Timber Flooring in Apartments: What NZBC G6 Actually Requires

Wide plank engineered oak flooring in an open plan living space with a floating staircase to the upper level, Westmere, Auckland

Vienna Woods · Articles

Timber flooring in apartments: what NZBC G6 actually requires

The clause, the two numbers, and the metric trap on your underlay datasheet.

NZBC clause G6 governs sound between apartments, and its Acceptable Solution G6/AS1 sets two numbers for inter-tenancy floors: STC 55 for airborne sound and IIC 55 for impact. The Acceptable Solution covers carpet on underlay. A timber floor is not in it, so it goes in as an Alternative Solution, designed by an acoustic engineer and usually confirmed on site.

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The short answer

G6 applies between homes, not inside them

Clause G6 Airborne and Impact Sound applies to building elements common between occupancies: the inter-tenancy walls, floors and ceilings of apartments, terraces and mixed-use buildings. It is about noise crossing from one household unit into another.

That single distinction clears up most of the confusion. A timber floor in a standalone house carries no G6 obligation at all. The same floor in an apartment, sitting on the slab between you and the unit below, does. If you are choosing a floor for a multi-unit building, G6 is the clause that decides what you can put down and what you have to prove.

If your question is the wet-area one rather than the acoustic one, that is clause E3 and we cover it in our guide to timber flooring in bathrooms and kitchens.

The two numbers

STC and IIC: what each one measures

Airborne sound

STC 55 or better

Sound Transmission Class. Voices, television, music: sound that travels through the air and then through the building element.

Applies to inter-tenancy walls, floors and ceilings
G6/AS1 sets a minimum of STC 55
On a concrete slab, the mass of the slab does most of this work

Impact sound

IIC 55 or better

Impact Insulation Class. Footfall, dropped items, chairs dragged across the floor: energy put straight into the structure.

Applies to inter-tenancy floors only
G6/AS1 sets a minimum of IIC 55
This is the one a hard floor threatens, and the one your build-up has to solve

STC and IIC are laboratory ratings. Measured on site in the finished building they become FSTC and FIIC. New Zealand has not moved to the ISO field metrics used in some other countries, so G6 is still expressed in STC and IIC.

The trap worth knowing

The number on your underlay datasheet is probably not the number the Code wants

G6/AS1 works in the ASTM-derived metrics STC and IIC. Acoustic underlays specified in New Zealand are commonly European products tested to European standards, and those datasheets quote something else entirely. The figures are real and honest. They are not IIC ratings, and there is no valid way to convert them into one.

Four things go wrong, roughly in this order.

1. An improvement is not a rating

This is the big one, and it catches experienced people. A European covering figure is a delta: how much better the covering makes a reference floor. IIC is an absolute rating of the entire finished assembly. So a 10 dB improvement tells you nothing on its own about whether your floor reaches IIC 55, because that depends entirely on what the bare structure was doing to begin with. A 10 dB improvement on a poor floor is still a fail.

2. Some scales run backwards

STC, IIC and the European Rw and ΔLw are ratings, so higher is better. But Ln,w and L’nT,w are sound pressure levels, so lower is better. Putting “Ln,w 52” next to “IIC 55” and taking the bigger number as the better one is comparing two opposite scales.

3. The test floor was concrete

The European laboratory test for floor coverings is run on a heavyweight concrete reference floor. If your building is timber-joisted, the improvement measured on concrete should not be assumed to carry across. More on why in the next section.

4. The conversion rules of thumb do not hold

Approximations circulate in the trade, the common one being IIC roughly equals 110 minus Ln,w. They do not hold across the frequency spectrum and they have no standing for compliance. If you see one used in a specification, treat it as a red flag.

Here is what this looks like on a product we sell, so you can see it in the real world. Mapei publish a 10 dB reduction in footstep noise for Mapesonic CR (ΔLw, ISO 10140-3, formerly ISO 140-8). Now read the asterisk on their own data sheet: that figure was obtained with the 2 mm product under ceramic tile flooring. The mat we supply for timber is the 4 mm. So even the honest, attributed number was measured on a different thickness under a different covering, which is exactly the kind of detail a datasheet figure hides. It is an improvement figure, not a New Zealand IIC rating, and it does not by itself demonstrate G6 compliance. It is a useful input for your acoustic engineer. It is not a compliance certificate, and we do not present it as one. You can read Mapei’s technical data sheet yourself, and we would rather you did.

Metric	What it measures	Direction	Test family	Used by NZBC G6/AS1?
STC	Airborne sound, whole assembly, laboratory	Higher is better	ASTM	Yes, minimum 55
IIC	Impact sound, whole assembly, laboratory	Higher is better	ASTM	Yes, minimum 55
FSTC / FIIC	The same two, measured on site	Higher is better	ASTM	Yes, the field equivalents
ΔLw	Improvement a covering adds to a reference floor	Higher is better	ISO, common on European datasheets	No
Rw	Airborne reduction index	Higher is better	ISO, used in the Australian NCC	No
Ln,w / L’nT,w	Impact sound pressure level, lab / field	Lower is better	ISO, used in the Australian NCC	No

The rule in one line: if the datasheet says Rw, Ln,w, L’nT,w or ΔLw, it is a European figure. It is evidence for your acoustic engineer. It is not a New Zealand compliance number.

Why carpet gets a free pass

A timber floor is not non-compliant, it is just not in the Acceptable Solution

The only practical hard-flooring-free path drawn in G6/AS1 is essentially carpet on underlay over the rated floor structure. That combination is an Acceptable Solution and is taken to meet IIC 55, which is why so many apartment schemes default to carpet.

A hard surface, whether engineered timber, tile or vinyl, over concrete or over timber joists, is not covered by G6/AS1. That does not make it non-compliant. It makes it an Alternative Solution: you design the build-up, you demonstrate it meets the performance the clause requires, and the building consent authority accepts it on that evidence. New Zealand apartments are routinely consented with timber floors on exactly this basis.

