Australian Timber Flooring

If you already have an existing colour palette and would like timber floors to match your space, always remember that unlike a tile or carpet, each batch of timber will always be slightly different to what you may have seen in the showroom. Why? Well it was cut from a different tree – and this is what we love about timber. The beauty of the grain and knots are what makes us ‘ahh’ and ‘ohh’ at our timber floors.

The colour of the floor will significantly affect the atmosphere of the space, regardless of how big or tiny the room is. Darker coloured wood floors will help to bring the room in while giving depth and character if you have a large open-plan area with lots of natural light. Timber flooring ranges in colour from the light honey in Oak to the dark ruby reds of Jarrah. At Floors by Nature, we encourage viewing multiple flooring types in different wood species, textures, and colours so that you can see what suits you best. Come and see the big samples in our showroom so that you can get a real feel of what the timber will be like.

A good quality timber floor will last a lifetime which is why solid timber flooring guarantees you a long-lasting flooring choice for your home. Due to their strong nature and durability, people consider it as a good investment in their home which saves them a lot of money. With minimal maintenance, you can easily clean every solid timber flooring in Perth to maintain its sturdy nature.

All timbers are graded according to their strength by a measure called a Janka Rating. The average force needed to push an 11.28mm ball bearing halfway into a piece of timber is measured. The higher the number, the stronger the timber. Hardwood with a high Janka rating like Grey box or Bamboo will dent less if you walk on high heels or drop your keys as compared to timber with a low Janka rating like Tasmanian Oak. The scratching associated with this type of wear depends upon the resilience of the coating that has been applied. Our staff will inform you of the ratings of all displayed timbers and help you pick what timber flooring is best suited for your family and lifestyle.

Oak is a very stable timber and is commonly available in widths up to 220mm. The most common widths of timber floorboards fall in the range of 80 – 130mm. Board length ranges from 4m-0.6m in most timber species. The wider, longer and the thicker the board, the higher the price. See our flooring installation page for more information in board sizes. 

Solid timber is graded according to how much or how little ‘feature’ is present in the board after milling. Feature refers to the black resinous gums, holes and borer marks that naturally occur in timber. Some timbers, like Marri, are heavily featured, and select grade does not exist. While other species cut from younger trees have much less feature. Many mills have their own particular names for the grades of their products, but all should be graded in accordance with the Australian Standard AS 2796.2 . Cleaner timber (Select Grade) will be more expensive than featured timber. At Floors by Nature we will discuss what timber grades are possible to achieve the look you like. 

Below are descriptions of the basic grades available.

Providing for a floor that contains boards with similar features to Medium Feature – Standard Grade but where the length of features such as gum veins may be longer and past borer activity may be more frequent. Again depending on the species, features will vary and in some instances boards meeting high feature grade may only appear moderately featured.

Once you have decided on the timber and grade then its time to think about installation. Please check out the Installation Guide to choose the installation suited for your project.

Providing a floor that may have significantly more character than a Select Grade floor. To some degree this will depend on the features present in a particular species. In one species gum veins may naturally be prevalent while in another there may be few gum veins but past borer activity may be more prevalent. Therefore, this grade can be expected to have greater character than Select Grade, and contain an increased amount of gum vein, past borer activity, knots and natural discolouration.

Providing a floor where the feature present or natural discolouration will not dominate the appearance of the floor. Features that are permitted still include short narrow gum veins, a limited number and size of past borer activity and small knots.