Gerflor Creation Clic System laid today & update about the general status of work

Saturday 27 September 2014

We were surprised to see floor-layers working on site today and laying our matt Walnut-coloured floating Gerflor already!  Sorry, no photos of the actual flooring just yet – we’ll have to wait until our next walk through, and that shouldn’t be long to wait.  I have included information about the flooring towards the end of this posting for further details and information.

We’re guessing the same floor-layers may have also been laying the 11mm [100kg per metre³] rubber underlay and carpet in the Master Suite Bedroom and Walk-In-Robes and in Bedroom 2 at the front of the house?  They’re the only floor surfaces that will be carpeted in the new home.  For the carpet, we’ve selected an acrylic ECO+ Sunrise by Godfrey Hirst and the colour is called 710 Pebblestone.  Having house-trained dogs, we needed a carpet that is soft, comfortable, durable and easy to keep clean.

Although the debris in the front yard at the front of the construction site currently looks messy and unsightly, it’s a helpful hint to the status of the work that’s now been completed inside the house, by viewing the names and pictures of each product that appears on the empty boxes and cartons awaiting removal and disposal.  It appears the following interior finishes work has now been done in addition to the laying of the Gerflor flooring:

·         [Lucci LEDlux] LED downlights and LED dimmable downlights have now been installed throughout the main common areas, hallway, and open-plan kitchen, dining and Family/Lounge areas;

·         the ActronAir Air Conditioning System and related components have been installed;

·         the Caroma Opal II Easy Height Wall Faced Toilet Suite has been installed in the main toilet;

·         the Stylus Venecia Close Coupled Toilet Suite has been installed in the Master Suite’s Ensuite Bathroom;

·         the Caroma Liano Wall-mounted Hand Basin has probably been installed in the main toilet; and

·         the Dorf and Caroma tapware or fixtures seem to have been installed in the Bathroom and Master Suite’s Ensuite Bathroom.

On Friday afternoon, 26 September 2014, a big mechanical digger was delivered to the site.  I saw it arriving and leaving the site, and I'm pretty sure it was used to dig the trenches for the new sewerage line and storm water pipes.  After it left the site, there was evidence of a couple of new vertical, capped, PVC pipes that have now appeared, one directly to the right of the front driveway area, and the other(s) located at the left front corner of the new house, near the wall-mounted water tap.

There's a lot of new technology used in building this new home.  During our final walk through inspection I'll be prepared with a lot of questions for our Site Supervisor, because we're not really sure how all these different water pipes interface and work together.  We have mains town water connection plus a rooftop rainwater recycling system that connects to the 4,500 litre (1,188.77 Gallons) rainwater tank.  Recycled rainwater from that tank is also used for garden water and running the washing machine and toilets.  There's some special water pumps and extra water taps mounted in the laundry for connecting the washing machine to either mains town water or recycled rainwater modes as necessary or desired.  This is an excellent way for us to harvest and use as much of our own free rainwater for use as possible.  

Here’s some photos of the front of the house that I took during the late afternoon sunshine today.

(Click on photos to view enlarged images)

Gerflor Creation Clic System

We wanted to have wooden floors in the new home but without the risk of damage and the ongoing high-maintenance that is typically required with having wooden floors.

We considered having a floating laminate flooring but we were concerned about the negative problems with waterproofing, warping, cupping and that audible tacky, hollow, acoustic sound of footsteps on a laminate floor. 

McDonald Jones Homes introduced us to a fabulous French flooring product, namely, Gerflor, which seems to offer us exactly what we want – the warm appearance and illusion of a wooden floor but without the high maintenance issues and other hassles.  We actually observed the same product (albeit, in the different ‘Portobello’ look), which was installed in the McDonald Jones Homes’ My Studio offices, when we attended our lengthy Colour Selections appointment way back on 12 August 2013 (last year).  We were very impressed with it and couldn’t believe it wasn’t a real wooden timber floor!

Gerflor is a resilient vinyl laminate flooring with a unique vertical Clic System and it’s available in 12 different wood colours.

The Gerflor Creation Clic system is easy enough to do it yourself (but McDonald Jones Homes installed it for us today, Saturday 27 September 2014).  It differentiates itself from laminate flooring by being 100% waterproof and it’s much quieter underfoot.  It also boasts a lifetime residential warranty.

The Creation Clic system is a loose lay luxury vinyl plank which combines the warmth and style of a wood design with the performance of a vinyl floor.  It has an innovative and unique vertical clicking system and is laid without an adhesive, which makes it one of the quickest installed products on the market.

The product is a 176mm x 1,000mm x 6mm vinyl plank with a pure PVC wear layer and a printed wood design.

Main features:

·           It’s suitable for heavy traffic areas, group T wear rating;

·           It’s tough and durable and ideal for heavy traffic environments with a 0.7mm wear layer;

·           It has a PUR surface finish, no initial polishes;

·           It has an R9 / R10 slip rating;

·           It has a quick and easy loose lay installation, no glues are required;

·           It is specifically marketed as having 100% water resistance - unlike wood based products and laminates, it can be installed on subfloors with up to 7% moisture content;

·           It is 100% recyclable;

·           It has low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions;

·           It provides acoustic comfort and sound insulation properties that offer a quieter alternative to standard laminate floorings (a 12dB improvement over laminates), Class B vs Class C or D for laminate; and

·           It’s easy to maintain with its polyurethane (PUR) surface treatment.

We’ve chosen the matt reddish ‘Walnut’ coloured option.  I love the high gloss looking wooden floor finish but we think the high gloss will just deteriorate over time and lose its glossy appearance, so we settled for the matt finish look instead.  The Gerflor Walnut-coloured flooring will be installed throughout the new home with the exception of the Master Bedroom Suite and Ensuite, Bedroom 2 (at the front of the home), the Bathroom, Toilet and Laundry.  The Master Bedroom Suite and Bedroom 2 will be carpeted.  The Bathroom, Toilet, Laundry and Ensuite will have ceramic tiled floors.

We requested an upgrade in the thickness of the flooring to its industrial grade for even greater durability at a cost of $117.00 per metre.  Like most things, you get what you pay for – watch out for the cheaper laminates and alternatives on the market unless you want never ending problems with audible sound, warping and cupping due to moisture etc. 

Refer to the earlier post dated 9 June 2014 to view copies of the Gerflor Creation Clic System product brochure for further details and pictures etc.