A Queenslander is a timber house on stumps with a ventilated, often slightly uneven hardwood floor that has been moving with the seasons for 80 to 120 years. That subfloor is the starting point for every flooring decision, and it makes some choices better than others. In rough order of what we recommend to Brisbane customers:
1. Restore the original hardwood
Under old carpet or vinyl there is usually a floor of hoop pine, crows ash, blackbutt or spotted gum boards. If they are sound, sanding and coating them with a matte water-based finish gives a floor that suits the house better than anything you can buy, at $40 to $70 per square metre. Boards with borer damage, wide gaps or ant-capped stumps that have let moisture in may need replacing first, and gappy boards can be filled or accepted as character.
2. Engineered timber over the old boards
If the original floor is too far gone, engineered timber keeps the house honest. A 14mm board in blackbutt, spotted gum or oak can be direct-stuck to the old boards once they are sanded flat and any loose boards screwed down, or floated over an underlay. Sheeting the floor with 12mm plywood first gives a flat base and stiffens a springy floor. Hurford Australian Native and Genuine Oak are the boards we sell most for Queenslander renovations.
3. Hybrid flooring
For a rental, a lower-level conversion or a budget, hybrid does well over a Queenslander floor. It floats over an underlay, handles the humidity swings that trouble laminate, and is waterproof in the kitchen and laundry. The old boards must be flat to within 3mm over 2 metres, which usually means sanding ridges and screwing down loose boards, and the rigid core bridges small gaps between boards. Our BestBuys Coastal Blackbutt has gone into more Brisbane Queenslanders than any other colour we sell.
4. Carpet in bedrooms
Wool or solution-dyed nylon carpet over a good underlay is quiet and warm in bedrooms and copes with a slightly uneven floor better than any hard flooring. Keep it out of living areas if you want the house to feel like a Queenslander.
What to be careful with
- Tiles. A timber floor on stumps flexes; tiles laid on it will crack unless the floor is sheeted with fibre-cement and stiffened, which adds cost and height.
- Thin glue-down vinyl. Every board joint and nail head telegraphs through a 2mm plank. It needs a plywood or fibre-cement overlay first.
- Laminate. Brisbane humidity and a ventilated subfloor make laminate swell at the joins more than in a slab-on-ground house. If you want the look, choose hybrid.
- Underfloor moisture. Check the subfloor ventilation is clear and the stumps are dry before laying anything.
Browse the engineered timber flooring range and hybrid flooring range, or book a measure and we will look at the existing boards and tell you which option they can take.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, once loose boards are screwed down and the floor is sanded flat to within 3mm over 2 metres. Lay the underlay across the direction of the old boards.
Run a new timber or hybrid floor at 90 degrees to the old boards, or sheet the floor first, so it bridges rather than follows any movement in them.
Lift a corner of carpet in two or three rooms. Solid boards with no soft spots, minor gaps and no active borer are worth sanding. A flooring sander will quote a sand and coat on inspection.