Wickes Fastfix Real Wood Flooring

[cheesesarnie]

Help..

I have started laying this no glue birch real wood fastfix stuff from Wickes and cannot get the planks to meet tightly/joints are impossibly tight ...the wickes fitting kit i got includes a plastic/hollow tapping block which seems to be useless...i am heading off to B&Q to get a solid tapping block now....

will this solve the problem?
has anyone fitted this flooring and had similar probs?
could the temperature of the house be making the wood swell and therefore make the joints so tight?

beginning to wish i got lam now......nice loking flooring though..would look better down.

thanks

 

[big-all]

ive never used this stuff

have you left it in the room concerned to acclimatise for about
10 days unwrapped
are the gaps slightly tapering if so
i suggesting your run may not dead strait

big all

 

[cheesesarnie]

has been left in the room for 5 days wrapped.....didn't think about unwrapping it!!

the gaps aren't particulary tapered its just each piece does not seem to want to join to the next.....even to the point of hammering one end of the plank and the other end jumps out and visa versa..

just seems to be 10 times harder than it should be...

I am going to open all the packs now. thanks for that

 

[big-all]

the plastic holds in the moisture

are they straight if they are slightly bowed they wont fit well

try placeing some boards tounge to groove groove to groove
tounge to tounge and if they dont line up perfectly the
are curved

is the room your fitting them in damp!!!!!!!!
if so put them in a warmer room for a few days
but not to warm or for to long you just want them
to dry out a little bit to make them fit together easier

good luck

big all

 

[cheesesarnie]

cheers....

i don't think they are bowed but good idea...

i didn't make B & Q in time but looking at their web site they sell a tapping block for (real wood floors) for £15 which looks like a weighty beast and puts my plastic effort from wickes into the shade..

i think this heavy block will do the trick + a bit more drying out...

watch this space

cheers

 

[cheesesarnie]

moral is as low as a rattle snakes belly...

got the decent tapping block but no further forward...

i think i may have the concept of 'fast fix' flooring completely wrong (the instructions are useless)...are these boards suposed to 'click' into place first then be tapped to close?...if so then i am going about thing the wrong way....tapping each board together from the start has absolutely no effect..

but on the flip side i cant find the angle you must come at it from to click them together at first from....

i reckon the helpline will be tried when it is open.....

unless, any more ideas?

 

[big-all]

i was assuming they were real solid wood

are these laminate boards with venear on top or solid boards
do the tounges look smooth or are they profiled
if they have a sort of ridge in general you place in at an angle
then click down you secure the long edge first
then the short edge

check for any crud trapped in the grooves

 

[cheesesarnie]

'3.6mm real birch veneer'
'14mm overall thickness'

the tongue has a strange key-like profile which the opposite is the groove...

am going to try again when i wake up + will check for crud

thank big al

 

[cheesesarnie]

update

made a visit to wickes to see if they had any helpful advice......they didn't, the woman there was patronising to say the least...

the good news is the floor is taking shape....tried a different pack to start with and hey presto got some pieces together....room is now half done..

only small problem now are a couple of small gaps on a couple of joins in the middle of the floor that have appeared...but we'll not worry about them too much for the minute...

p.s. the wickes fitting kit is a complete waste of cash....i have bent the pull bar end completely...off to B&Q for me to cough £15 on a pro bar i think

 

[big-all]

glad your getting somewhere now

you should only need firm hamering not knocking several
shade of poo
your block or hook should only touch the upper edge
should not touch the tounge
if you still have gaps have you supported the first run so its strait
if the wall is uneven and you have just put wedges in as uneven
as the wall you will get gaps you must alter the wedges so the
floor is dead strait along the edge

good luck

big all