Flooring - Wood, Wood Veneer, Tiles Or?

[steveromagnino]

I went for the polished concrete floor in my condo, and it looks pretty bad; uneven colour and starting to crack.

I have therefore decided to put another flooring over the top; and the choice comes down to tiles (many choices of colour size shape and so on), a solid wood or a wood veneer. I cannot be bothered moving everything out and dealing with the smell of epoxy for a few weeks if I treat the concrete.

In terms of price, AFAIK the tiles range from about 180b - 400b per sq m, with cost of laying additional, solid wood is about 1500 - 2500b per sq. m laid, and veneers are about 700 - 1000b per sq m laid.

I am told the veneer is MDF with a thin layer of wood on it, so it cannot handle getting wet. Looks great though. The real timber looks well sharp, but is most expensive.

So... any recommendations? What do you guys use? And for are area of 80sq. m (bathrooms already tiled) what... a trip to Boonthaworn or timber or what?

I am told tiles are the hardest wearing, wood looks best, and any flooring is better than the concrete I have now :-)

HELP!

[chownah]

How about wall to wall mats?

[phuketsiam]

what about 'hin on' the stone look alike stuff, its hard wearing, looks better than tiles and is cheaper than wood, lots of patterns to choose from, its about an inch thick though

[Sir Burr]

Wood looks great when it's relatively new, but the boards shrink and expand with the changing humidity. Also, high maintenance and it scratches.

Go for tiles. Low maintenace, lasts for ever, easy to clean and if one cracks, it's cheap and easy to repair.

If you do go for tiles, make sure you have a box for spares.

Nothing more irritating than finding out that they don't make your tile anymore when you need one.

[Tywais]

We have tiles on our bottom floor. They look like marble and just as hard and very nice looking. They are cool to the feet in the hot/humid climate and very easy to clean. Only problem is have to be very careful if there is a wet spot or may end up on your butt.

We have wood tiles upstairs and they are a headache to take care of. Forgot to close the window once and rain got in. Had warped wood tiles everywhere.

[phuketsiam]

If you do go for tiles, make sure you have a box for spares.

Nothing more irritating than finding out that they don't make your tile anymore when you need one.

thats good advice

[steveromagnino]

If you do go for tiles, make sure you have a box for spares.

Nothing more irritating than finding out that they don't make your tile anymore when you need one.

thats good advice

Well the stone idea would be appealing, except that the floor is already up to the right level, so the thinner the flooring the better.

I have a cat, and she loves chewing up the mats I have already, so I would prefer to avoid additional mats if possible.

Sounds like tiles are the way to go, and good idea for the extra tiles in case :-)

Thanks for all the ideas!

[penzman]

Avoid anything glossy/shiny for ceramic tiles or marble. Dangerously slippery and scratches after a while. We chose slighly mat tiles instead.

Don't go nuts on the extremely rough tiles as those collect dirt after a while and the floors have to be scrubbed every now and then.

Most of the wood floor imitations you'll find here are junk.

[jing jing]

We have tiles on our bottom floor. They look like marble and just as hard and very nice looking. They are cool to the feet in the hot/humid climate and very easy to clean. Only problem is have to be very careful if there is a wet spot or may end up on your butt.

That brings up an excellent point... I've done a bit of building and remodeling during my real estate investment career, and I do love working with tile... it's attractive, durable, and generally very cost efficient. I see a lot of tile installations here in Thailand and for the most part the workmanship is very good. One thing I've noticed, however, is there tends to be a lack of matching of tile to application; i.e. lots of very slippery, glossy tiles used on floors, especially in kitchens and bathrooms, wide grout joints used on countertops... things like that.

My suggestion is that if you want to tile your floors, you should look for some proper floor tile -- if it's a glazed tile then at least it should have a rougher surface than a wall tile. Depending on the rest of your decor, a nice choice could be a terra cotta-type tile, which usually comes in a very warm, neutral tone. It isn't used too often here but I think it complements most other colors and textures very well. I also like "tumbled" marble tile on floors -- it's marble with the gloss knocked off.

[steveromagnino]

My suggestion is that if you want to tile your floors, you should look for some proper floor tile -- if it's a glazed tile then at least it should have a rougher surface than a wall tile. Depending on the rest of your decor, a nice choice could be a terra cotta-type tile, which usually comes in a very warm, neutral tone. It isn't used too often here but I think it complements most other colors and textures very well. I also like "tumbled" marble tile on floors -- it's marble with the gloss knocked off.

thanks for that. I am thinking of white or off white floor, so I will try to find the 'tumbled' marble tile; the marble looking colour is the one I think will do the job, and it I can get a rectangle shape with a slight matt finish, yep that would be good.

The bathrooms are already rough tiles with grip on them; this is just living room.

I quite like the slippery slidy, because my cat loves to be chased, and it is funny watching her do wheel spin drift style around the corners :-)

[Tywais]

I quite like the slippery slidy, because my cat loves to be chased, and it is funny watching her do wheel spin drift style around the corners :-)

I know what you mean. Watching our 30kg golden retriever chasing a tossed toy nearly looks like he's moon dancing.

[steveromagnino]

I quite like the slippery slidy, because my cat loves to be chased, and it is funny watching her do wheel spin drift style around the corners :-)

I know what you mean. Watching our 30kg golden retriever chasing a tossed toy nearly looks like he's moon dancing.

yours are the marble looking ones; I assume glossy then. Do you have problems keeping clean?

What colour was the grout?

Did you use the big tiles, and if so was there much wastage in laying the tiles?

I love golden retrievers and gun dogs; they are so nice natured, but sadly an apartment is just a bit small for a doggie, so I'll stick with chasing my cat for now....