Hardwood Flooring

We will have hardwood flooring throughout the house, except for wet areas (bath, ensuite, powder room, laundry) which will be tiled. This is because 3 out of 4 family members of the Sasanqua household are allergy sufferers, and it's important to reduce their allergy load by eliminating dustmites from carpeting. Mrs Sasanqua likes the easy clean aspect of hardwood flooring, and timber is not as cold on the feet as tiles can be (we don't wear shoes in the house). But hardwood flooring comes with a big price tag. We are allocated $65 per m2 for the supply of flooring in our tender, so depending on the species and grade of timber we end up choosing, we may be up for some extra cost.

We are currently tossing between Blackbutt (Janka hardness rating 9.1) and Spotted Gum (11). We think Blackbutt might be just slightly too blond in colour (sports gym like?) and it's a softer species of hardwood timber. Spotted Gum is a harder wood but it may look too rustic because of its variation in the hues (although that's one of the attractions of this species too). Our mostly white kitchen and living will be a very open plan, north facing (we're in the southern hemisphere) area with 2 x 3 panel stacker doors leading out to al fresco area, so we need to keep in mind how light will affect the look of the timber floor.

We need to go to a timber display centre and have a look. Reading some forum posts, we found out that the wear on the floorboard will depend more on the surface treatment product used, than on the timber species (as long as it's a hardwood species). We will look at each species' different grades (Select, Standard, Feature/Natural), think about what width we want (60, 80, 130 mm etc), and the price of each, before we make our decision.

Blackbutt (it's a yellowish hay colour)

Spotted Gum (different hues of brown)