Ironbark Timber Flooring

Grey Ironbark flooring: sizes, grades and prices

Prices are per square metre on our website on 14 October 2026. The 130 × 14 mm Feature board is stocked; Select, Standard and the other sizes are ordered in, so call for current pricing.

Which thickness: 14 mm overlay or 19 mm structural

The 19 mm board is a structural floor: it spans joists or battens on its own, or goes over a plywood or particleboard subfloor. The 14 mm board is an overlay: it must be glued or nailed to a continuous subfloor, or direct-stuck to a concrete slab over a moisture barrier, and cannot span joists. Both are tongue-and-groove and end-matched, and both are sanded and coated after laying, so the finished floor looks the same; the 14 mm board is cheaper per square metre and sits lower at doorways.

What Grey Ironbark flooring is like

Grey ironbark, mainly Eucalyptus paniculata, is the hardest and heaviest floor we sell: WoodSolutions gives a seasoned hardness of 16 kN at about 1,106 kg/m³, roughly double Merbau and well above Spotted Gum. The boards run light grey to light chocolate with darker red and brown pieces, a tight interlocked grain, and very little figure, so the floor reads as dense and even rather than lively.

It is the floor for shops, halls and houses with dogs, dragged furniture and hard use. The heartwood is naturally termite resistant and the sapwood is not susceptible to lyctid borer. The trade-off is in the laying: it is heavy, blunts blades, and needs sharp tooling to cut cleanly.

Grades for this timber

Feature grade, the one we stock, shows the full colour range with gum veins and some knots; Standard and Select are progressively cleaner and are ordered in. In ironbark even Feature grade looks even, because the grain is so tight. Grade names vary between suppliers, so ask what each one allows; our timber grades guide explains the system.

Laying and finishing

Boards are supplied kiln-dried at 10–12.5% moisture content. If that matches the house, lay them; if the house is noticeably wetter or drier, open the packs and stack them with airflow for a week first. Leave 10–12 mm expansion gaps at walls and fixed points, more across a wide room. Leave the laid floor about two weeks before sanding and coating so it settles (WoodSolutions). Allow 5–10% extra for cuts and the odd board you set aside. We stock the adhesives, vapour barrier and trims and the skirtings to finish the job.

The same timber for other jobs

• Grey ironbark decking – the same timber outside, Class 1 in the ground
• Ironbark cladding
• Solid timber flooring – all species

Questions we get asked

How much does ironbark flooring cost?

On our website on 14 October 2026, the 130 × 14 mm Feature board is $100 per m²; Select 130 × 14 mm is $124 per m² when ordered in.

Is ironbark the hardest flooring timber?

Of the species we stock, yes: 16 kN against 10.1 for Spotted Gum and 8.9 for Blackbutt.

Is it hard to install?

Harder than most. Pre-drill any face fixings, keep blades sharp, and allow more time for cutting. Once down it is as stable as any hardwood.

What colour will the floor be?

A mid grey-brown overall with red-brown boards through it. Clear coats deepen the browns a little.

Pickup and delivery

Stocked at our flooring showroom at 170 Settlement Road, Thomastown, Mon–Fri 7 am–4:30 pm and Sat 9 am–1 pm, with delivery across Melbourne and regional Victoria quoted with the order. Bring your room sizes in and we will work out the packs, or call (03) 9465 9875.