Timber Flooring in Camberwell

The showroom is on Toorak Road

We are at 2/1386 Toorak Road, near the Burke Road end. The showroom has large wall displays, so you see a board laid across a real area instead of a sample the size of your hand. That matters more than people expect: a colour that looks warm on a small chip can read quite grey across a whole room.

Bring a photo of the room, a cushion or a paint swatch if you have one. You can take samples home and look at them in your own light in the morning and again at night before deciding.

The showroom is open Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm and Saturday 10am to 2pm. You are welcome to walk in, or to book a time if you would like someone free to go through the range with you. We can take you through board formats, colours and what your subfloor is likely to need. If you already have a floor plan, please bring it along and we can give you a rough estimate on the day.

Camberwell houses and what goes under the floor

Much of Camberwell is Edwardian, Californian bungalow and interwar housing on stumps, with original boards still in the front rooms and a slab under the rear extension. Some homes have been rebuilt entirely, and there are townhouses and apartments along the main roads.

• Over sound original boards, engineered boards can often go straight on top once any loose or cupped boards are fixed.
• Over a slab we check moisture and flatness first, and grind or level where needed.
• Where the old house meets the extension the floor heights rarely line up. We sort out the transition before we quote.

Carrying the original boards into an extension

A lot of Camberwell renovations keep the front of the house and add a new kitchen and living area at the back. Owners often ask whether the original hardwood in the front rooms can carry on into the extension so it reads as one floor. It can be done, but it is harder than it sounds.

Old boards in houses of this age are often narrower than modern boards, and after decades of sanding and sun they have a colour no new board has. Even the same species, freshly milled, looks different on day one. Recycled boards of a similar species and width get closer, although sourcing recycled or matching old boards isn't something we currently offer. Two approaches work well:

• sand the old floor and the new section together and coat them in the same finish, accepting a difference in tone that softens over time;
• stop the old floor at a clear break, such as a doorway or a step, and lay a deliberately different board in the extension.

The clean break often gives the better-looking result. If you want new boards that sit close to the old ones, our Australian hardwood range is the place to start. We supply 18 mm solid tongue-and-groove boards as well as engineered boards. Bring a loose board from under the house or a clear daylight photo.

Renovating in a heritage street

Parts of Camberwell sit under heritage overlays, which is one reason so many streets still look much as they did early last century. Overlays mostly deal with what can be seen from the street, such as facades, fences and roofs, and not usually with floors inside. The rules differ from property to property, though, and a few places carry extra controls. We recommend checking with the City of Boroondara before you start.

Heritage or not, the front rooms of these houses are where people most want the floor to feel original. Warm mid-browns sit well against old joinery and fireplace surrounds, and our warm browns page groups them. Caramel Sundae herringbone in the hall with Caramel Sundae plank beyond is one pairing worth seeing on the wall.

Apartments around Camberwell Junction

Around the Junction, along Burke Road and near the station, there are newer apartment buildings and older blocks of flats. The owners corporation's flooring rules come first; they usually set an acoustic rating for hard floors and may require approval before work starts. Older flats can have slabs with ridges and old adhesive left from earlier floors, so grinding and levelling are often part of the job. Before the measure, ask the building manager about lift bookings and where a delivery can park, since that decides how the boards get up to you. Being this close to the showroom helps: you can bring the building's rules in, compare boards and underlay together, and take samples home the same afternoon.

What Camberwell customers tend to choose

Engineered European oak is the most common choice: 15 mm boards with a 4 mm oak wear layer, in a standard 1900 × 190 mm plank or a 2200 × 220 mm wide board. For period hallways and front rooms, herringbone suits the proportions, and six colours come in both herringbone and plank so the two can be matched. If you want an Australian species, Blackbutt, Spotted Gum and Victorian Ash are on display too. For rentals and busy family areas, our 12 mm laminate is a more affordable, hard-wearing option.

Where the floor fits in a renovation

In an older Camberwell house the floor is often part of a bigger job, and the order of trades makes a difference. Anything that needs access under the floor, such as rewiring, new plumbing runs or heating ducts, should be finished before the boards go down. Restumping or packing a sagging floor comes before that again.

Painting is usually split. Ceilings and walls get their main coats before the floor, so drips land on drop sheets over a bare subfloor. Skirtings and the final touch-ups come after, once the floor is down and the scotia or skirting is fitted. The kitchen and built-in joinery depend on whether the floor runs underneath them, which we sort out with you and your cabinetmaker. If you let us know who else is working on the house and when, we will fit the floor into that schedule.

Townhouses along the main roads

Along Riversdale, Toorak and Burke Roads, older houses have been replaced by townhouses and small unit blocks. These are usually two storeys with a slab downstairs and a framed upper floor. Footsteps on a hard upstairs floor carry into the rooms below, even within one household, so the underlay matters here as well as in apartments. If the townhouse shares a wall or floor with a neighbour, check whether an owners corporation has rules on hard floors before you choose.

Stairs in these homes are often the first thing you see from the front door. Doing them in the same board as the floors, with matching nosings, is covered on our stairs page.

Measure and quote

Camberwell is a short drive for us, so an in-home measure is easy to fit around your week, and it costs nothing. The quote lists boards, removal, subfloor preparation and installation as separate items; the full steps are on the free measure and quote page and the preparation side is on our floor removal and subfloor page.

Nearby suburbs

We also work across Hawthorn, Surrey Hills and Burwood, and further out as well. The full list is on areas we serve.

Related guides: Choosing Oak Flooring in Camberwell: Your Showroom Visit · Matching a Timber Floor in a Camberwell Extension