Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the most common questions people ask us. If you don't see the question you have on the list below, please contact us and we can answer any of your questions.
Dougall Flooring Ltd does not give termite guarantees on any of its products. The company does not receive termite guarantees from its suppliers and so does not give guarantees to its customers. However, to build and maintain good relationships with its customers, it is in the company’s interest to use woods that will not be attacked by termites. As a result, the company conducts extensive research before selecting wood species.
Therefore, as most of our woods have natural resistances to termites, our customers have very few termite problems. Dougall Flooring’s specialist knowledge in tropical hardwoods is one reason we have built a reputation of supplying long lasting quality products!
It is a myth that the hardness of a wood is what makes it termite resistant. The hardness or softness has nothing to do with whether or not termites want to eat it. Natural resins in the wood are what make some woods naturally resistant to termites. Just like people, termites like the taste of some woods and dislike others. To termites, some woods taste good while others may be toxic or just simply taste bad.
To the best of our knowledge hardwoods cannot be treated effectively for termites because they are not permeable to chemical pressure treatment. This means that because the wood is very dense, chemicals which are deadly to termites cannot be forced into the wood. Some soft woods, for example pine, can be pressure treated because these woods are light and able to absorb chemicals.
Laminate flooring is not real wood. It is a wood-based product designed to replicate the look of real wood at a fraction of the price. The laminate board itself is a high density fibreboard (HDF) made by compressing wood dust, glue and other chemicals together. A printed piece of décor paper (the pattern you see) is glue on top and this is protected by a hard transparent layer above the décor paper. The protective layer contains aluminum-oxide particles, which is what makes the surface of laminate flooring so hard and scratch resistant.
Laminate flooring is approximately 1/3 the cost of hardwood flooring. It is softer and warmer to walk on than ceramic/porcelain tiles and provides a wood feel that will warm your house or office.
This is not a simply question to answer. The factors to consider are:
The grade of the laminate floor
The amount of traffic on the floor
Whether the floor was installed correctly
Care and maintenance
There are many grades of laminate flooring therefore, not all laminate flooring is the same. Higher grades have stronger wear surfaces and more water resistant core boards.
Areas with more people traffic will wear faster than areas with less.
If the product was installed incorrectly, it will be more susceptible to damage.
Good care and maintenance practices will extend the life of the floor.
Termites do not typically eat laminate flooring because it is made with glue and other chemicals designed to make the boards unappealing to termites. There have been rare occasions when termites have partially eaten one or two pieces of laminate flooring, usually because they were eating other non-resistant woods which were in close proximity. Dougall flooring has sold laminate flooring for many years and has never heard of an entire laminate floor being attacked.
Similar to laminate flooring, vinyl is another composite flooring option. Comprised of PVC chips (as opposed to wood chips like laminate) vinyl flooring is essentially plastic making it more water resistant than it’s laminate flooring counterpart.
