Questions we are asked most

A single room is usually one day. A typical three-bedroom home or apartment runs two to four days for the flooring itself, plus any subfloor preparation beforehand and trims afterwards. Herringbone, chevron and stairs take considerably longer than straight-lay because every board is cut and set individually. We give you a day count in the written quote, not a vague range.

Almost never for an installation. We work room by room where we can, protect the areas we are not in, and leave the site broom-clean each evening. You will need the rooms we are working in cleared of furniture, and there is noise from cutting. Floor sanding is the exception — that is dustier and noisier, and many people prefer to be out for those days.

It depends on the area, the condition of the boards and the finish you choose, and anyone quoting a firm figure without seeing the floor is guessing. Cupping, water damage, wide gaps, old adhesive residue and boards needing replacement all change the work substantially. We look at the floor, tell you what it needs, and give you a fixed written price before anything starts.

With water-based polyurethane, light foot traffic in socks is usually fine after about three days, and furniture can go back after roughly a week. Rugs should wait longer — around two weeks — because a coating that has not fully cured can mark under anything that traps moisture against it. We leave you written care instructions with the actual dates for your job.

Solid timber is one piece of hardwood through its full thickness. Engineered timber is a real hardwood wear layer bonded to a cross-laminated core. Engineered is far more dimensionally stable in humidity swings, can be floated over acoustic underlay, and works over concrete slabs and underfloor heating. Solid can be sanded more times over a longer life. For Sydney apartments, engineered is usually the correct choice.

For a floor you intend to keep and refresh, look for 4mm or more — that allows two or three sands over its life. A 2mm wear layer is perfectly durable day to day but gives you one light sand, so it is better thought of as a floor you will eventually replace rather than refinish. Wear layer, not total board thickness, is the number that matters.

Laminate has a fibreboard core that swells permanently if water gets into it. Vinyl plank is fully flexible and needs a very flat subfloor because it telegraphs everything underneath. Hybrid sits between them: a rigid waterproof stone-plastic core with a vinyl wear surface, so it tolerates water like vinyl but stays dimensionally stable and spans minor subfloor imperfections like laminate.

It is one of the two products we most often recommend for apartments, alongside floating engineered oak. Many hybrid ranges come with acoustic underlay pre-attached, and the rigid core handles the slab well. What matters is the tested impact-sound rating of the completed system against your building’s by-law, not the fact that a backing exists. We check the tested figure before recommending anything.

It depends how far the water went. Surface cupping on boards that have dried out often sands flat with no replacement at all. Boards that have delaminated, gone spongy, or carry deep black staining through their thickness need replacing. The critical step either way is finding and fixing the moisture source first — repairing over an active leak just buys a few months.

Cupping means the underside of the boards is wetter than the top, so the edges swell and rise. The usual causes in Sydney homes are blocked or painted-over subfloor vents, damp ground under a suspended floor with no vapour barrier, poor drainage against the building, or a slow plumbing leak. It is a symptom, not the problem — the fix starts with finding the moisture.

Because it cannot be known accurately until the existing floor covering is up and the substrate has been measured and tested. Any contractor who includes a fixed preparation allowance sight-unseen is either padding the price to cover the worst case or setting up a variation later. We inspect, tell you what it needs, and price it as its own line so you can see exactly what you are paying for.

Every flooring product publishes its own tolerance, and it is tighter than most people expect — commonly around 3mm over a 2 metre span. Wide boards, long boards, herringbone and chevron are much less forgiving than narrow straight-lay, because a longer board bridges a hollow and either flexes underfoot or telegraphs the dip. We survey with a straight edge across the whole area.

Not necessarily. There are three options: remove and refit the existing skirting so the floor runs underneath it, which looks best; replace it entirely, which is the moment to upgrade the profile; or fit scotia over the existing skirting to cover the expansion gap, which is cheapest and quickest but visibly a compromise. We will price whichever you prefer and tell you honestly how each looks.

Yes. Stair treads, risers and nosings can be overlaid in timber matched to the new floor and finished with the same coating system so the whole thing reads as one surface. Each tread is templated individually because staircases are almost never square. Stairs take longer per square metre than any other part of a flooring job, and we quote them as their own item.

Yes. Removing carpet to install or expose hard flooring is prescribed as a minor renovation under section 110 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, which requires approval by ordinary resolution at a general meeting. It does not require a special resolution or a new by-law. Approval can carry reasonable conditions but cannot be unreasonably withheld, and many schemes delegate the decision to the strata committee.

At minimum, the NCC 2022 Part F7 figures: impact sound L′nT,w of 62 or less and airborne Rw + Ctr of 50 or more. Most strata by-laws set something stricter, usually expressed as an AAAC star rating of 4 star (below 50 dB) or better, with some buildings requiring 5 or 6 star. Check your specific by-law — it overrides the general assumption.

Yes. Removing carpet to install or expose hard flooring is prescribed as a minor renovation under section 110 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, which requires approval by ordinary resolution at a general meeting. It does not require a special resolution or a new by-law. Approval may carry reasonable conditions but cannot be unreasonably withheld.

The owners corporation can require you to comply with the by-law, and NCAT has ordered non-compliant floors removed and replaced at the owner’s cost. It is a genuinely expensive outcome — you pay for the original floor, its removal, and its compliant replacement. Getting approval first costs nothing but a few weeks.

Because the largest variable — the condition of the subfloor — cannot be seen until the existing covering is up, and the second largest, the product tier, has not been chosen yet. A phone figure is either padded to cover the worst case or it becomes a variation later. A free on-site measure takes half an hour and produces a number that holds.

Sanding and polishing an existing timber floor is almost always considerably cheaper than laying a new one, because there is no product cost, no removal and no disposal. The exception is a floor that has already been sanded to its limit, has widespread damage, or where floor levels need to change. We measure the remaining wear layer before advising.

Yes. The wear layer is genuine hardwood — usually oak — bonded to a cross-laminated plywood or HDF core. What you walk on, see and sand is real timber. It is not a printed image, which is what distinguishes it from laminate and hybrid. The core is what gives it the dimensional stability that solid timber lacks.

Engineered timber floated over a rated acoustic underlay, or hybrid flooring with acoustic backing. Both isolate the wear surface from the slab, which is what a strata by-law is asking for. Solid timber fixed directly to a slab transmits impact noise far more readily and is very difficult to make compliant with a 5 or 6 star requirement.

A typical three-bedroom home takes three to four days: one to two days of sanding depending on area and condition, then coating, then curing time before furniture returns. Heavily damaged floors, extensive board replacement or gap filling add time. We give a day count in the written quote rather than a range.

Not necessarily, but many people prefer to. The work is loud, the work area will be dusty despite extraction, and with water-based coatings there is a mild odour for two to three days. If you can stay elsewhere for the sanding and coating days, it is easier on everyone — but with rooms sealed off and water-based products, staying is manageable in most homes.