Two very different problems

Concrete slab or timber joists

Concrete slab

The common case, and the easier one

Typical of Auckland apartment stock. The mass of the slab carries most of the airborne performance, so the work is concentrated on impact.

A resilient acoustic underlay sits between the slab and the timber
The mat is sized so the assembly reaches the required IIC or FIIC
Glue-down over a bonded acoustic mat is the usual build-up

Timber joists

Materially harder

A lightweight timber floor has little mass, so there is nothing doing the airborne work for you. The build-up has to be genuinely discontinuous.

Acoustic underlay under the timber
A resilient-mounted ceiling below, with insulation in the cavity
Often a mass topping layer as well
On-site testing is effectively unavoidable

The difference is not just degree, it is character. A joisted floor is lightweight, sprung and resonant, so impact energy couples into it and is radiated by the ceiling below, with the trouble concentrated at low frequencies. That is exactly where a thin resilient layer at the surface does least. So over joists the answer is rarely “add an underlay”, it is a system: the isolated ceiling, the cavity insulation, the added lining mass and the decoupling, with the surface layer as one part of it.

This is where the datasheet trap bites hardest. An underlay’s published improvement figure was measured on a concrete reference floor. Lift that number onto a timber-joist project and you are likely to find out it did not transfer at the field test, after the floor is down and paid for.

These build-ups are established acoustic engineering practice rather than figures drawn from the Code. The specific assembly for your project is the acoustic engineer’s call.

How it actually gets done

Six steps to an Alternative Solution that gets signed off

Step 01

Bring in the acoustic engineer early

Before the floor is chosen, not after. The engineer sets the target and the build-up, and the floor selection follows from it. Reversing that order is what causes late substitutions.

Step 02

Get the actual test reports

Ask for the laboratory report for the specific mat, not the number on the brochure. Check what the tested assembly was: a mat tested under tile tells you little about the same mat under engineered timber.

Step 03

Design the whole build-up

Structure, ceiling system, underlay, adhesive and install method together. No underlay compensates for a build-up that ignores the ceiling below. The floor on its own does not carry the rating.

Step 04

Detail the edges

Perimeter isolation, skirtings that do not bridge the resilient layer, penetrations sealed, junctions considered. A build-up that is short-circuited at the edges will not perform whatever its test report says.

Step 05

Verify on site

Field testing to FIIC and FSTC is common on multi-unit work and is often required by the consent or the body corporate. Budget for it and schedule it before handover, not after.

Step 06

Read the body corporate rules first

They are contractual, not Code, they frequently set a number above the Code minimum, and some restrict hard flooring outright. Meeting G6 does not override them. Check before you specify, not after.

Use this on your next project

Five questions to ask before you specify an acoustic underlay

In our experience, acoustic trouble on multi-unit projects often traces back to a number that was never what anyone thought it was. These five questions surface that early.

Which standard is this figure from, and can I see the full test report rather than the datasheet summary?
What was the complete tested assembly? Slab thickness, ceiling, underlay, floor finish. Change any layer and the result changes.
Was it tested under a timber floor, or under tile or vinyl?
Is there any New Zealand field data, an FIIC result from a real building, for this build-up?
What number does the body corporate require? Many set a target above the Code minimum, and that is the number you actually have to hit.

Get the order right

Have the acoustic conversation before the sample stage

The expensive version of this project is the one where the floor is chosen, approved and ordered, and the acoustic requirement surfaces at consent or at field test. Then it is a substitution, a programme delay and an argument about who carries it.

The cheap version is a fifteen minute conversation at concept stage: is this floor an inter-tenancy boundary, what number does the building have to hit, and who is designing the build-up. Everything after that is detail.

Upstairs landing and hallway laid in Sazerac European oak flooring, Saint Heliers, Auckland

Sazerac oak on an upstairs landing, Saint Heliers. Upper floors are where footfall is felt, and impact sound is the number that decides a multi-unit specification.

Where we fit

What Vienna Woods can and cannot do for you

We supply the floor and the acoustic underlay, and we are happy to join the build-up conversation with your acoustic engineer as the product supplier. We stock Mapesonic CR acoustic underlay and the Parabond Parquet 440 adhesive used in glue-down systems, and we can provide the manufacturers’ published technical data for both.

What we do not do is certify acoustic performance. We cannot guarantee a decibel figure, an IIC rating or a G6 outcome, because none of those belong to the floor on its own. They belong to the finished assembly, designed by an acoustic engineer and confirmed by testing. An IIC number quoted for a floorboard on its own is not something the test method can support.

We do not design acoustic build-ups and we do not act as your acoustic consultant; the product data we supply is an input to that design, not a substitute for it.

Bring us the target number your project has to hit and we will give your acoustic engineer the product data they need to design around it. Our architects and specifiers hub has the wider documentation set, including our MasterSpec work sections.

Good to know

Common questions

Does NZBC G6 apply to a timber floor inside my own house?

No. G6 applies to building elements common between occupancies, meaning the inter-tenancy floors, walls and ceilings of multi-unit buildings. A floor inside a standalone house, or between two rooms of the same apartment, carries no G6 sound requirement.

What are the G6 numbers for an apartment floor?

G6/AS1 sets STC 55 or better for airborne sound through inter-tenancy walls, floors and ceilings, and IIC 55 or better for impact sound through inter-tenancy floors. Measured on site, the equivalents are FSTC and FIIC.

Can I put engineered timber flooring in an apartment?

Yes, and many New Zealand apartments have it. Because a hard floor is not covered by the Acceptable Solution G6/AS1, it goes in as an Alternative Solution: an acoustic engineer designs the build-up and it is usually verified by a field test.

