice too - I hadn't thought of all those people that hate them. Most people like the wood/bamboo look so that's probably the safer option.

We're even considering the timber laminate now (heaps cheaper) but just not sure about its longevity.

Tarkine - the floor will be laid directly over the slab.

I work for a construction company and we used bamboo in a clients house last year, we were sceptical about it but did some tests (sat a plank of it in water for a few weeks lol) and it held up well; didnt change its shape or anything. We used "HIE 15mm strand woven pre finished bamboo solid T&G floor" for 236.68 including GST cost around $18,000. Looked gorgeous too

Not sure if any of that is useful information but hope it helps hehe

Thanks Ammaki. We ended up choosing bamboo - we love the look of it and the fact that it's from sustainable resources. Hopefully it all goes well!