Any alternative to plywood under new vinyl floorcovering?

[fiveminutejob]

We have had a kitchen/diner extension done leaving us with a dining area with part wooden and part concrete floor. The existing T&G floor boards (1960s) covers about 1.3mx3m. The new concrete area is about 3 times bigger.

We want to have it all covered in sheet vinyl (not tiles). The flooring people recently fitted some 4mm ply over the floorboards (thereby altering the levels). They say they intend to screed over the concrete up to the ply with a latex compond. They are coming back to screed after new kitchen is fitted (don't ask me why it's not done before).

In the meantime the ply which they stapled to the floorboards has started to creak all over, has visible vertical movement when walked on and is a LOT noisier than the original floorboards. Have raised this with flooring shop and asked for any alternative to ply. They say that's the only way to do it, vinyl can't be placed onto floorboards, we have to accept a noise difference and firing in some more staples should cure ply creaks. We are not convinced.

Is there another way? I noticed this in a separate thread from mattysupra re floor levellers:

"fibre bonded (waterbased)- The same as water based but better! Designed to go over floors that flex. Even floor boards! "

Could I have more info on this, please?

Any other suggestions/comments would also be appreciated. The original floorboards are in reasonably good nick, even, level, and with just the odd T&G gap where a couple were lifted for new rad pipes. They had virtually no movement or creaks before the ply was fitted.

Thanks in advance.

fmj

 

[Symptoms]

five - floorboards should be sheeted over 'cos if they aren't eventually the 'lines' between the floorboards will show through your vinyl. Why's the ply lifting, maybe not enough staples, but my money's on the wrong staples being used - they should use divergent staples which don't 'pull out' not plain staples. How long had the ply been stored in the room to acclimatise or had it come straight from the timber yard, off the lorry (maybe damp from rain) and fixed straight down on the floor?

 

[fiveminutejob]

Thanks for your reply Symptoms.

You may be right that both staples and ply storage are the cause. Don't know what staples the guy used, but the ply was fixed within minutes of coming out of his van. I understand why ply would be used, but in this case it's not going to do a good job, if noiser and creakier than the underlying floorboards.

That's why my main question was about an alternative (such as mattysupra's mention of a fibre bonded leveller for use over floorboards), rather than ply. If anyone can advise a trade name and a supplier for that type of leveller, it might be the answer we need.

fmj

 

[mattysupra]

Your plywood should not make any noise. As symptons has suggested, they either have used incorrect staples or not the correct amount. You have read my sticky and there is instructions in it on how the plywood should be fixed. The staples should be 18mm+ for 4mm and 22mm+ for 6mm plywood or 22mm ring shank pins. The head of the staples should be about 5mm across max.

As for using a compound over the boards, well this is a option but the floor needs plywooding first anyway!

The only other reasons for the creaking is your floorboards have loads of movement in them or very uneven. The fix would be to use thicker plywood or sand/plane the floorboards before fitting the plywood.

 

[fiveminutejob]

Thanks mattysupra. The job is now done, badly.

They banged in a few ringshank nails and the ply creaks remain. The small area of underlying floorboards was sound, even and creak-free beforehand.

Their screeding was diabolically poor. The word "level" seems not to be in their vocabulary. It can't be that difficult to use a self levelling compound without ending up with a sloping floor - but they did...

Thanks for feedback on fibre-bonded stuff. Appreciated.

 

[pezperry]

Hi,

I have recently had 6mm ply fitted over my kitchen where there were original floorboards, I will be putting vinyl down.

In order to prepare for the vinyl, what do people reccommend for getting a smooth finish between the seams and where the sink holes for the screws are.

I was going to just use standard polyfilla and sand it down for a smooth finish.

Any suggestions?

 

[mattysupra]

skimcoat.


A company called FBALL make it and code number is f500.

Other companys make it like Mapei but im not sure what they call it.

 

[crazydaze]

skimcoat.


A company called FBALL make it and code number is f500.

Other companys make it like Mapei but im not sure what they call it.

x2

Our fitters use the fBall stuff and never have issues.