Does a 10 dB acoustic underlay meet the Code?

Not on its own, and the two figures are not comparable. A dB reduction on a European datasheet is an improvement figure: how much better that layer makes a concrete reference floor. IIC is an absolute rating of the whole finished assembly. A 10 dB improvement on a poor floor still fails, so the number cannot tell you whether your floor reaches IIC 55.

Does the body corporate matter as well as the Building Code?

Yes, and it is often the stricter of the two. Body corporate rules are contractual rather than Code, they frequently set an acoustic target above the Code minimum, and some restrict hard flooring outright. Meeting G6 does not override them, so read them before you specify.

Can Vienna Woods guarantee an acoustic rating?

No. Acoustic performance is a property of the whole build-up, including the structure, the ceiling below, the underlay, the adhesive and the installation method. We supply the floor and underlay and provide the manufacturers’ published test data, but the rating must be designed by an acoustic engineer and confirmed by testing.

Keep reading

Plan the rest of the floor

What makes a floor quieter

Underlay, adhesive and install method: the practical levers that change how a timber floor sounds and feels underfoot.

Acoustic timber flooring ›

Installation guide

How engineered timber floors are glued down and laid, including subfloor preparation and moisture testing.

Installation guide ›

Engineered or solid

How the two constructions differ, and why engineered is the usual choice over a concrete slab.

Compare constructions ›

Working on a multi-unit project?

Send us the acoustic target your building has to meet and we will supply the product data your acoustic engineer needs to spec around it.

Request a quote Order free samples

Are wooden floors suitable in bathrooms?

Oak timber flooring running through a contemporary hallway to a glazed doorway, where the floor changes to a hard tiled surface.

Vienna Woods · Guides

Are wooden floors suitable in bathrooms?

The honest answer, room by room.

Usually not. A powder room with a toilet and basin is a reasonable case. A family bathroom or an ensuite, with a shower running every day, isn’t a room we’d put timber in.

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That’s the short version. The longer version is worth reading, because the reason has almost nothing to do with the timber and everything to do with how much water reaches the joints and how long the air stays damp.

We sell timber floors. We’d rather tell you this now than sort it out with you in two years.

Start here

The short answer, room by room

Not every room with a tap in it carries the same risk.

Room	Our verdict	Why
Powder room or guest WC	Lowest risk	The lowest-risk case, and the only one we’d genuinely discuss. No shower means no daily humidity cycle, and exposure drops to the odd splash at the basin. Closer to a kitchen than a bathroom.
Family bathroom	No	High risk. Shower and bath, used daily by several people, often with extraction that doesn’t do much. Water sits at the shower threshold and along the bath edge, and the air stays damp for hours.
Ensuite	No	Equal or worse. A smaller air volume concentrates the moisture from each shower, and ensuites are least likely to have a window that opens.
Laundry	No	A washing machine hose lets go once and you’ve got a flood, and flooding is what timber recovers from worst.

All four count as spaces containing sanitary fixtures, the powder room included, and that’s the Code’s own wording. Lower risk isn’t the same as outside the rules.

Where the wet area is

A bathroom isn’t a kitchen. The whole room is the wet area

This is the part most people get wrong, and it’s why the kitchen answer doesn’t carry across.

We’re happy to talk about timber in kitchens, and we’ve written about it. A kitchen is usually part of an open-plan space, and the Code asks for an impervious surface extending at least 1.5 metres from the sink and the dishwasher. Beyond that radius the floor can be timber, so it flows through the room and stops short of the wet zone.

A bathroom doesn’t work like that. Clause E3.3.3 of the Building Code says:

“Floor surfaces of any space containing sanitary fixtures or sanitary appliances must be impervious and easily cleaned.”

Any space containing them. A bathroom is an enclosed room holding a toilet, a basin and usually a shower, so the requirement covers the whole floor. No radius to measure from, no far corner sitting outside it. The Code defines impervious as “that which does not allow the passage of moisture.”

MBIE puts it plainly: wet areas are “spaces that contain sanitary fixtures or appliances, including laundries, bathrooms, kitchens and toilets.”

A radius in a kitchen versus the whole room in a bathroom. That difference is most of the answer.

The Building Code

What the Code actually asks for

Timber isn’t banned in a New Zealand bathroom. That gets said a lot and it isn’t right.

What happened is narrower. In November 2020, Amendment 7 to the Acceptable Solution for internal moisture took timber off the list of accepted floor finishes for these spaces, and the previous version stopped having effect on 3 November 2021. The list now runs to three: waterproof sheet material with sealed joints, ceramic or stone tile at 6% water absorption or less laid on a continuous impervious substrate or a membrane, and in limited cases a concrete slab.

Timber isn’t on it. You can still use timber as an Alternative Solution, which means your designer and building consent authority assess it case by case on evidence instead of ticking it off a pre-approved list. Legal, but you have to prove it, and your BCA is who you have to convince.

In April 2026 MBIE issued Determination 2026/015 on a tiled bathroom floor finding that a timber floor substrate “does not satisfy the ‘continuous impervious substrate or a membrane’ requirement.” That doesn’t make timber unlawful. It does tell you which way the wind is blowing when someone has to sign it off.

One distinction saves a lot of confusion. The Code asks two separate things: the surface you walk on must be impervious and easily cleaned, and water must not reach the structure behind and below. A floor covering only ever answers the first. The waterproofing in a bathroom is the membrane underneath, never the floor.

The physics

Why timber and bathrooms fight

Timber moves with the air around it, taking up moisture from humid air and giving it back to dry air until it settles at a level the room sets.

The numbers are the useful part. At 20°C and 60% relative humidity a floor sits near 11% moisture content. Push the same room to 80% and it heads toward 16%. Every 3% change in moisture content moves a board roughly 1% across its width.

