# Forum Home Renovation Flooring  Tiles OR floating floor boards OR laminate floating floor board

## Tiprat

I am re doing the floor in my unit my dilemma is  
Tiles OR Floor boards OR laminate floating floor board 
I hear floating floor boards damage very easy? for example a girl comes over with high heels, and creates dents eveywhere!.....hey i would love to have a high heel friendly zone  :Smilie:  
i heard laminate floor boards dont dent etc, but do they look poxy and cheap? 
or even tiles?  
Hmmmmmm anyone else been in this dilema? 
(i cant put real floorboards in as its agaisnt the law in sydney to put them in apartments) :Mad:

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## SilentButDeadly

Tiles in the main area pf a unit often make it sound like an airport toilet... 
Floating floorboards from engineered timber can cope with high heels......if you spend the right amount of dollars. If cheap...then it probably will look cheap, be cheap and last....well...not long.  Same goes for laminates....but even more so. 
And the hard timber like floor can also contribute to that stuck in the dunny sound in a small unit. 
I'd strongly consider products like carpet tiles or even a hard wearing sisal carpet in a unit rather than a hard surface.

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## Tiprat

Thanks for the advice  :Smilie:  
I want to keep away from carpet though, so thats why i am thinking these other options 
In regards to looks & durability a good quality engineered timber floor board is much beter then a good quality laminiate floor board?

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## Naf

I put down laminate floorboards in our lounge area (4m x 5M) they were the cheapest ones from bunnings as we wanted something down immediately after we moved in. It took me a full day to install, woke up the next day and had aches in every muscle of my body, but I enjoyed the whole process and we're more than pleased with the result. It does sound a bit weird when the dog trots across the floor (or slides, he still hasn't got the hang of it yet after 3 months). My son has dropped heavy toys on the floor and there's no marks yet.
I think for small areas laminate is OK or if your on a tight budget, otherwise I'd go for solid timber. 
Nathan

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## Christopher_940

what about paquetry are u allwed to put that in

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## That Floor Guy

I wouldn't let any heels on any wood surface! always runs a big chance of ending in tears. 
Sounds like you've already got a good idea of the pro's and cons of each material, I think your best bet if you want something that can handle a little abuse would be a descent quality laminate or Vinyl Plank. 
Now if you love the look of timber then look after it and it'll hold up fine.  
Obviously a descent tile will trump everything else wear wise, but yes it will seem a little colder. 
I have hard surfaces in the living area's of my place and find there's no issue with harsh noise echo as we've got a rug and roman blinds coupled with the furniture which soaks up the noise fine.

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## Tiprat

Thanks for the reply guys! 
I would very much prefer proper floating floor boards over Laminate one, i can look after it but the only issue i have is high heels..........mmmmmmm sexy high heels on a sexy lady............i dont want that stoping due to my floor!  :Frown:  
thats the only thing i am worried about lol........... apart from that 1 thing looking after it is easy on my end! 
can anyone recomend a good high quality floating floor board? that is high heel friendly?  :Wink:  
also paquetry ........is that a brand?

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## Tiprat

from what i read "hard wood:" floating floors are the most durable and strongest 
e.g http://www.thehardwoodflooringcompany.com.au/id73.html 
that correct?

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## Dan574

Dont let the chance that someone in high heels MIGHT walk on your floor stop you from getting timber. 
They will be fine, just get a descent floorboard that allows you to sand it back in the future, interloc are one brand that has from memory about 5mm or more of real timber.  I have seen these laid and they look awesome.     
If someone in high heels does come over ask them to take their shoes off if your that worried. 
I would definately go timber,  you could also go for real timber 12mm thick over  plywood if the height of about 25mm over the slab isnt an issue.  That way  you could choose a hard timber like iron bark or whatever and have the ability to sand it back in the future as the need arises.

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## Tiprat

Dan 
thanks for your reply, i think i will be going the timber floating floor. 
from what i read "hard wood" floating floors are the most durable, and example of this is the link below :P  http://www.thehardwoodflooringcompany.com.au/id73.html 
and hmmmmm i prefer they leave the high heels left on  :Wink:  lol....

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## Tiprat

a note to the above reply,
from what i read :<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjurlinat%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cm  sohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:WordDocument>   <w:View>Normal</w:View>   <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>   <w:PunctuationKerning/>   <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>   <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>   <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>   <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>   <w :Cry: ompatibility>    <w :Blush7: reakWrappedTables/>    <w:SnapToGridInCell/>    <w:WrapTextWithPunct/>    <w :Biggrin: seAsianBreakRules/>    <w :Biggrin: ontGrowAutofit/>   </w :Cry: ompatibility>   <w :Blush7: rowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w :Blush7: rowserLevel>  </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">  </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!--  /* Style Definitions */  p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal 	{mso-style-parent:""; 	margin:0cm; 	margin-bottom:.0001pt; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:12.0pt; 	font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.EmailStyle15 	{mso-style-type :Tongue: ersonal; 	mso-style-noshow:yes; 	mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; 	mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; 	font-family:Arial; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Arial; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Arial; 	mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; 	color:windowtext;} @page Section1 	{size:612.0pt 792.0pt; 	margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; 	mso-header-margin:36.0pt; 	mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; 	mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 	{page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>  /* Style Definitions */  table.MsoNormalTable 	{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; 	mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; 	mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; 	mso-style-noshow:yes; 	mso-style-parent:""; 	mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; 	mso-para-margin:0cm; 	mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:10.0pt; 	font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-ansi-language:#0400; 	mso-fareast-language:#0400; 	mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->  Mahogany hardwood floating floorboard is the hardest and most durable.  
But it is also dark in colour? and dark floorboards dont go in a small unit because it makes it look smaller?
<o :Tongue: ></o :Tongue: >

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## rrobor

Have you thought about bamboo, thats a very hard floor and yes if miss stiletto gets on it like any other it will mark, that comes as clicklock in various shades so once laid its done no polishing etc. The better qualities can be sanded and recoated if need be.

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## 123

If you are looking for a Floating timber floor product i would recommend Readyflor in a hard species. These floors can also be direct stuck, which tends to minimise the echo and hollow sound that can occur. Species to maybe look at in their range would be Spotted Gum, Blackbutt, Red Ironwood (jatoba), maybe even merbau.  
If however you want to avoid the chance of dinting from high heels, then a laminate product you could look at would be Quickstep Eligna. This particular range is by far the best quality product when it comes to laminate and by no means looks cheap, even other brands would agree that these guys are years ahead of the rest. 
Hope it all goes well for you!

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