Choice of flooring

jolene_c

New Member
Dear All,

We are considering to use Wood or Tiles for our Living/Dining area.

Is it true that wood needs very high maintainance? Does it really get scratched very easily due to furnitures and swell easily due to water spillage? Also, how much more expensive is wood compared to tiles?

Understand that there is also a variety of wood flooring like Solid wood, engineered wood and laminate. Which is better in terms of ease of maintanance, durability and price etc?

TIA!!!
 

pantieileen

New Member
Since i'm reconstructing a house and has done the research for the last few months i think i can help you out on this

Tiles - Generally there's Homogeneous vs Marble vs Granite

Homogeneous are the cheapest. Popular place to get it would probably be Hafary or Surface Stone. Both the same shop just different names but at the same place. Never understood why. Range from $2.50/psf which is approx $25/m2 to $12/psf ($120/m2) or more depending on where it's made.
I think Hafary sells more of those made in China. I'll get u the address and other vendors tomorrow coz my builder gave me a whole list. Homogeneous also got 2 kind. Marble look alike vs regular homogeneous of coz the former is more expensive.
One thing i don't like about homogeneous is that the lines between tiles when it's laid is thick coz i think it's cement or something so over time the lines will turn black adn it cannot be washed off unless i don't know u use toothbrush and brush? Brush like siao. But there's so many colors maybe you choose black cannot see lines.

Marble - expensive. Typically range from $12/psf to $20/psf. Natural stone so the shade of the stone will vary from tile to tile. Comes in slab or pre-cut. Slab means a whole big piece of stone, you tell the vendor how big you want it to be cut. Slab is more expensive.Pre-cut generally cheaper coz it's already cut and ready to sell you but not alot cheaper. Hafary sells those pre-cut unless you tell them you want slab coz u want to make pattern.
Marble is typically hard to maintain coz u need to apply sealer before hand so that when water/pee/coffee/tea spills on top then it will not seep else will change color. Sealer is about $10/m2 or $1/psf
Then there's drylay or not. Dry lay means you reach the factory, they lay the tiles one by one on the floor based on your floor area then you decide which tile is at which corner and they label A1, A2, A3 etc etc so when the marble pieces reach your house to lay finally it's according to the layout you specify. Dry-lay is normally extra charge. Prices vary from vendor to vendor.
Hafary will have marble. price is ok but not much choices compared to places like Futar, Polybuilding etc etc professional suppliers for entire buildings.
Marble from Italy, Greece is typically the best but there are some from China and India too so the grades not so good
For Marble you need special detergent to mop or clean it and normally it's highly polish for living and dining room so it'll be slippery.
The lines between marble tend to fuse wiht the marble coz i think it's silicone and you can't see it and it'll feel smooth unlike homogeneous u can actually feel the joints.
Granite. Expensive. Colors tend to be darker. Red, black duno how to describe the pattern for you. Just imagine the wall of Ngee Ann city the tile it's granite. Easy to maintain just use water don't even need detergent. Coz the color is dark so don't need to bother about coffee water stains etc etc . The shades tend to vary also so before you lay maybe want to tell your contractor to arrange the variations.

Wood will give u a cosy feeling but normally use for bedrooms. I don't know about apartments but normally for houses we use parquet from staircase onwards. Wood also need to maintain will get scratch when you pull stuff over but can be varnish. When you spill water, make sure you wipe it so the wood wont get termites (more for landed i think not sure about apartments).
Wood also got alot of kind parquet in squares, timber (what kind of timber? which country also makes price difference) how thick your timber strip also makes a difference. Oh, if you do timber strips don't use too thick coz might expand and contract if it's near windows coz of heat then u can see the joint marks in between coz the wood starts to expand and contract.

Laminate is the cheapest i guess but depends on the skill of your contractor some may not do it properly then over time it'll pop up and become uneven. If you are staying in your place for 1-2yr then guess no difference lah. Long term use normally people don't use laminates for home...i don't know lah..but do me it's cheapo loh don't have the solid wood feeling very weird and when you step feels like plastic and cold.
Actually you should have an idea of what you wnat to do with ur deco then go look for prices of flooring.
 

JimenaPost

New Member
If you planning for you floor decoration then wooden tiles or flooring can be a great option for the same. It gives lavish look to you floors and makes your interior an impressive one. For my home I got the same from http://www.pcwoodfloors.com/ that really changed my view about their professionals. They will also guide you with some tips that can work well for the proper maintenance of your interior.
 

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