Run that on a bathroom. A shower drives humidity up fast, the room holds it, the boards swell. The room dries out and they shrink back. Do that twice a day for a year and you get cupping, where the board edges sit higher than the centre.

The other half is liquid water, and it doesn’t go through the surface. It goes into the joints. A coating is a film with a joint at every board edge, and the joints are where water gets in and stays. The Waterproofing Membrane Association’s code of practice is blunt about it: sealers and coatings are not waterproof membranes, because their films are too thin and discontinuous.

Which is why wiping up a spill matters less than people think, and the humidity you can’t see matters more.

Construction

Does engineered help? Yes, up to a point

Engineered board is the right construction if timber is going anywhere near moisture. A solid board is one piece of timber and moves as one piece. An engineered board has a timber wear layer bonded to a cross-laminated core, and that cross-lamination restrains movement across the width. It’s why every conversation about timber near water starts with engineered.

But the core is still timber and plywood, and cross-lamination does nothing about liquid water sitting in a joint. Engineered board in a bathroom fails more slowly than solid board in a bathroom, which isn’t the same as not failing.

Two things people expect to help, which don’t:

A thicker wear layer

Wear layer governs how many times a floor can be sanded back. It has no bearing on moisture resistance. A 4mm wear layer takes on water at a joint exactly like a 2mm one.

The adhesive

Flooring adhesive bonds the board to the substrate. It’s not a moisture barrier and isn’t sold as one.

The hardest case

Underfloor heating is the worst combination

Underfloor heating is common in NZ bathrooms and it’s usually the reason someone wants timber in there. Warm floor, warm material, no cold tile underfoot at 6am.

It’s also the hardest combination for a board. Heating pulls a floor toward the dry end, near 8% moisture content. Showering pushes the same floor toward 16%. A heated bathroom does both, every day, and that swing is what opens a floor up at the joints.

~8%Moisture content, heating on

~16%Moisture content, after a shower

If you’re running timber over underfloor heating anywhere in the house, keep the floor surface below 27°C, which is the ceiling our own product warranty sets, commission the heating before the floor goes down, and don’t seal moisture into a slab that hasn’t dried.

In a bathroom, underfloor heating makes the case worse rather than better.

If you’re doing it anyway

How to spec it properly

Some people will do it anyway, usually in a powder room or where the shower sits in a separate wet room. If that’s you, here’s what actually reduces the risk.

Get the extraction right

The highest-leverage item here, because it attacks how long the air stays damp. The Building Code’s Acceptable Solution asks for a mechanical extract fan of not less than 25 litres per second for showers and baths, and that’s the installed rate including the ducting, not the number on the fan’s box. Run it during the shower and after, and vent it outside. An openable window on its own isn’t enough where there’s a shower or a bath.

Stop the timber short of the wet zone

Tile the shower and bath surrounds and bring the timber to meet it.

Seal the perimeter and the penetrations

In wet areas we recommend a water-resistant adhesive and perimeter sealant within ~1.5m of wet fixtures, to help manage surface moisture at the floor junction. Final wet-area detailing and any E3 compliance call sits with the project’s designer or BCA, and our installation guidance and documentation support that detailing.

Size the expansion gaps for a humid room

Per the ATFA engineered flooring standard, 10mm per edge suits a normal interior and up to 14mm a humid, high-swing room. A bathroom is the humid case, so 14mm, around the full perimeter and every fixed object: toilet pan, vanity plinth, bath, shower threshold. Fix the skirting to the wall rather than the floor, and size the gap to what the timber needs before worrying about what the trim covers.

Test the substrate before you lay

Measure the moisture in the slab and choose the primer off that reading.

Use a mat at the shower, and hang it up

A wet mat left lying on timber traps moisture against the boards and causes the exact cupping you’re trying to avoid.

None of that makes a bathroom a good place for timber. It makes a marginal case less bad.

The better plan

What we’d put in a full bathroom instead

For a family bathroom, an ensuite or a laundry, tile or porcelain is the straightforward answer. It’s impervious, it works with a membrane, and it’s the surface the Acceptable Solution route is built around.

If you want the look of timber with a surface that tolerates water, vinyl plank is worth a look. It responds to temperature rather than humidity, which is the property timber doesn’t have in this room. Standard laminate isn’t the answer: its fibreboard core expands in both directions and swells for good once it’s wet.

We sell neither tile nor vinyl, so take that as a straight answer rather than a sales one.

European oak flooring in soft natural light, dry and undamaged, in a Saint Heliers living room.

The version that usually works best is timber through the living areas, hallways and bedrooms, and something else in the bathrooms and laundry. Continuous timber everywhere it belongs, and you don’t spend the next decade watching the bathroom.

We’re not alone in drawing this line. Kährs, one of the older European engineered flooring makers, permits its floors in “½ bathrooms only (no bathrooms including showers or bathtubs).”

Warranty

What the warranty covers, and what it doesn’t

We have two warranty documents and they answer different questions. Both are worth checking before you commit to anything.

The product warranty is written around conditions rather than rooms, and it doesn’t name a room anywhere. It asks that indoor relative humidity is kept between 40% and 65%, that floor surface temperature stays below 27°C, and that the floor is protected from standing water, flooding or excessive wet mopping.

Read that against the numbers further up. At 60% humidity a floor sits near 11% moisture content, and a shower can push a small room past 65% in minutes. A bathroom is the hardest room in a house to hold inside that band, and it’s the room most likely to have water standing on it.

The installation warranty is more direct about it. Our current version says: “Special installations such as in bathrooms, lacing into existing installed flooring are not covered.”

So the position is: the product warranty sets conditions a bathroom struggles to meet, and the installation warranty doesn’t cover bathroom installations. Neither of those is us claiming timber can’t physically go in a bathroom. It’s what our paperwork says, and you’re better off knowing before you buy than after.

None of this affects your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act. Our warranty operates in addition to those rights, not instead of them.

