Hi all, im on my last job for the god damn house, yipee, but its a corker. I ordered loads of solid oak flooring to lay in my living room. Thats all I got comming at the mo since i know i have to leave it sitting for a few days to aclimatise. My questions are: 1) Do I need to use underlay and if so which would you recommend? 2) Any preference in where I should start laying the panels. 3) What would be the most usefull tool for cutting the flooring panels? 4) Any other things that i need to be aware of before I start laying this stuff, i.e glue coniderations. I have had experience with tiling floors and walls but do not want to assume any relationship to flooring. I am in the earlystages of research so any heads up from you guys would be greatly appreciated! Thankyou.
Laying Solid Oak Flooring over existing floor board
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Now I'm confused: do you have floorboards or floor panels (squares?)
If boards, use underlayment for sound-insulation, standard is 3mm foam, use thicker if the underfloor is a bit unlevel. If your underfloor is concrete use a combi underlayment that contains a DPM layer.
Jig-saw works pretty well. Use PVAC woodglue to glue the whole tongue and groove of every board. Where to start? Depends on you walls, see here
If boards, use underlayment for sound-insulation, standard is 3mm foam, use thicker if the underfloor is a bit unlevel. If your underfloor is concrete use a combi underlayment that contains a DPM layer.
Jig-saw works pretty well. Use PVAC woodglue to glue the whole tongue and groove of every board. Where to start? Depends on you walls, see here
Thanks for the link - im reading it now 
The flooring i have bought is floor boards ( long strips ). My existing floorboard floor seems fairly level and the room is approx 6m x 3.5m. With tiling, you cut the tiles to fit the space so is this the same for floorboards. PS - i will be removing all skirting before the job and replacing with modern taller skirt.
The flooring i have bought is floor boards ( long strips ). My existing floorboard floor seems fairly level and the room is approx 6m x 3.5m. With tiling, you cut the tiles to fit the space so is this the same for floorboards. PS - i will be removing all skirting before the job and replacing with modern taller skirt.
If you plan to install your new boards in the same direction as the existing floorboards you have to install plywood or hardboard first, to prevent any wobblying and any draft getting in.
If your laying them on 90 degrees to the existing boards foam underlayment is sufficient (don't use combi underlayment with DPM here).
If your laying them on 90 degrees to the existing boards foam underlayment is sufficient (don't use combi underlayment with DPM here).
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I have laid a 5.5mm plywood overmy existing floorboards - Took ages to do 20sqm. Ive seen some underlay sold by B&Q today - http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/n..._underlay}&fh_refview=lister&ts=1175716830323. Would you consider this to be sufficient or would you recommend something different? The new floor is to be floated!
It is a very good underlay but should not be used over wooden subfloor even tho b&q have stated you can. They are wrong. If you do use this underlay put tiny slits into foil side or try to pull sections of foil off as it causes wooden subfloors to sweat.
In the end B&Q did not have that underlay previously stated. Ive gone with a 2-layer approach for underlaying: 1) a damp proof 2mm underlay foam like roll substance followed by 2) the second layer of sound proofing and level adjusting tiles (green). All will be stapled down and should provide a draft, sound and damp proofing that I desire ( there is quite a large void under the house and the existing floorboards do ventialte air quite well ). I feel I have probably overdone it a little with the underlay, but i dont want to be cheap and would rather be safe than sorry. Any critisism's of this approach I would like to hear!
Dont use a damp proof underlay over floor boards. They will sweat leading to problems. Just install the fibre boards. If you really want to use both , put the dpm underlay over the top of fibre boards. Also leave boards loose. If you nail sound can transfer through nails into floor.
I strongly advice you to forget about the DPM layer. That is only needed when installing on concrete/screed to prevent any residue moist coming into the wood.
Your existing floorboards will be in 'danger' of condensation underneath on the DPM layer, because you're blocking proper ventilation.
So, leave the DPM out and install only the other underlayment.
Your existing floorboards will be in 'danger' of condensation underneath on the DPM layer, because you're blocking proper ventilation.
So, leave the DPM out and install only the other underlayment.
echo, echo
Now you must know definitely that DPM is a no no no area in this case
Now you must know definitely that DPM is a no no no area in this case
Thanks you guys - ill get my money back on that. I just assumed that damp proofing was required, doh! One last question..... I want to lay the new stuff as a floating floor by glueing the tongues of the new boards into their neighbouring grooves only. The manufacturing docs specify that they should be glued on their undersides.... Can i ignore this and follow the rules relating to floating floors? Here is a link to the wood i got: http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wc...rail=C$cip=50703>C$cip=50756&categoryId=50756 . The picture does not show it but the wood is tongue and groove.
you will loose your guarantee if you dont follow there instructions. But the only thing that goes wrong with wood is 99% of the time down to installer error anyway so you dont really have a guarantee. Im not over keen on floating solid wood myself but i know its wood your likes main method of fitting. Personal choice! As you have brought underlayment you have all ready committed to using a floating method !
I decided to keep away from nailing the floor down because it just feelslike a lot more work and moreprone, in my case, to problems as well as damage to the wood. Floating the floor intuitively feels the most suitable method in my case. Plus my floor has a slight deviation in its flatness so underlay will help to filter this out. People all over the world seemto float their boards with no problems. Is it just a personnal choice of yours to nail them down? Thanks for your thoughts.
after a lot of testing when i used to work for 2 different manufactories we decided we would not float there systems. But no product is the same. Been doing tests on grundorf solids and we say yes you can float there floors but only onto a special underlay. End of the day you shouldn't have a problem. When we test floors in test cells we make them fail !! this is so we have an idea of what a floor has been through when a complaint is logged with a manufacturer. It is your choice what you do. I would say go with the floating method. Its easier for a diy'er and you already have your fibre boards etc.
Hi guys, So far so good. I suppose i have laid about halfof the 20 sqr meters. Oh my god, ive been at it for 12 hours and only got half way. It looks amazing and have managed to walk on it for the first time. Its holding ok thus far but time will tell. I got another question that has presented itself. In my kitchen doorway I have the new wood which meets the tiles in the kitchen. I have left a gap of an inch to give me some options but thus far donot have any idea what will go in the place to merge tiles and wood; any ideas guys? you have been most helpfull so far When im done ill post a pic!
When im done ill post a pic!DIYnot Local
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