Spotted Gum is a great hard wearing timber with a Janka rating of 11. This means it is high density timber and won't dent as easily as softer timbers like American Oak. A polyurethane finish is the hardest and most durable timber floor coating and it comes in gloss satin and mat. The lower sheen's are more forgiving if you you have pets and young children. Bamboo is another hard product but only comes in short lengths so you would need to take that look into consideration when selecting. Some clients don't like the look of the short boards and consider it a cheap look. Others prefer the longer floor boards of timber. If you do choose bamboo make sure that you find out the coating used and whether it can be sanded and re coated down the track, as all timber and bamboo floors will need a touch up especially if you have pets. Some bamboo floors can not be sanded due the coating used. Hope this helps. Our website may offer some inspiration. Good Luck http://budgetfloorsanding.com.au/

Hi Georgie Laminates are pretty ordinary... Essentially they are an mdf (medium density fibre board) with a print over the top and a wear coating over that. The focus of the advertising for these products is that the wear layer has so many years etc etc.... What they don't say is that MDF does not like water so every time you mop it the water gets into the joins and it swells right at the edges of each and every board..... just like the joins on those old orange/green benchtops from years ago... that is why 'hybrids' have been developed which instead of mdf use a blend of limestone and vinyl... to get a water proof finish... we don't have feedback on these yet to comment. personally, of the 3 you are looking at I would choose a good quality vinyl plank eg Karndean.. it's tough and will take a beating... I would recommend you do your research by going to a couple of different flooring outlets, hearing all the opinions/stories and then go with what you feel comfy long term and not what is on 'special'... Cheers

Yes oklouise, understand about the skirting(now), I figured out the skirting boards technique after the fact, a little late I guess. Apparently it was one of the things missed at the local stores where the "advice" comes from the professionals. I was invited by one of the "professionals" to sit down at a table(where the apparent consultation happens for whatever project one has), and wasnt informed of that. Among several other things. He was very convincing though, I must give that to the "pro" at that supplier.(holme depo'). In fact, the "pros" at the local suppliers are like, I dont know, as experienced at these sort of things as I am at flying the space shuttle. I guess I could offer an astronaut advice that he/she try, "give a LOT of gas before take off, once it's in the air, try auto pilot, it will keep shuttle floating smoothly, eliminating the need for any button pushing till ya get back into earths atmosphere". But obviously I am only guessing at that. And I assume if I worked at the local coffee shop by the flight school, where I were to be around "flying" people, I'd possibly develop a knack for the language, then if I were to put forth the effort, I am sure I'd be capable of convincing(carelessly), anyone who stopped there for coffee that they could hop in a plane and fly, no problem. Especially if my job selling coffee depended on that. Well, that's the sort of thing the "professionals" do at the supply stores here; )lows, H-D, AZE, etc). Not to mention half are younger than anyone I've ever known to be dignified with the distinction of "professional". I would think time on the job doing the actual trade(flying) would be factored into that category. So, although I actually appreciate your advice, not really what I was looking for. But thank you for taking your time to try to help. It's just that I feel the "go to local supplier, seek the professionals" thing can be used for just about anything on here.

We wish to cover a tiled floor with a floating floor, don’t know whether the laminate or hybrid ?