Good to know

Common questions

Can you put wooden floors in a bathroom in New Zealand?

There’s no law against it. Timber came out of the Acceptable Solution for internal moisture in November 2020, so it now goes in as an Alternative Solution that your designer and building consent authority sign off case by case. Legal, but you have to prove it.

Is timber flooring waterproof?

No. No timber floor is waterproof, and neither is the coating on it. A finish is a film with a joint at every board edge, and water finds the joints. The waterproofing in a bathroom is the membrane under the floor, never the floor itself.

Can engineered wood flooring get wet?

It handles a wiped-up splash better than a solid board, because the cross-laminated core restrains movement. It doesn’t handle standing water or sustained humidity. Engineered board fails more slowly than solid board, which isn’t the same as not failing.

Does a bathroom floor need to be waterproof under the Building Code?

The Code asks two separate things. The floor surface in any space containing sanitary fixtures must be impervious and easily cleaned. Separately, water mustn’t get into the structure behind and below. A floor covering can only ever answer the first one.

What flooring should I use in a bathroom instead?

Tile or porcelain is the straightforward answer, and it’s the surface the Acceptable Solution route is built around. If you want the timber look with a water-tolerant surface, look at vinyl plank. We sell neither, so take that as a straight answer rather than a sales one.

Timber everywhere else in the house

If you’re renovating and the bathroom is one room in a bigger job, that’s the conversation worth having. Most people come to us asking about the bathroom and end up with timber through the rest of the house.

Tell us about your place and we’ll give you a straight answer on what suits which room. Samples are free, and they’re the fastest way to see how a floor looks in your own light.

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Why Size Counts in Timber Flooring

Light natural oak flooring in long lengths running through an open kitchen, dining and lounge

Vienna Woods · Articles

Timber floor board length: why size matters

Length, width and thickness, and how each one changes the room.

Board length is the single biggest driver of how a floor reads. Longer boards mean fewer joins and a calmer, more premium look, especially in open-plan rooms. But size is three numbers, length, width and thickness, and each one changes the feel underfoot. Here is how they work together.

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The three numbers

Board size is length, width and thickness

When people talk about board size they usually mean length. It matters, but it is only part of the story. Width sets the scale of the room. Thickness, and in particular the oak wear layer on top, sets how the floor wears and what you can do with it later. Get all three right and a floor looks considered rather than busy.

Every board we sell is European oak. Petit Château, Château, Icons and Patina are engineered overseas to Vienna Woods’ specification; Foundation and Distilled are made in Europe. Browse the full range on the collections page.

Length

Why longer boards read more premium

Every engineered floor is milled from a range of board lengths, and the share of short boards in the pack is where the look is won or lost. More short boards means more head joints, a more broken grain pattern, and a floor that feels cluttered in a big room. Fewer, longer boards give a continuous flow that suits open-plan living.

We aim to keep short-board content low across the engineered range, and our fixed-length collections carry none at all. Plenty of engineered flooring is sold with a quarter to a third of the pack in short boards.

More short boards

Busier, more broken

More head joints across the floor
Grain pattern breaks up
Feels cluttered in open-plan rooms

Longer boards

Calmer, more continuous

Fewer joins to catch the eye
Grain flows across the room
Suits large, open spaces

Long, wide natural oak planks running the length of an open lounge

Width and thickness

Wider boards settle a room; thickness sets the wear

Width is a design call, not a quality one. Narrow strip floors read traditional and busy; a wider board calms a large room and reads more premium. Our standard planks run about 190mm wide, and the wider formats reach 200mm to 240mm. The Petit Château range is a good place to see the standard and wide formats side by side.

Thickness is two numbers: the whole board and the oak wear layer on top. Our engineered boards are 14mm or 15mm overall with a 3mm to 4mm European oak wear layer, and a thicker wear layer generally leaves more room to recoat or sand the floor later, depending on the installation and how it is looked after.

The sizes we carry

Vienna Woods board formats

Format	Size (mm)	Notes
Standard plank	190 x 1900	Our everyday format, held in stock
Noble plank	190 x 2200	Longer board, made to order
Grande plank	220 x 2200	Extra-wide board, made to order
Foundation	200 x 2200	Fixed length, no short boards, made in Europe
Patina	240 x 2200	Our widest plank, engineered European oak
Herringbone / Chevron	120 x 600	Parquet blocks for classic patterns

Boards are 14mm to 15mm thick with a 3mm to 4mm European oak wear layer. Made-to-order formats: please allow roughly 3 to 4 months, an estimate that can vary.

Dark rich oak flooring in long lengths across an open lounge, dining and kitchen

Keep exploring

Where to go next

Browse the collections

Every Vienna Woods range in one place, from standard planks to extra-wide and fixed-length boards.

View collections →

Foundation: one length

A 200 x 2200mm European-made board, every plank the same length, no short boards.

See Foundation →

Order free samples

Lay real boards in your own light before you commit to a size or a colour.

Get samples →

Good to know

Common questions

What is the best board length for timber flooring?

There is no single best length. Longer boards give a calmer, more continuous look and suit open-plan rooms; shorter boards can work in smaller spaces. What matters most is how many short boards sit in the pack. Vienna Woods keeps short-board content low, and our fixed-length ranges carry none.

Are wider boards better than narrow ones?

It is a design call, not a quality one. Wider boards, 200mm to 240mm, read more premium and settle a large room; narrower boards feel more traditional. Order samples and lay them out in your own light before deciding.

How thick should engineered timber flooring be?

Our engineered boards are 14mm or 15mm overall with a 3mm to 4mm European oak wear layer. A thicker wear layer generally leaves more scope to refinish later, subject to the installation and upkeep.

What size boards does Vienna Woods offer?

