Solid Wood Flooring....any advice please!!!

[ABCwarrior]

Hi folks,

We've decided to put down a new floor in our upper hall/living space. It's awkward in shape, nothing I can't deal with, but I'm not sure over a few things as I've never laid a SWF before.
1- the subfloor is chipboard t&g, from what I've read this doesn't work too well with nailers, but I was planning to use Tongue-Tite screws anyway so is this better for this subfloor? A few neighbours in the same houses(age, design,build) had SWF's installed in 2009 when built and theirs creak terribly now and have had to be screwed down which looks a mess- they were done with nailers, so I take it chipboard doesn't grip the nails too well long term?
2- we were looking at Canadian maple flooring in Direct Flooring, they have samples of each and they all look glossy varnished and not like the lighter/whiter stuff in the boxes(or what is pictured on their website). The staff were telling me it all goes like this after time which we don't want and it's a natural occurence but why is it called "prefinished"? We'd rather a matt lighter finish and don't want to part with £750 for something that will morph into something we didn't want!

Can anyone advise whether this is correct, and if so is unavoidable? If it's not correct I don't want to be sanding it down from day one ffs....!

Or can anyone advise me on a flooring supplier that's good, the sheds so far have been useless....

Cheers!

 

[AronSearle]

Yes the problem with chipboard is it's rubbish for nails. The problem is that if the floor really moves, the nails are just pulled out.

Screws will help a little more, or lay down some +15mm *quality* hardwood plywood if you can take the extra height, or use longer nails that go through the chipboard and into the supporting joists, though the latter is often impracticle.

Maple will darken with age, it's typical for suppliers to show pictures of it "as new", wheras samples will have been sitting around for longer, colour is a bit subjective though.

Google image old maple floors, a number of images turn up that show people sanding maples floors, showing the colour difference between old and new, see if that matches up with what you have seen.

Not much you can do about it, its wood.

 

[TRICKYVICKY13]

I've laid SWFs onto all sorts of sufaces and have found the best way to do it is to blind fix with oval brads at an angle through the tongue; I use a nail punch to punch the head of the brad below the surface. Nail it at an angle and it won't pull out.
I've done this on chip board under-flooring and it was fine. See my album about Damp Cprners....I've some pics showing fixing though it may not help much, lol.

 

[ABCwarrior]

Are they those horrible nails with oval bodies and heads that look like they've been cut with pliers?! The ones that are a B*****D to hit squarely -assuming you use a hammer or do you use a nail gun, then punch them? !!

 

[TRICKYVICKY13]

Yes, they are those B*****d oval things! I always pre-drill....especially into hardwood, a clearance hole through the tongue does the trick, you don't need anything through the chipboard, etc. A supplier suggested this as the best method when I first started...done about 110 sq metres now.

 

[TRICKYVICKY13]

Forgot to say....I don't use a gun...just a hammer. If you start with a clearance hole through the tongue and into the plan, it's ok... but you need to concentrate.....always get a few black nails/bent nails at about 7 at night!

 

[wrightwoodwork]

Solid timber flooring can be fixed to chipboard using a floor nailer. The nailer uses special nails which are like cut nails and have serated edges so they don't work out. Around the outside edges leave a 8mm cap to allow for expansion and movement. Don't glue the boards to the chipboard it will cause problems timber has to be able to shrink and expand if it's glued it will either split or pop up in the middle. Also when you get the flooring ideally place it in the area it's going to be laid and open the packs of flooring to ideal to get the Mc to be in equilibrium to the area it's going to be laid then the floor should be stable and not move too much causing problems. I've done hardwood floors like that for over 20 years never had a problem. A song as you use the special flooring nails and not smooth nails you shouldn't get any problems

 

[ABCwarrior]

So like the annular nails that hold pallets together etc? I know the ones and separating anything put together with these nails is very difficult!
Cheers for the advice....not sure I'm patient enough to predrill/nail/punch with the added bonus that the oval ones bend so easy!!

 

[wrightwoodwork]

You'll be driven mad pre drilling every hole and will take a long time go to a jewson or any hire center they will hire floor nailer cost roughly £40+ vat and a deposit with copy of driving license. Here is a video of the work get done by the manufacturer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16zTghY6v84