Advice please about floating solid wood flooring

[Kidsdad]

Hi guys,

I've got a couple of questions that i'm hoping that someone can give me some tips with.
I've bought some solid wood flooring to install downstairs in 3 rooms, living room, dining room and hall. The subfloor in all 3 is concrete.
I'd like the floor boards to run through in one section from the living room to the dinging room, through the french doors.

Is this possible or do I need to leave an expansion gap?
The room size for the living room is 6x4m and the dining room is 4x3m. They're arranged in an L shape...

The second question is about the method of securing the flooring -has anyone got any experience with self adhesive foam underlays? I've seen some in B&Q which looks quite good.
Cheers,
Don
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's hoping for a good samaritan to give me some advice

 

[WoodYouLike]

Read this first Solid Floors - what to note

And as for self-adhesive underlayment, if possible get the original one from Elastilon, most copy-cat products are not as good as they pretend to be

 

[Kidsdad]

Thanks woodulike, the tip about elastilon is useful and i'll source some.

I'll avoid trying to run the living and dining rooms in one "slab". The total length would be something like 8.5metres.

The boards I've picked up are from B&Q, 18mm thick and 125mm wide. The longest length is 1.8m and the shortest is .4m, mostly the average length is 1.1m and there aren't many of the short boards.

Is there any advice u can give about sourcing good quality room dividers for doorways?

I guess that the moisture content can be measured by a standard plaster probe?

Thanks,
Don

 

[WoodYouLike]

Dividers and thresholds in Solid Oak, plenty here

 

[Kidsdad]

Thanks for that tip, I'll take you up on it in the next week or so!

One more crazy question for you....
Does the expansion and contraction of the wooden boards work differently if you use the Elastilon rubber base compared to the solid adhesive?

I'm wondering if i'll see gaps open up between boards that are glued -and fixed as humidity drops.
Would I see this if the boards can move along with the flexible rubber mats when the humidity drops and do floated floors contract from the walls?....

Cheers!

 

[WoodYouLike]

Elastilon works the same as any flexible adhesive you would use to fully bond the floor. Advantage is you can lay it on underfloors not suited - bad quality - for fully bonding. Principle is the same: allows movement due to flexible bonding.

Remember, no matter which installation method you use, wood works. In extreme circumstances (very high or low humidity) it goes.