Standard planks are 190 x 1900mm, with wider and longer formats up to 240 x 2200mm, plus 120 x 600mm herringbone and chevron blocks. Foundation is a fixed-length 200 x 2200mm board with no short lengths.

See the size difference in your own space

Order a set of free samples, or send us your plans and we will help you choose the right board size for the room.

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Timber Floor Maintenance Cost NZ — Oiled vs Lacquered Flooring Over Time

BARREL Oak oiled timber floor in a light natural finish, close up

Vienna Woods · Articles

What Does It Cost to Maintain a Timber Floor in NZ?

Oiled vs lacquered, over the life of the floor

Day to day, a timber floor costs almost nothing to keep: the right cleaner and a microfibre mop. The real cost is periodic. Oiled floors take a low-cost refresh every few years and can be spot-fixed; lacquered floors need a full sand and re-coat once the surface wears. Here is the indicative NZ picture.

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Everyday cost

Routine cleaning is close to free

The biggest saving is that timber asks for very little day to day. Sweep or vacuum, then a lightly damp microfibre mop with a pH-neutral timber cleaner. Skip steam mops, wet mopping and generic supermarket sprays, which strip finishes and cause most of the damage that leads to early refinishing. Budget roughly $30 to $60 a year in the right product. Our timber floor maintenance and cleaning guide covers the routine.

Periodic cost

Where the two finishes differ: re-oil vs re-coat

This is where lifetime cost is really decided. The finish on the floor sets how you restore it, and how much that costs. For the full performance and appearance picture, read our oiled vs lacquered timber flooring comparison.

Oiled floors

Refresh, generally without sanding

Oil sits in the timber rather than as a film on top, so upkeep is a top-up, not a strip-back.

Topped up with a maintenance oil, not a surface film
Wear and dry patches can generally be spot-treated
Often done room by room, with less disruption
Lower cost per event, done more often

Lacquered floors

One bigger cost, later

Lacquer is a surface coating that wears as a single layer across the whole floor.

A protective film that wears as one layer
Once it wears through, a scuff cannot be spot-blended
Restoration generally means a full sand and re-coat
Minimal early cost, one larger cost down the track

The numbers

Indicative NZ maintenance costs

Every floor and every quote is different, so treat these as general market ranges, not Vienna Woods prices. Actual cost varies by floor area, foot traffic, finish, region and contractor. Always get a written quote for your own floor.

Task	How often (indicative)	Indicative NZ cost
Routine cleaning (both finishes)	Weekly, plus as needed	Around $30 to $60 a year in product
Re-oil refresh (oiled floors)	Periodic; high-traffic areas sooner	DIY from the cost of the oil; professional roughly $15 to $30 per m²
Full sand and refinish (worn lacquer, or a full oiled reset)	Once every many years	Roughly $45 to $90 per m², depending on spec and coats

Indicative market ranges only. GST, floor condition and site access all move the figure. Get a quote for a firm price.

Graph comparing the maintenance lifecycle cost of oiled timber floors versus sanding and refinishing lacquered floors over time

Full refinish

What a full sand and refinish costs

When a lacquered floor wears through, or an oiled floor needs a complete reset, the job is a full sand and refinish: sand back, then two or three coats of finish. As a guide only, NZ contractors often work to roughly $45 to $90 per square metre, so a typical living area tends to land in the low to mid thousands, more for larger floors, premium finishes or staining. It is disruptive too, furniture out and a few days off the floor, which is exactly why the finish you pick at purchase matters. Weigh it against the cost of the floor itself when you buy.

Lifetime cost

Which works out cheaper over time?

There is no single winner. Oiled floors spread cost into smaller, more frequent refreshes you can stage and often do yourself. Lacquered floors cost almost nothing for years, then land one larger refinishing bill. Over a long life, the totals often end up closer than they first look.

Two things cut lifetime cost more than the oiled-versus-lacquered debate itself: a sound install and matching the finish to how you live. A floor that is acclimatised, laid flat and sealed at the edges tends to wear more evenly and refinish cleanly. And putting your easiest-to-refresh finish where wear is heaviest, an oil in the hallway and where kids or pets live, means fewer full sands over the years. Order free timber flooring samples to see the finishes in your own light, or request a quote and we will talk through the finish that keeps your upkeep low.

Oiled vs lacquered

Performance, appearance and upkeep, side by side, so you can pick the finish that suits your home.

Compare the two finishes →

Care and cleaning

The simple routine that keeps a timber floor looking new and delays any refinishing.

See the maintenance guide →

What a floor costs to buy

Indicative supply and install pricing for engineered European oak flooring in NZ.

View flooring cost guide →

Good to know

Common questions

How much does it cost to sand and refinish a timber floor in NZ?

As an indicative market guide, sanding and refinishing often runs around $45 to $90 per square metre, depending on the floor, the finish and the number of coats. That is a general range, not a Vienna Woods price, so get a written quote for your own floor.

Is it cheaper to have an oiled or a lacquered floor?

It depends on how you use the floor. Oiled floors cost less per refresh but need refreshing more often; lacquered floors cost little for years, then need a full sand and re-coat. Over a long life the totals often end up closer than expected.

Can you re-oil a floor without sanding it?

In most cases, yes. Oiled floors are generally topped up with a maintenance oil and can be spot-treated in worn areas, so a full sand is usually only needed for a complete restoration.

Does routine cleaning really cost almost nothing?

Yes. Ongoing upkeep is mostly a pH-neutral timber cleaner and a microfibre mop, roughly $30 to $60 a year. Avoiding steam, excess water and harsh sprays is what prevents the far larger cost of early refinishing.

Still weighing it up? Read the full Vienna Woods FAQ, or order samples to compare finishes in person.

Choose the finish that keeps upkeep low

See how our engineered European oak looks and feels in your own light, then let us help you match the finish to how you live.

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Wooden Floorboards in the Kitchen; What is E3 and How Does it Impact Your Project?

