Timber flooring can be a great and sustainable choice for your family home.
However, many are making terrible, low-cost choices that will be terrible to live with long-term.
In this episode, we talk about timber flooring: what choices you have available and what you need to know to make a great, durable and sustainable choice for your own home.
In this episode, I speak with Frances Cosway. Frances is an interior designer, principal of White Pebble Interiors, and author of “Your Forever Home”. We share our thoughts on solid timber and engineered timber flooring, why we’d love to see laminate flooring never be used again, and what you need to know before choosing vinyl flooring.
During our conversation, we dive into …
- what choices are available for you in timber flooring
- what should you speak to suppliers about so you understand installation requirements
- how to choose colour for your flooring so it suits what’s already in your home
- why laminate flooring is a terrible choice
- what you need to know about vinyl flooring before you choose it
There are loads of choices you can make when it comes to flooring. Polished or burnished concrete, toppings over concrete, timber, tile, carpet, bamboo, cork, lino, rubber, laminate and vinyl … to name a few!
In these next few podcast episodes, we’re going to cover the main types: timber, tiles, concrete and carpet.
And upfront, it’s worth knowing that neither Frances or I are fans of vinyl or laminate flooring. It’s actually heartbreaking to see it being used so prolifically. It’s not good quality as a durable flooring material, it’s TERRIBLE for the environment, and can be hugely toxic in what they off-gas into your home.
Laminate flooring is NOT timber. It is a bonded 4 layer product. The base layer is called a ‘Balancing layer’ to keep the material stable. Over that is HDF, or high-density fibreboard that is then overlaid with a printed plastic or paper layer that is digitally printed with a pattern or texture to look like timber. On top of that goes a ‘wear layer’ which is described as melamine resin usually, and is often a type of finish with high VOCs and toxicity.
Generally, vinyl flooring is made from petroleum-based materials and can contain toxic plasticisers and lead-based stabilisers. It’s not great in its production, its installation, or long-term performance environmentally. You CAN find better performing vinyl flooring if you know what to look for, so make sure you check those out if you still want to use this type of flooring.
I hope you enjoy this episode. Listen now.
INTERIOR DESIGN 101: GAIN CLARITY AND CONFIDENCE FOR THE INTERIOR DESIGN OF YOUR FUTURE HOME
Would you like to simplify your choices, and have total clarity and confidence that your interior design will help create your beautiful, functional, feel-good home?
Interior Design 101 is a self-study, DIY program. It contains the full version of all interviews from the podcast, plus extra content specifically created for Interior Design 101.
In this full interview featured inside Interior Design 101, Frances and I go through additional choices such as bamboo, choosing pre-finished boards or finishing your boards after completion, and more detail about timber flooring overall.
You’ll also find full transcripts, videos, checklists, guides and so much good stuff to support you in the Interior Design of your renovation, new home or smaller project.
Interior Design 101 has been designed to help you gain clarity and confidence in all those selections and decisions you need to make for the finishes, fixtures, colours, materials and items you’ll be living with everyday.
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:
Find White Pebble Interiors online >>> CLICK HERE
And on Facebook >>> CLICK HERE
And Instagram >>> CLICK HERE
Frances Cosway’s book, “Your Forever Home” >>> CLICK HERE
To learn more about the self-study, online program, Interior Design 101 >>> CLICK HERE
To see the toxicity of laminate flooring >>> CLICK HERE
With over 30 years industry experience, Amelia Lee founded Undercover Architect in 2014 as an award-winning online resource to help and teach you how to get it right when designing, building or renovating your home. You are the key to unlocking what’s possible for your home. Undercover Architect is your secret ally
Hi there. We are struggling with our flooring decision at the moment. We have found some engineered oak floor boards that look exactly the same as a laminate option. You seriously can barely tell the different – in look and feel underfoot, and even our dog walking over them makes the exactly same click clack noise over both options. I’m keen to avoid toxins in our home but do query how healthy these engineered timber board options really are with all the finishes and bonding agents used?! Are the engineered boards really that much healthier or do you have to go to solid timber boards to get a much healthier option? Thank you!
Hi Peita,
It’s great that you’re considering these things. There are some great choices with engineered boards, and it’s worthwhile looking for companies who share information on how their boards are made so you can assess. Ecospecifier is also a great resource for sustainable (audited) materials. The major difference between an engineered board and laminate is that the engineered board has actual timber as the top layer (a thin layer, but it’s still timber). The Laminate uses digitally printed paper to give the timber look. Solid FSC timber will be the best choice, but there are some great options out there in engineered boards. Whilst laminate boards are manufactured the way they are, I would be happy to see them disappear as a product choice altogether.
– Amelia, UA
Hi – Im really keen on hybrid flooring. Can you give your opinion on these please?
Hi Elise,
I’m still doing some research on it, but on early review, it looks like a combination of my two least preferred flooring types … laminate and vinyl … and full of the toxicity of both of them. The bonding and substrate components seem to have proprietary names, which means it’s difficult to examine exactly what they are made of. I’ve seen some data on the VOC emissions meeting required targets, however full certification either not being progressed or achieved for the products. When using anything other than a natural material, it’s best to look at third-party auditing bodies such as Ecospecifier, to find manufacturers and products that meet their standards. If there is a ‘green’ stamp on the product, check that it’s not an internal or non-audited system accrediting the product. Hope that helps.
And if any hybrid flooring manufacturer is reading this, and doing a fantastically sustainable product, please get in touch on [email protected] – I’d love to hear from you.
– Amelia, UA
Thank you so much for your insights on timber flooring, so informative! I knew there was a reason my gut was telling me to go hardwood. Really keen to hear your insights on tiles now. Amazing resource thank you.
Hi Emma
Thanks for your feedback – I’m so glad the podcast was helpful for you.
– Amelia, UA