installations meeting client expectations · 1/10/2014 3 what is achieved in australia with...
TRANSCRIPT
1/10/2014
1
Installations meeting client expectations
Timber flooring
David Hayward - ATFA
Today we will discuss:- • Colour and grade - where it starts • What can be achieved with traditional products • Newer products and their characteristics • Product limitations – knowing your product • Design with the floor in mind • Coating options and properties
Achieving client expectations
1/10/2014
2
The more traditional products
Spotted Gum Blackbutt Grey Ironbark
as determined by species is a main attribute important to owners. Photos and samples are often not always good indicators.
Colour
AS 2796 Select Grade Medium Feature – Standard Grade High Feature Grade Lightly featured Moderately featured Highly featured
The more traditional products
Grade determines the character of the floor. Does the owner see a gum vein as a feature or a defect?
It can be acceptable that not all boards in a finished floor may meet the grade.
Some species have more features than others, therefore some floors of the same grade, have more or different features than others.
1/10/2014
3
What is achieved in Australia with traditional products
Some new and innovative products
Oxford Vintage is a plywood based 127mm x 15mm x 1.8m engineered board with medium feature in Blackbutt, Spotted Gum and Sydney Blue Gum face lamellas.
The flooring has 8 hardwood ply layers with a 4 mm face lamella and has sufficient stability for use with underfloor heating.
The flooring is site sanded and coated.
1/10/2014
4
Some new and innovative products
The Woodland Eucalypt range is a strand woven product manufactured from lower grade Western White Gum (Eucalyptus argophloia).
Boards are prefinished with a satin Treffert UV cured coating with R10 slip rating.
Board size is 120 x 14 x 1800mm and it comes in the colours Ivory (natural) and Ebony (carbonised).
Boards have a ‘Uniclic’ profile and the product is laid as a floating floor.
Some new and innovative products
Hurford Roasted is high temperature
thermally modified hardwood. This
process darkens the board through the
full cross section, increases durability and
significantly reduces seasonal shrinkage
and swelling.
It is available in two tones:
- a natural dark earth hue named ‘Peat’
- a reddish bronze hue named ‘Cayenne’
Board widths of 83, 128 and 180 mm and
with a 14 mm thickness are available.
Both a lightly featured grade ‘Prestige’
and more heavily featured grade ‘Rustic’
are available.
1/10/2014
5
Some new and innovative products
Hardlam utilizes small diameter
regrowth logs sourced from AFS certified
Tasmanian forests to produce Laminated
Veneer Lumber (LVL).
The rotary peeled veneers are pressed
and glued together to form a large block
with the grain orientated lengthwise
making a ‘square log’ that is then
processed into various products. Floor
boards are 185 x 19mm and have similar
properties to solid Tasmanian Oak but it is
of higher density.
T&G and Parquetry OXFORD - Vintage STYLE - Woodlands HURFORD - Roasted HARDLAM
Flooring Type Solid Engineered Strand Woven Heat treated soild LVL
Installation Mech. & Adhesive Adhesive fixed Floating click lockAdhesive &
mechanically fixedMech. & Adhesive
Hardness Soft to very hard Hard Very hard Hard Moderately hard
StabilityModerately stable -
can acclimatise
Very stable
(HW cross
lamination )
Moderately stable
(floating)
Highly stable
(thermal
modification, full
bed adhesive fix)
Moderately stable
(as with Tas Oak,
standard fixing)
FinishSite sanded and
coated
Site sanded and
coatedPre - finished
Site sanded and
coated
Site sanded and
coated
Know your products and their limitations
Familiarise yourself with all information and particularly the installation instructions and terms of warranty – product warranties differ to those relating to installation. All products have their limitations.
1/10/2014
6
Design with the floor in mind
For floors with natural ground beneath
Subfloors must be dry
and well ventilated!
Certifier approved
but NOT BCA compliant!
For floors laid over concrete slabs
They need to be FLAT
- Grinding and levelling
They need to be DRY - Old slabs are not necessarily dry slabs - Vapour barriers need to be considered
When adhesive fixing they need to be CLEAN and STRONG – Otherwise delamination results.
Design with the floor in mind
1/10/2014
7
Expansion allowance is a must not an option
Solid T&G floor – Cork expansion joint
Engineered floating floor – lengthwise expansion trim
Design with the floor in mind
Shrinkage gaps are a natural part of timber floors Minor gapping does not detract from a floors appearance and is also acceptable.
