Solid wood floor in existing kitchen

[dandingdong]

Hi

Was wondering if anyone could advise on installing solid oak flooring in an existing kitchen. There seems to be so much conflicting advice that I'm really confused!

1) The subfloor is chip board (not perfect but i'm hoping ok?) and is virtually perfectly flat and the joists are going straight over the foundations. Do I need any underlay or any kind of damp prrofing?

2) As the kitchen is pre existing I am only planning on going a few cm's under the cabinets (rather than doing the whole floor). Is this likely to cause any issues with installation?

3) How should I fix it down. I think I want to nail it down with a secret nailer but some shops have told me to screw the floor down, but to my mind that will stop the floor moving which may cause it to buckle?

Any advice gratefully needed!

Thanks

 

[WoodYouLike]

Not sure if you are the same person who emailed a sort like question to us over the weekend?
If so, hope you received our answer.

In kitchens it is always better to install wood-engineered boards instead of solid boards. Wood-engineered is much more stable in areas where there is more moist (cooking, washing etc).

But if your heart is set on Solid:
What size is your new solid wooden floor? If there are many short lengths you should not install it floating anyway.
Modern chipboard, with its moist repellent surface, does not hold any modern adhesive.

Two options for you, both will add a bit of height (3mm) to your floor I'm afraid:

Staple 3mm hardboard sheets to the chipboard - leave tiny gaps between the sheets for expansion - and then fully bond the wood floor to this with flexible adhesive

Alternative: install Elastilon self-adhesive underlayment straight over the chipboard (without any DPM) and install the solid floor "floating" - where floating here means the underlayment floats, not the wood floor