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Walking into a room with beautiful hardwood flooring evokes a powerful emotional response. The sound of your heels clicking or the sensation of your bare feet against the smooth hardwood bring feelings of luxury, warmth and safety.

“More and more customers prefer it these days,” Yudi, a product consultant at Solutions Flooring, said during an exhibition at the Jakarta Convention Center on Friday. “Wood flooring contributes to a more natural interior look. It’s a hot trend these days.”

Customers looking for quality may prefer hardwood flooring, but this comes with a high price tag and other serious drawbacks.

For example, top-grade solid teak flooring can set you back Rp 900,000 ($100) per square meter. Installation, a skill all its own, will also add to the cost.

“It’s getting harder to justify, too,” said John Kozlowski, quality control manager at PT Green Resources Material, whose manufacturing plant is based in Batam.

“Forests are thinning and if we continue to cut down trees, we’ll slowly destroy the planet.”

Fortunately, there are solutions. Advances and innovations in technology have brought new faux wood products to the market, minimizing cost and resources, while maintaining the same luxurious and elegant feel of hardwood.

One of these products is vinyl plank flooring. Made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a high-quality plastic, the floor is usually pre-glued, so all you need to do is peel off the adhesive on the back and lay it down over a dry surface.

“It’s only a fraction of the price of solid wood flooring, with almost the same feel,” said Andri, a product consultant with Fio Home. “It’s also waterproof and termite-proof. It comes in as many colors, shades and designs as hardwood.”

Vinyl plank flooring costs Rp 125,000 per square meter. The versatility of the product makes it ideal flooring for public areas and commercial buildings where there is heavy foot traffic.

“Most of our customers use it for their offices, hotels and restaurants,” Andri said.

The product is also low maintenance. Vinyl flooring can be mopped without fear of damaging the surface. Since it is impermeable, liquid can’t seep into the floor, which means mold and mildew will not be a problem.

While the flooring is less expensive and easier to install and maintain than hardwood, it does have its downsides.

Since vinyl planks are made of PVC, they have a glossy texture that, upon close inspection, can look unnatural. “They are artificial, after all,” Andri said.

If vinyl planks don’t give you the look and feel you’re after, then you can go for laminate flooring instead.

Made of high density fiberboard or super-compressed wood fibers, the flooring is overlaid with wood motif-covered laminate paper. Each panel has a click joint system for easy installation.

The price for laminate flooring starts at Rp 200,000 per square meter.

Since it is made of actual wood fibers, the floor is more impact-resistant and durable. “It’s also flame resistant,” Yudi said. “If you drop your cigarette on it, it won’t ruin the surface.”

Laminate flooring is also water-resistant but not waterproof. “You can only use it indoors where it’s mostly dry,” Yudi said. “To clean the floors, you must use a semi-dry mop.”

A third alternative is engineered wood parquet. These 12 millimeter-thick panels are made of plywood and manufactured from many different types of scrap wood.

Each plank is topped with a genuine wood sheet, such as Nyatoh (a kind of tropical wood), Kalimantan Rosewood or even the popular Kerangas from Kalimantan.

“You can really feel the difference, especially when walking barefoot,” said Andri Rovianus, project sales supervisor at PT Satya Djaya Raya Trading Coy. “You can feel the genuine texture of wood veins on the floors. It’s exquisite.”

However, as with most things, there are some drawbacks. “It’s natural wood, so you have to treat it carefully,” Rovianus said. “It’s not scratch-resistant, water-resistant or stain-resistant.”

The flooring costs around Rp 210,000 per panel, each equipped with a tongue-and-groove installation system.

There are several things to consider when choosing engineered wood parquet.

“Wood is unique,” Rovianus said. “It adjusts to its surrounding climate. If it’s too humid, it’ll absorb the moisture and it expands. It may cause the parquet to swell and pop eventually.”

To avoid this problem, customers are advised to buy locally produced parquets since these are already conditioned to the climate in Indonesia.

Besides, Rovianus said, if it is locally produced, it will be easier to find a replacement when one of the panels needs to be changed.

With careful maintenance, engineered wood parquet can last up to 10 years.

If you are still not satisfied with the array of choices, there is one other option for you. Green Resources Material recently came up with a product made of plastic wood composite.

Launched on June 30 at the Jakarta Convention Center, the material is composed of a mixture of wood waste and PVC.

The product’s unique composition gives it a lightness and versatility that allows customers more freedom when designing their home.

“In addition to flooring, our panels can be used on walls, decks, ceilings and window sills,” GRM’s Kozlowski said.

Since the product only absorbs one percent moisture, it can be used indoors or outdoors, as well in bathrooms.

“We did a test in Australia where we actually immersed panels in salt water and they held up fine,” Kozlowski said.

However, Kozlowski said that when you install the product outdoors, you should use a special seal coating to protect the color. The company has developed a special non-toxic water-based polyurethane coating for this purpose.

Environmentally conscious consumers will also be happy to note that the material is also recyclable.

“If you’re bored with a design and want to change it, we’ll buy it back and reuse it,” Kozlowski said. “By putting the product on the market, hopefully we can make the community aware of green issues. Let’s not cut down the trees. Let’s save the forests.”

All these flooring products offer the style and durability of real wood flooring at a fraction of the cost and maintenance.

Best of all, they offer guilt-free, eco-friendly alternatives so you can live sustainably and elegantly. That’s definitely worth your investment.


Solutions Flooring Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda No. 13 B/C, Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta Tel: 021 726 2689

Fio Home Dharmawangsa 6 Ruko No. 32 -33, South Jakarta, Tel: 021 727 80636

PT Satya Djaya Raya Trading Coy Lyman Wing, Kota BNI, Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav 1. Jakarta, Tel: 021 570 2662