Heating and floor to ceiling glass promote
some gapping.
Design with the floor in mind
1/10/2014
8
• Prefinished floors can be damaged during construction - lay at the end of the project.
• Softer timber indent more easily. • Some products are more stable in very
dry or humid conditions. • Building heating and cooling systems can
influence floor performance. • Some coatings will not last in very high
traffic floors. • How easy will it be to refurbish the
product in the future.
Prefinished laid too early
Soft timber, non-robust coating
Design with the floor in mind
Right product...right place… meeting client expectations
Parquetry – Ironbark & Blackbutt dots – Indent resistant timbers, 2 pack anti-slip water based coating.
Roasted Peat wide board floor in domestic environment with a satin solvent based finish.
Tasmanian Oak floor in domestic environment, tinted windows and solvent based polyurethane.
1/10/2014
9
Coating your floors Involve your client Generally it is the owners choice as to what coating is applied. Know the characteristics.
Coating options
Penetrating oils and waxes. Tradition product designed to enhance the colour and grain whilst leaving the flooring with minimal surface “film build”.
The oil or wax preserves the surface and protects against moisture but it generally appears very dull and almost uncoated. Additional wax applications and buffing can provide a thin film or higher sheen.
Requires higher maintenance and can be misunderstood by specifiers and homeowners.
1/10/2014
10
Tung oil (modifieds) and hardwax oils provide a good surface cover whilst maintaining a “grainy texture” enhancing the timbers pore structure. Relatively fast dry but slow to cure. Requires moderate maintenance.
Oil Modified Urethanes provide a fuller smoother “solvent based polyurethane look” but without the potential for edge-bonding. Colour of oil modifieds change quickly and to a greater extent providing a instant ageing or warming of the floor. They cure slowly require moderate maintenance.
Coating options
Single pack moisture cured polyurethanes Used in a 3 coat system to provide a fuller looking finish with a different looking gloss to two pack. Available in many gloss levels and provides a finish that is hard, durable and low maintenance. Can be prone to edge-bonding and darkens with age.
Two pack moisture cured polyurethanes Provides a full high gloss “wet look” and being a hard durable finish it protects the floor from harsh traffic. Thinner products provide a grain enhancing finish whilst still exhibiting very high gloss. Prone to edge-bonding and darkens with age.
Coating options
1/10/2014
11
Water based polyurethanes Vary greatly in appearance. Has a fuller finish appearance than Tung oil, but generally with more natural grain being apparent than solvent based polyurethane. Mainly non-yellowing and sealers are used to enhance colour and can prevent edge bonding. Very high gloss levels are not available. Can be prone to forming white lines at board edges.
Coating options
Staining floors
The need to stain At times there is a desire to stain a floor and this is often done with Oak to enhance the figure in the timber. Stains are often rubbed on by hand and wiped off before the top coats are applied or at times the top coat can be tinted with stain. Both spirit and water based stains are available and some timbers are more accepting to stain than others. Close but not exact matches can be obtained. The grain can also be ‘popped’ by wetting the flooring for increased absorbency.
1/10/2014
12
The need for non slip finishes
Non-slip coatings The slip resistance of a timber floor relates to the slip resistance of the coating and not the timber. Various levels of slip resistant coatings are available for site sanded and coated floors and prefinished floors are often coated in a slip resistant coating.
Slip resistant finishes have low gloss levels as shinier finishes become more slippery when wet. Water based polyurethanes often have better slip resistance than solvent based as the more flexible coatings having better slip resistance than more brittle coating.
Note that with foot traffic slip resistance reduces.
Domestic stair slip resistance
The BCA introduced stair slip resistance for domestic dwellings as of 1 May 2014. Some states have delayed the introduction but not NSW. Dry tread surfaces will require a P3 or R10 slip resistant surface or nosing strip. There are only a few water based polyurethane coatings that can comply and have a low gloss. Some natural oils may comply following testing. The only other option is a nosing strip. Transparent adhesive strips are available but affect the aesthetics. Some open tread stairs have aluminium or brass strips on edge routed into the nose of the tread.
1/10/2014
13
Need guidance with solid timber flooring
Hard copy Web based
ATFA flooring resources
See www.atfa.com.au to
purchase (some are e-books)
1/10/2014
14
Thank you!