Flooring for Northcote's Period Homes

Almost every renovated Northcote house is two buildings joined: original rooms on a timber subfloor, and a rear extension on a concrete slab. They are different substrates with different risks — movement at the front, moisture at the back — and they are rarely at exactly the same level.

Running one continuous floor across both is what most people want, and it is achievable, but it needs the level difference resolved during preparation rather than covered with a strip afterwards.

The original half also tends to have the worst flatness. Old boards cup, stumps settle, and a hallway that looks fine can be well outside what a floating floor needs.

Terrace and semi-detached plans mean long narrow hallways, and direction matters more here than anywhere else.

Run boards down the length of the hall regardless of what the rooms either side do. Cross-laying a corridor makes it read shorter and puts a joint line across your eyeline every few steps.

Where possible run them toward the main light source as well — with the light, joints recede; across it, every joint catches a shadow.

Northcote is 7.4 kilometres from our warehouse at Unit 48, 2 Cobham St, Reservoir. In-stock product can be collected the day you buy it, at no delivery charge, and a forklift is available for larger orders.

Book the collection ahead so the stock is picked and ready. There is no minimum order — a single box is a perfectly normal thing to buy, which matters if you are finishing a room or replacing damaged boards.

If collecting does not suit, we deliver throughout Victoria, charged on destination, distance and the order.

We install across Victoria, and our installation service covers flooring supplied by Square Flooring. One company owning both the product and the workmanship means a problem has one owner rather than two parties pointing at each other.

Installations carry a workmanship warranty, separate from the manufacturer's product warranty on the flooring itself.

Subfloor preparation, removal of existing floor coverings, waste removal, stairs, door trimming and scotia are quoted as separate lines rather than folded into a square-metre rate.