Timber Trending Underfoot

WORDS LIZ FRENCH

Timber flooring is a popular choice these days. The decision to use hard flooring may be easy but to select the right one from the myriad of types and styles available—not so easy. It pays to consult an expert.

Leanne Rich from Gerrand Floorings loves the natural qualities that timber flooring can bring to your home. “It can set the mood of a room from the ground up—literally!” She laughs. “It looks good, is family and pet friendly, resilient for hard working areas like kitchens, dining areas and open plan living, and easy to clean.” If Leanne and her knowledgeable Gerrand Floorings staff ask lots of questions about your personal style, lifestyle, type and vintage of your home, whether new build or renovation, it’s because they want to ensure you end up with a floor you love living with. All timber flooring is not created equal.

TIMBER MEETS TECHNOLOGY

Timber flooring used to simply mean the solid timber you see in older homes, usually native timbers or oaks installed tongue in groove. Engineered timber is now easily the most popular option for its product stability, cost effectiveness and the advantage of knowing exactly how your finished floor will appear. Engineered timber still starts as a tree but is more environmentally conscious in using fewer natural resources. It comes in a variety of thicknesses, lengths and widths, allowing standard straight plank install or custom specialty finishes like herringbone parquet. Leanne explains that the timber grades span premium (virtually seamless), country or feature (some natural variations) and rustic (knots and all!). “Our samples show the choices available and another advantage of engineered timbers is the range of colours from deep, dark and moody through to light washes in lime, champagne and vanilla. In general, dark colours are popular with a sophisticated or lodge retreat look while lighter shades evoke relaxation and a beachy atmosphere, ideal for coastal properties.” The surface finish and thickness of your flooring are other important aspects to consider, yet another reason to have Gerrand Floorings assess your needs, to help and explain the clear difference between the most favoured direct stick install and the floating method.

BESPOKE FLOOR DESIGN

If you have a picture in your mind of the look and feel you want for your floors, bring your ideas to Gerrand Flooring, and it is very likely they can help you choose a custom-made floor just like the one you imagined.

EASY CARE, LONG LIFE

Engineered timber requires maintenance like all items in your home, but it’s an easy task—a daily static mop and weekly vacuum. Oiled finish floors are becoming more popular for easy fix ups of scratches and, unlike a polyurethane finish, if you care for your oiled finish floor it will never need a full re-sand and resurface from UV or sun damage. Gerrand Floorings provides their homeowners with a handover pack and products best suited and applicable to their installed timber, and have top- up product always available instore.

If this has left you sure of one thing—that you want hard flooring in your existing or new home—a visit to Gerrand Floorings will be a great start. Leanne, who is the second generation of the family to run the company, loves nothing better than being part of your quest for the perfect floor and gets huge satisfaction from seeing it enhance your home and your life.

Gerrand Floorings 123 Hewletts Road, Mount Maunganui gerrand.co.nz

Liz French

Liz French calls her writing deeply superficial as she enjoys creating stories about interesting people, places and property, adventures and animals. Her ample spare time is spent cycling, skiing, walking, reading and haunting cafes. She’s written 35 chapters of her memoir titled “What was I thinking?”