Bordeaux Herringbone oak parquet running through an open-plan Ponsonby kitchen, with the sink set into the island

Vienna Woods · Articles

What is E3? Timber floors, kitchens and the Building Code

The internal-moisture clause, explained, and how to still lay timber in your kitchen.

E3 is the New Zealand Building Code clause for internal moisture. Since a 2021 update, kitchens count as wet areas, so floors near sinks, dishwashers and washing machines must be impervious and easy to clean. You can still lay a timber floor there, usually through an Alternative Solution signed off by your building consent authority.

A bathroom is a harder case than a kitchen, because the whole floor counts rather than a radius around the sink. We have set out the honest answer in timber flooring in a bathroom.

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The clause

What Clause E3 actually covers

Clause E3 of the Building Code is titled Internal Moisture. Its job is to control the moisture that builds up inside a home, the kind that leads to mould, rot and damage to the building. In plain terms, it asks that surfaces in wet areas be impervious and easy to keep clean, so water from splashes and spills does not soak into the structure.

The full clause sits on the government’s Building Performance website. What changed for flooring is which rooms now count as wet areas, and that is where kitchens come in. Getting the floor right from the start is a job for your installer: our guide to timber flooring installation walks through subfloor prep and moisture control.

The 2021 change

Why your kitchen counts as a wet area

In November 2020, Amendment 7 to the Acceptable Solution E3/AS1 was introduced, with a transition period that ended on 3 November 2021. It reclassified dishwashers and washing machines as sanitary appliances, and sinks as sanitary fixtures. The result: a kitchen, and a laundry, is now treated as a wet area under the Building Code.

What the code asks

An impervious, cleanable floor

Floors in areas that hold a sanitary fixture or appliance need a surface that water cannot pass through and that wipes clean. In an open-plan room, that impervious zone extends a set distance out from the sink, dishwasher and washing machine.

Impervious surface
Easy to clean
Sealed against spills

What it means for timber

Timber goes in as an Alternative Solution

A standard timber floor is not an Acceptable Solution for that zone, so it is consented as an Alternative Solution: you demonstrate to your building consent authority that the floor meets the E3 performance requirement.

Consent via Alternative Solution
Confirm the exact zone with your BCA
Detail the wet points carefully

Kitchen island with a sink set over oak flooring, the point E3 treats as a wet area

The practical route

How to lay a timber floor in a kitchen under E3

Talk to your builder and BCA early

Raise the floor at design stage. Your builder and building consent authority confirm the impervious zone and what evidence they want to see for an Alternative Solution.

Specify a sealed, cleanable surface

The floor needs a well-sealed, cleanable surface coating so spills sit on top and wipe away rather than soaking in. Your supplier should provide the coating details.

Seal the joints and edges

Board joints, perimeter edges and the runs around cabinetry and appliances are detailed to keep moisture out. This is where a careful install earns its keep.

Put a maintenance plan in writing

A simple maintenance plan, wiping spills promptly, regular cleaning and periodic checks, supports the consent. Our maintenance and cleaning guide is a good start.

Engineered European oak flooring flowing through an open-plan kitchen and dining area in Westmere, Auckland

The Vienna Woods approach

Engineered European oak, built for the way we live

Most of a kitchen is not the splash zone, and a timber floor flowing through the kitchen, dining and living space is the look most of our clients are after. The trick is the right board and the right install for New Zealand conditions.

Our floors are engineered European oak: a real oak wear layer over a cross-bonded core, engineered to our specification. That construction is designed to stay more settled than a solid plank as kitchen humidity rises and falls through the day.

Sequencing matters too. Our note on whether the kitchen or the flooring goes first covers how the two trades line up, and the install method, glue-down or floating, plus subfloor moisture testing, is set by your installer in our installation guide.

Good to know

Common questions

Can you have wooden floors in a kitchen in New Zealand?

Yes. Kitchens now count as wet areas under Clause E3, so a timber floor usually goes in as an Alternative Solution, approved by your building consent authority, with a sealed, cleanable surface and the wet points detailed carefully.

What is Clause E3 of the Building Code?

E3, Internal Moisture, is the clause that controls moisture build-up inside a building. It requires surfaces in wet areas to be impervious and easy to clean so water does not damage the structure or create unhealthy conditions.

Are kitchens really classed as wet areas now?

Since a 2021 update to E3/AS1, sinks are sanitary fixtures and dishwashers and washing machines are sanitary appliances, which brings kitchens and laundries in as wet areas. Your BCA confirms how far the impervious zone extends.

Do I need a special consent for a timber kitchen floor?

You do not need a separate consent, but timber in the wet zone is handled as an Alternative Solution within your building consent. Your builder shows the BCA the floor meets the E3 requirement through the coating, sealing and a maintenance plan.

Is engineered oak a good choice near water?

Engineered oak’s cross-bonded core is designed to stay more stable than solid timber as humidity changes, which suits open-plan kitchens. Right at a sink or tub, still detail the wet points and confirm the impervious zone with your builder.

More answers on our flooring FAQ. E3 detail here is general guidance, always confirm your project with your builder and building consent authority.

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See and feel our engineered European oak at home before you commit to a colour.

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Kitchen or flooring first?

The other question every kitchen renovation asks, and how the trades line up.

Read the guide →

Get a quote

Tell us the room and we will price your floor, supply, or supply and install.

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Planning a timber floor for your kitchen?

Talk to us about the right board and install for a wet-area kitchen, and order free samples to try at home.

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Understanding and Remedying Cupping in Timber Floors

Engineered European oak flooring in a New Zealand home

Vienna Woods · Articles

Cupping in Timber Floors: Causes, Diagnosis and Remedies

What it is, why it happens, and how to put it right without making it worse.

