More flooring advice please

[misterfish]

A while ago I was given a variety of useful advice about parquet flooring - thanks to all that proffered their words of wisdom.

Now, as part of our refurbishment, we intend to install oak hardwood flooring upstairs. The existing floorboards are not in good condition in many places (it seems a plumber and electrician many years ago are to blame). Anyway, we want to make sure the old boards are well fixed down and then overboard with solid oak 150mm t&g planking. My initial thought was to get a portanailer and fix down as I go. But as some of the new flooring will be the same direction as the old floorboards and other at right angles to the old boards I'm not sure if that would be OK. I've also been told to put a layer of hardboard on top of the old boards and then the new oak on top of that. And then today I was told to install it as a floating floor(s) on top of this foam type underlay to iron out unevenness in the old boards and to reduce noise.

Any guidance or advice would be welcomed.

MisterFish

 

[JFC]

I would lift the old boards first before i fixed them down just to check for pipes and wires . Then insulation to dampen any noise and nail or glue the floor down . I've been told that nailing and gluing is a no no but that was by a flooring company and i cant see why it would be a bad thing .

 

[andrewm]

If the plumber/electrician were to blame for the poor state of the boards then are there still pipes/cables under the floor. If so then what would worry me would be that once it is down there is no access to them and sod's law says that as soon as you have finished there will be a leak or SWMBO will decide that she needs a new power point somewhere and it is all going to have to come back up again.

Andrew

 

[misterfish]

The old wiring and pipes are just that - old. Part of the extension and refurbishment has included all new plumbing and electrics. The old plumbing included lead, iron and copper pipes; the old electrics were mainly the old stranded wires, but no lead or rubber covered.

Now we know where all the pipes and wires are (they still have the boards loose over them while the plumber pressure tests for leaks over the next week or so.

I suppose the idea of the floating floor where the boards are PVAed together reduces the chance of damage to a minimum and the weight of the 'monoslab?' would hold it in place on the 'underlayment.

Misterfish

 

[mack9110000]

Once your plumber has signed off the pipework and you're ready to refix the old boards,use a spot of builders adhesive on each joist/bearer,before you screw the boards back down.The decision to nail,glue or float will be up to you ,since you know the condition of the subfloor.In general though,if the s/f is very uneven it is usually best to 'float' with a decent acoustic underlay,otherwise just nail @350/400mm centres.Good luck!

 

[misterfish]

Thanks for the advice.

Misterfish

 

[chippy1970]

I would use Kahrs engineered flooring 15mm, pre finished, 30 year guarantee make sure sub floor is sound then lay over tuplex underlay if you really do need to lift it in the future you can lift and relay if careful.

Any engineered floor would do but I use Kahrs all the time and no I don't work for them.

Engineered flooring is much more stable than solid as its built up in crossed layers just like plywood and the underlay will reduce noise below.

 

[inventor]

Dear Chipp,

I just noticed your signature

Bring back ELU

Oh, yes, a man after my own heart. One of the saddest days when I heard B&D had bought ELU.

Now, all we have is Festool

Emrys Williams
aka Inventor