The floors of our homes form a huge part of the overall look and feel in each space. They also take a real pounding from day to day family life. Most people today opt for timber flooring as a practical feature to their home. However, elements like sand, moisture, pets, furniture, even the process of regular cleaning will affect most timber floors. The Impressive Ultra range from Quick Step Flooring handles all these elements with ease.
What are the top 4 parameters to look for when selecting a timber floor?
- Stunning good looks and authentic feel under foot
- Hardwearing finish
- Ease of cleaning and maintenance
- Cost effective
Considered in combinations, these 4 areas would result in a sound and discerning selection for many homes. But, let’s look more closely at each of these 4 points above and explore the details to consider when making your timber flooring choice. This will also highlight how the Impressive Ultra Quick-Step stacks up.
1. Natural Beauty
The natural beauty of timber has provided a great flooring option for generations. There are countless options in the Australian hardwood and oak ranges, which has seen both the ranges maintain their popularity. The Quick-Step products that we use at Peninsula Homes replicate the natural oak look so well that even a person with a trained eye would need to give very close scrutiny to tell the difference.
Hand-in-hand with looks goes the feel under foot. This is where the trueness and stability of the manufactured board combine perfectly with expert installation. The result is a solid feel without the sponginess often associated with manufactured floors. Once installed correctly, this solid feel remains for the life of the product. An environmentally sustainable product, Quick-Step flooring sources wood from sustainably managed forests.
2. Hard Wearing Finish
The hardness rating of solid timbers is something that results in much discussion. While its certainly true that a higher rating will help prevent dents and deep scratches, it’s the applied finish that is likely to show the most wear, often with fine scratches, scuff marks and sun damage occurring soon after installation. The Impressive Ultra covers both the hardness and finish requirements with ease.
Manufactured flooring products are ranked by an AC system on a simple scale of 1 to 5. The higher the AC rating, the better and more durable. Impressive Ultra holds a notable AC rating of 5. In real terms, this translates into a floor that will not be dented by high heels or the dropping of most household items and it has an impressive 10 year warranty. As for the finish, their HydroSeal technology provides high protection against moisture ingress and the Melamine resin coating ensures a highly scratch resistant surface.
3. Ease of Cleaning
The extra tight fitting join of the Impressive Ultra helps make cleaning a breeze. The sealed waterproof finish of the floor means it can be cleaned dry or damp. Slightly damp is the best method using a microfibre mop and Quick-Step have a range of cleaning products available that are perfect for their floors.
TIP: If your flooring has bevelled edges or v-grooves, ensure it is always vacuumed first .
4. Cost Effectiveness
When considering the cost of any timber floor, it’s important to factor in not only the material costs, but all the associated handling, installation and finishing cost.
The supply cost of Impressive Ultra is marginally lower than your average hardwood timber cost, but the other costs are where the real savings are made, with Impressive Ultra having these advantages:
- Pre-finished in the factory, saving time and costly site finishing
- Supplied in easy-to-carry plastic wrapped packaging, meaning reduced labour to deliver. It can also be delivered in the rain, unlike traditional hardwood flooring.
- No gluing is required, saving on labour and material costs
- A blemish-free manufactured product means that wastage is kept to a minimum and no over-ordering is required
- Unlike solid timber, laminate products do not need to season on site and can be used straight away, saving on overall building time.
These factors contribute to Impressive Ultra being around half the cost of a conventional hardwood timber floor.
At Peninsula Homes, we have used a range of Quick-Step flooring in our homes over the years. On all occasions, the results have exceeded the owners expectation, both immediately upon laying and also when they have lived with it in the home. We continue to get positive feedback regarding the hardwearing nature and the fact that their friends don’t believe that it’s not a solid timber floor!
Quick-Step Impressive Ultra range is well worth considering for any family home application and we’d love to chat with you about incorporating it into your home!