Cupping is when a floorboard’s edges sit higher than its centre, giving the board a shallow concave dish. It is almost always a moisture problem: the underside of the board is wetter than the top, so it swells and pushes the edges up. Fix the moisture source first, then let the floor re-balance.

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The basics

What cupping actually is

Cupping shows up as a gentle ripple across the floor. Run a straight edge or your hand across the boards and each one sits slightly lower in the middle than at its edges. It is the opposite of crowning, where the centre sits proud instead. Both solid and engineered timber can cup, because both react to moisture.

The mechanism is always the same. The underside of the board takes on more moisture than the top, the bottom swells, and the edges are pushed up. So the fix is never really about the surface. It is about finding the moisture and taking it away.

A cupped timber floor with the board edges sitting higher than the centres

What cupping looks like: the board edges sit higher than the centres.

Root cause: moisture

What causes cupping

Cupping is a symptom, not the disease. The disease is a moisture imbalance top to bottom, and it usually traces back to one of these four. Most come down to the subfloor and how the floor was laid, so the timber flooring installation guide is worth a read before you start.

Subfloor and slab moisture

A damp subfloor, or a concrete slab that has not fully dried, feeds moisture up into the underside of the boards. New slabs are a common culprit and can hold water for months.

Spills and standing water

Water left to sit, a slow leak under a dishwasher or fridge, or a floor that is wet-mopped soaks into the board edges and joints faster than it dries off the top.

No acclimatisation

Timber laid before it has settled to the room keeps adjusting after install. If it gains moisture once it is fixed down, the edges lift.

Humidity and HVAC swings

Big seasonal humidity changes, heat pumps and air-conditioning all shift the balance in the boards. Strong sun on one area and damp air in another can both play a part.

Before you fix anything

How to diagnose cupping

Confirm it really is cupping and, more importantly, find where the moisture is coming from. Guessing wastes time and can make things worse.

Check the floor

Confirm the shape

Lay a straight edge across several boards. Dished in the middle is cupping; raised in the middle is crowning.
Look for a pattern. Whole-room cupping points to humidity or the subfloor; a single patch points to a leak or spill.
Note when it appeared. Seasonal and mild, or sudden and getting worse?

Track the source

Find the moisture

Use a moisture meter on the boards and, if you can reach it, the subfloor. You are looking for a wetter underside or subfloor.
Check the usual suspects: plumbing, appliances, sub-floor ventilation and any recent concrete.
If it followed a flood or a big spill, work through the water damage recovery steps first.

The remedy

How to fix a cupped floor

There is no quick trick. You fix the moisture, then give the floor time to even out. In order:

1. Fix the moisture source

This is the real repair. Stop the leak, dry the subfloor, improve ventilation, or let a new slab finish curing. Nothing else works until this is done.

2. Let it re-equilibrate

Once the source is gone, the board’s top and bottom slowly even out, and mild cupping often flattens on its own over weeks to months. Keep the room’s humidity steady while it settles.

3. Sand only once it is stable

Sanding is a last step, not a first one. Sand a floor that is still moving and, once it dries flat, you can be left with thin, crowned boards. Have a flooring professional confirm the moisture is stable and the floor has settled first.

4. Replace when it is beyond that

If boards have split, delaminated or stayed badly deformed after drying, replacing the affected area is the honest answer. A quote from Vienna Woods will tell you where you stand.

Stop it happening

How to prevent cupping

Cupping is far easier to design out than to fix. Three habits do most of the work.

Test the moisture before you lay

Check the subfloor and slab are dry and stable before any timber goes down. This one step heads off the bulk of moisture-related cupping.

Acclimatise the timber

Let the flooring settle to the room it will live in before install, so it is not gaining or losing moisture after it is fixed down. Follow the product’s installation guidance.

Keep humidity and care steady

Avoid big indoor humidity swings, wipe spills quickly, and stick to gentle, damp-not-wet cleaning. Our flooring maintenance and cleaning guide covers the routine.

Good to know

A note on engineered floors

Engineered boards are built as a European oak wear layer over a stable multi-ply core, a construction designed to move less with changes in humidity than a single piece of solid timber. That is the design intent, not a guarantee: no timber floor is immune to a genuine moisture problem, so the moisture control above still applies to every floor. Vienna Woods flooring is European oak, engineered overseas to our specification.

Keep going

Helpful next steps

Order free samples

See and feel our European oak in your own light and humidity before you commit to a floor.

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Engineered vs solid

How the two constructions differ, and why it matters when you are thinking about stability and moisture.

Compare the two →

Dealing with water damage

A flood or a burst pipe? The first moves that decide whether a floor can be saved.

Read the guide →

Good to know

Common questions about cupping

What causes cupping in a timber floor?

A moisture imbalance: the underside of the board is wetter than the top, so the bottom swells and pushes the edges up. Common sources are a damp or newly poured concrete subfloor, a leak or spill left to sit, high indoor humidity, or a floor laid before it acclimatised.

Will a cupped floor flatten out on its own?

Often, yes. Once you fix the moisture source and let the floor re-balance to the room’s humidity, mild cupping frequently evens out over weeks to months. The common mistake is sanding too soon, while the boards are still moving.

When can a cupped floor be sanded?

Only after the moisture problem is fixed and the floor has fully stabilised. Sanding a floor that is still cupped can leave the boards thin and, once they dry and flatten, crowned. Have a flooring professional confirm it is stable before any sanding.

Can engineered floors cup too?

Yes. Engineered construction is designed for more dimensional stability than solid timber, but no wood floor is immune to a genuine moisture problem, so the same moisture control still applies.

How do I stop my floor from cupping?

Control the moisture. Make sure the subfloor is dry before laying, let the timber acclimatise, keep indoor humidity reasonably steady, wipe up spills quickly, and keep up gentle regular cleaning.

More questions about living with a timber floor? Our flooring FAQ covers the common ones.

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