B&Q 83mm Solid Oak Flooring on Chipboard

[doormouse1]

Firstly a thankyou to WoodYouLike and the rest of you. Advice you've given to other posters has preventing me from ruining 70 sq meters of flooring.

Earlier this year I bought (on impulse) a pallet of 83mm wide 18mm Solid Oak Flooring from B&Q intending to secret nail it to chipboard (PC was disconnected while rebuilding, so hadn't done any research). Now that my walls, floors and electrics are complete, I've reconnected the PC and reading the posts here, discovered that I've been foolish in many ways.

Chipboard and secrete nailing - bad idea - doesn't work
83mm - bad idea - can't float and takes ages
B&Q - bad idea - short pieces

Reading the forum, it seems my only option is glue the oak to the chipboard using parguet adhesive.

Question 1
I have seen three adhesives recommended in the posts (Stycco B92, Stycco B93 and Lecol 5500). May I ask if one is more suitable than the others of if I should just choose whichever I can get cheapest?

Question 2
In a number of posts it's stated that floating boards less than 100mmm wide is a bad idea. Could I ask what happens if you attemp to float narrower boards?

To anyone contemplating buying B&Q solid flooring, I can confirm WoodYouLikes is correct. I have opened 10 boxes and the average board length is 537mm. The worst pack contained 12 boards 300mm long.
My own fault, I didn't do the research to ask the right questions. It was however very cheap and (like all solid wood floors) is very. very pretty.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Hi Doormouse

Stycobond B92 in this case (strip flooring) is better than Lecol5500 (wood blocks).

The reason for not floating narrow boards is the instability it can create with so many long joins closely together: if your floor is not exactly level (and which floor is?) there will be too much movement. Glueing is the best solution here - if your underfloor is rather level: adhesives DON'T act as level or filling compound. Use a proper notched trowel when applying the adhesive to your underfloor, the strip flooring will bond better.

Best of luck

Anyone else looking to buy wooden floors: there are 11 Key Questions that needs answering: no matter where you buy.

 

[doormouse1]

Thanks - I'll go find some B92

As it happens the underfloor is very level. I spent four days making sure the joists were even. I believe there's no more than a 2mm difference across any room. All directions show completely flat with both spirit levels and lasers. Every joint is glued and supported by a joist or noggin.

Does this mean I could get away with floating? Or will natural expansion/contraction of RSJs and joists make the floor uneven over time?

 

[WoodYouLike]

I still don't recommend installing your narrow strip floor floating - sorry

Quality floorboards perhaps yes, but not when you also have so many short lengths. It really won't give you the most stable result: glueing it is.

 

[doormouse1]

I though that'd be the answer.

Thanks for all the help



I'll get better ones when I start downstairs.