morganwu

depending on who u brought your bed frame from. if u buy directly from good workshops, they are very reasonably priced.

interesting idea. concrete's not cheap though, btw, and u cant shift your bed

the difference is mainly in the way they are constructed. Engineered Flooring Top layer>>usually a thin slice of REAL wood, from 1 mm to 5mm, coated with a tough coating Middle>> usually plywood Bottom>> may have foam, usually do not have anything Laminate Floor Top layer>> usually decorative paper coated with a tough coating. Middle>> usually some form of fibre board Bottom>> usually a water proofing layer hope this helps.

i wouldnt claim to be an expert in this. a quick check on wiki shows that hevea is the botanical name of rubber tree. rubber wood is very unstable, prone to warping and rots easily when soaked in water. if hevea = rubber wood (you got to check out with the shop), then what the shop claimed about hevea being more suitable for singapore's weather is incorrect. rubber wood and pine as the core should have the same problems.

hmm, what did the shop say about hevea?

Thousands of combinations. Factors that affect final price. 1. Type of timber 1a. width of timber 1b. thickness of timber 1c. length (range, etc 300mm - 1000mm or 200mm - 300mm) 2. whether got underlay or not 3. type of floor glue used 4. type of coating used 5. workmanship 6. warranty, after sales service the choices are bewildering. more practical for you to set your budget first, then you go down to choose. for acceptable quality, health and workmanship, i say budget at least $7psf, then you go down to a showroom to choose. for your info, timber floors can range from $4psf all the way up to $40psf. the 6 factors i listed down all affect the price. So... ya, better decide yourself how much you are willing to spend on your floor first.

hi martin, your platform would be constructed like a deck. get back to u soon.

hi jmt, replied you.

if you are only looking for wood you may call them: http://naturewood.com.sg/about.html

hi aq999, 2 main reasons for us to recommend plywood subfloor. 1. most cement screeds done by Singaporean main-con are not flat (sadly). plywood serves as a flat surface for the timber floor to be laid on. this allows a nicer and flatter final floor as it is easier to sand. 2. having a plywood subfloor allow nails to be used on the tongue and groove of the floor (aka the nail can be hit into the floor from the side, not from the top). if a plywood subfloor is used, there will be very few (i wouldnt say zero) nail holes on the surface of the final floor. disadvantage of plywood, 1. termite will eat this up and leave your floor alone, that is, if you are using teak. treating it is useless, the treatment usually lasts only for a few years. however if you live in more than 5 stories and up, chances of this happening is very very slim. 2. another cost. often about 1+ SGD psf, depending on the thickness. scenarios where plywood is not necessary, 1. ur cement screed was properly done and reasonably flat, max diff of 3mm across 1.5m. 2. you are installing parquet blocks which are short pieces of less than 200mm. 3. you are very very concerned of the plywood being consumed by termites. 4. you dont care whether or not there are nail marks on the surface of the final floor. that said, my company just made this floor, and it looks very nice. it still need one more coat of water based coating though. i like it very much. this was done without a plywood subfloor.

@endlssorrow, yes i do timber flooring aka parquet. i do not do laminate flooring.

hi csingeu, would be fairer if you compare the specs between the companies. 1. the min length of the timber strip provided. for decks the longer the strips the better your deck will look. if you dont mind left over short strips from other projects you can get chengai decks for as low as $12psf. 2. the size and type of timber used to make the underlaying frame for your deck. there are many wood species being used to make sub-frames. some more sturdy than the others. needless to say the more sturdy ones cost more. whats the point if your sub-structure goes first before your surface rots? 3. width of the timber strip provided. the broader the more expensive. 4. gap between each individual timber strips on the surface. the wider the gap, the cheaper your quote, because they can use less timber. 2 to 3mm is kinda considered the best looking in SG. other countries spec 5mm. but generally the smaller the gap the better your deck look. 5. method used to construct sub-frame. countless methods. you need some knowledge to be able to tell for yourself. just wanna say, you cant judge a deck by its surface. 6. coating used to protect your deck. using a wrong coating would make your deck look horrible, over time.

from your photo your floor is a parquet floor. a true parquet floor. nowadays very hard to find, as it is very expensive. a beautiful vintage floor. ... seeing that i have already posted a disclaimer in my previous posts, i recommend myself. Disclaimer: i work in a wooden floor installation related company.

why do you want to laminate a wood panel?

