Hi everyone,
I have a part of a room space, 3x3.5m, with 21mm chipboard T&G flooring and no skirting. The floor is secure and solid. which is raised above another part of a room, connected by a L shaped step.
I want to lay solid oak flooring (90mm wide, 19mm thick). I'm planning to screw down the floor using tongue tite screws, and I'm perfectly happy to leave a 15mm gap around the edges for skirting.
I did get told by someone at floorstogo to use a green barrier foam, about 4-5mm thick, is this correct? I've tried to test it, but without screwing the floor down and wasn't impressed by the results.
The problem I'm really having is that I don't want the flooring to go right to the edge where the step is, and I have a thick piece of oak that I want to actually make the step out of. I don't want to leave a gap horizontally between the two pieces, or have to raise the step so I can rout an expansion gap underneath it.
Originally I'd planned to cute a tongue into the step piece of wood and have them running flush, long edge to long edge, but I have a horrible feeling this won't work. Solid wood expands mainly in the width direction I've been told. I expect either the flooring will expand around the step, the wood behind the step will buckle, or the step will be ripped off the chipboard.
I'm thinking I might need a flooring strip or something to hide the gap, is that right?
So;
Is screwing with tongue tite a good idea?
Do I need the barrier foam?
How best to handle the step?
Thanks for any help you can offer, it's really starting to do my head in!
I have a part of a room space, 3x3.5m, with 21mm chipboard T&G flooring and no skirting. The floor is secure and solid. which is raised above another part of a room, connected by a L shaped step.
I want to lay solid oak flooring (90mm wide, 19mm thick). I'm planning to screw down the floor using tongue tite screws, and I'm perfectly happy to leave a 15mm gap around the edges for skirting.
I did get told by someone at floorstogo to use a green barrier foam, about 4-5mm thick, is this correct? I've tried to test it, but without screwing the floor down and wasn't impressed by the results.
The problem I'm really having is that I don't want the flooring to go right to the edge where the step is, and I have a thick piece of oak that I want to actually make the step out of. I don't want to leave a gap horizontally between the two pieces, or have to raise the step so I can rout an expansion gap underneath it.
Originally I'd planned to cute a tongue into the step piece of wood and have them running flush, long edge to long edge, but I have a horrible feeling this won't work. Solid wood expands mainly in the width direction I've been told. I expect either the flooring will expand around the step, the wood behind the step will buckle, or the step will be ripped off the chipboard.
I'm thinking I might need a flooring strip or something to hide the gap, is that right?
So;
Is screwing with tongue tite a good idea?
Do I need the barrier foam?
How best to handle the step?
Thanks for any help you can offer, it's really starting to do my head in!