Oak flooring

[Tom.]

I'm doing my bathroom soon. The floorboards are too badly damaged to leave bare, so I'm pulling them out, and want to replace them with oak flooring.

I've seen some flooring in a local yard, about £55 a square yard. Its about 3/4 inch thick, and about the same width as my current boards, so I reckon it will be fine for a floor. The joists are quite close together, the house is about 95 years old.

The flooring is tongue and groove, but like laminate, so that it butts right up against the next board with a tiny gap. I plan to seal the boards with varnish.

Anyway, my question is, whats the best method to fix the boards to the joists? They're quite heavy, so they would sit on the joists without fixing, but I'd rather not run the risk of them squeaking once the bathroom is in (although I can pull out the kitchen ceiling to gain access). Obviously my floorboards are nailed down, but I don't want to damage the finish of the new oak boards in this way.

 

[2scoops0406]

Suitability of the location apart, you could either glue them, or you could use invisible nailing See here

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=10088&ts=76343

bit pricey though, you may want to hire one !!

 

[Jasonb]

Bit pricey, I just fitted some 22mm thick ones @35.00/ sq mtr +VAT

You can either secret nail through the tongue or counterbore, screw then plug the holes with matching oak pellets, thats what I did, here's a pic

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v156/jasonballamy/work/PICT0014.jpg

Jason

 

[Tom.]

I'm thinking glue is the best way. Whats best to use, bearing in mind people are walking around on it and I don't want it to come loose in a few years?

 

[2scoops0406]

Flooring grade PVA

 

[masona]

I'm thinking glue is the best way.

Forgive me if I read it wrong, you want to use the glue for the T&G joints ?

I have done many flooring and the best way is to secret nail as Eddie M link (approx £20 per day and 100 nails about £5 ) and use floor cramp vice taht grip the floor joists. I can tell you the floor joints will never come apart because the angle of the nails in the back of the groove providing the floor is tight to start with.

 

[Tom.]

Well I was thinking about the glue more in terms of fixing the boards to the joists.

How does this secret nail system work?

 

[masona]

Eddie M link for Screwfix not working at the moment yet.

HSS tool hire shop do them.
The nail go into the back of the groove and very easy to use but make sure use a floor clamp vice as well on the floor joists to tighten the floorboards one at a time.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I plan to seal the boards with varnish.

Varnish?

On Oak?

*@$%&£#!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Bit pricey, I just fitted some 22mm thick ones @35.00/ sq mtr +VAT

Was that the stuff that I've seen in a couple of places - European Oak which is shipped out to China for machining?

You can either secret nail through the tongue or counterbore, screw then plug the holes with matching oak pellets

You'll be glad you did that if ever you need to lift any...

 

[Jasonb]

It was French oak, not sure where they have it machined

Still a job to drill out the pellets but woulds cause less damage than ripping out a secret nailed floor.

Keep using the oil, Jason

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It was French oak, not sure where they have it machined

The stuff I was looking at was pre-finished (with some sort of v*rn*sh

), and had grooves machined into one face.

 

[Jasonb]

That would be about the right cost fo pre finished boards, Were they T&G on all 4 edges?

The ones I did were just planned with T&G 2 sides, 7",9" & 11" wide in random lengths between 3.0m & 4.5m

Jason

 

[ban-all-sheds]

That would be about the right cost fo pre finished boards, Were they T&G on all 4 edges?

NAFAIR

The ones I did were just planned with T&G 2 sides, 7",9" & 11" wide in random lengths between 3.0m & 4.5m

These were the all the same widths, (approx 6-7", IIRC), and random lengths in a range much shorter than that.

Sorry to seem a bit vague, but I was just browsing, not actually looking for that type of flooring.

It was also cheaper than £35+/m², and that was in a high street store, so the basic product would be quite a lot cheaper. I remember thinking that if you didn't mind the short boards, or the fact that they were v*rn*sh*d

, and found somewhere more sensible to buy it, that it'd be quite an economical floor.

 

[Tom.]

Innocent question here, whats wrong with varnishing an Oak floor? Remember this is a bathroom, and the floor is going to get wet. Every day.