hello everton, yes engineered floors are wood veneers glued onto a plywood base. they usually come pre-coated in the factory. hence there is no need to sand the floor after installation. but the resultant floor would not be smoothly flat. there would be gloves on the surface of the floor. kino in ngee ann city uses engineered floor, you may go there to have a look. engineered floors can be installed in many ways, depends on the user's need. 1. as a 'floating' floor like laminates. the engineered floors are clicked to each other and laid on a layer of foam. not glued to the floor. can be overlaid on existing floors. 2. glued to a plywood base that is first laid on the existing floor. this method makes the floor very hard to remove, which contradicts one of engineered flooring's advantage, which is the ability to retain the look of natural wood but with the convenience of laminates. 3. glued to a plywood base that is first laid on the floor, then sanded, then coated. this method treats the engineered floor like solid timber floors. only makes sense to implement this method on rare, expensive timbers or big planks. method 1 is the most suitable for your case. however you dont like the spongy feeling of laminates? this spongy feeling probably comes from the foam beneath the laminate. hence you may not like the feel of the engineered floor installed using method 1. however engineered floors are stiffer than laminates, which mitigates some of this sponginess. you should try it out in a showroom first before deciding. timber wood, as in solid timber flooring? solid timber flooring also can be laid and glued on existing floors. however you can only do this for small parquet. not recommended for long strips. small parquet pieces can follow the unevenness of the existing floor. long strips does not follow the existing floor. hence long strips may feel hollow in the places where it is not touching the existing floor. i think the main obstacle to raise the whole floor equally is not that of christoper's budget, but because he is already living in the house. if he is not already living in the house he would probably hack out the old tiles. if you are not already living in your house, and you do not wish to hack out your old tiles, your suggestion would work nicely. (you would need to make modifications to your doors though.)

hi edenstrauss, whether scratches can be touched up via DIY mostly depend on the type of floor coating you chose when you install the floor. 1. Melamine/Polyurethane coatings > can be touched up, but most of the time left till too late. hence classified as a cannot be touched up coating. 2. Water-based > cannot be touched up, dried repair shows. new coat would not blend into old coat and repairs will be visible. 3. Oil-base > can be touched up. new coat will blend into old coat and repairs will not be visible. i believe OSMO Coatings is the only oil-based wooden floor coating that allows user to DIY repairs, yet with durability on par with PUs. Disclaimer: i am the distributor for OSMO Coatings in SG.

btw, here are some pictures of timber strip flooring done by the company i work at.

laminates vs solid timber for laminates vs timber please check out this thread. parquet is used to refer to wooden floors pieced together with timber blocks shorter than 200mm. the wooden floors usually come with limited warranty for 1 year. please do not compare this with laminate's lifetime warranty. in most cases laminate's lifetime warranty are limited too, and would only compensate the damaged pieces, and not compensate the reparation cost. wooden floors will never wear off. they could be scratched, but this factor is more dependent on the coating used than the floor itself.

hi tutee, my guess is that your floor cannot be patched. the entire floor has to be resanded and recoated. if you simply patch up the worn out areas, the patched area would be very obvious and ugly. you can only repatch oil/waxed floors without leaving visible patch marks.

Dr.Anarchy, yup limber come in grades. however the consumer need to understand what the grades really mean. grading timber is a technical and logical process. we sort the timber into grades A, B and C depending on the number of knots, splits, defects the surface has. however, being grade A doesnt necessary mean you would like the appearance of the timber. personally i prefer wood that is a little knotty and with some defects on the surface. the knots further accentuate and give the wood character. buying timber for floors is very different from buying timber for furniture. for furniture, you need to consider the structural integrity of the timber, hence u need better grades. however for flooring, you can just go by the looks. there are no structural issues at all. so you can use 'grade B/C' timber and still have a floor that YOU love. as long as that timber species meet the minimum requirements for it to be used as flooring, it is not necessary for floor installers to compare the physical properties further unless there are very specific needs (e.g commercial use, kitchen use). you can choose them according to your preference. you are right to say that Burmese teak has better physical properties than Indo teak. but some people like the wider grains and lighter color of Indo teak. so nicer or not, its really up to the individual. for those who stays in semi... you got to ask them why. a few cases that i know of (from same trade), the reasons are because their ID did not suggest real wood to them, and because their ID did not show them what real wood looks like. they are simply not offered the choice. but then, laminates certainly have their advantages too, and price wise there is no comparison. however it is not fair to compare laminates to wood anyway, because they are different materials in the first place. laminates can be made to look like anything. i have seen laminates/vinyl that mimic marble and graphite. but there's just that unnatural look to them. i am sure your in-law's floor can be renovated. and the floor would look like fantastic, like new. i wouldnt deny that wood requires more care than laminate with regards to shifting furniture around. but hey, its natural. which living thing is perfect? lets put it this way, wood are like ladies (from my perspective, for ladies its vice-versa), and laminates are like chobits (robots). ladies come with their own set of hassles and problems. but given the choice and the budget, would you rather spend >5 years with her: or her?

Seeing that i went crazy and wrote such a long post, let me revive this thread with some pictures of the project i did today. Beautiful!

would be helpful to fellow forum goers if you also state 1. what are the size of the tiles you were quoted. 2. the total floor area. 3. any other works (e.g. hacking) included. you current question... is like asking us whether the mee siam downstairs is nice or not without telling us where you stay or the location of that mee siam store.

how big is your house?

American White Oak = 美國白橡木 American Walnut = 美國胡桃 Maple = 楓木 Birch = not very sure, coz i seldom use it. should be called 桦木 For maple there is soft maple and hard maple. soft maple is adequate for your needs. dun believe if the sales say you need hard maple. and personally i prefer soft maple's color.

@TS my gut feel is that the IKEA products with solid wooden legs are more than enough to support your timber top. those with metal legs make for a pretty nice contemporary design. your timber looks like acacia, dun think it can be used as a chopping board. as for your question whether it is possible to DIY without any experience, we all got to start somewhere. why dont you try first? i see you got 1 extra piece to fall back on...