B&Q Oak Hardwood Flooring

[Fil6]

Hi all,

I have just been a brought some solid Hardwood flooring from B&Q.

Now, I have laid laminate and manufactured floorings, which are floating and click installations.

But, from reading a number of views it looks as though I should be nailing the hardwood to the floor and not having a floating floor.

The room is approx 3x3, and the floor will be laid on existing plywood.

here is a link to the B&Q page http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/n...194874859516&isSearch=false&selected=products

 

[WoodYouLike]

The width of the B&Q floorboards are too narrow to install floating anyway. (And it looks like you'le going to have loads of small lengths too - not something I would choose.)

You could consider glueing the boards down with flexible adhesive like Sika T54

 

[Fil6]

So, have I chosen the wrong type of floor, what length should I go for? for better results?

 

[WoodYouLike]

Not saying that, but B&Q etc tends to have floors in packs
that contain many (too many in our opinion) short lengths.

Proper quality floors should contain no more than 10 - 15%
short lengths (and not shorter than 30cm). Our products hardly
contain any lengths shorter than 1.50 meter, average is over 2 meter,
upto 2.47 meter

But the packaging in 'sheds' like B&Q, Wickes and Floors2Go make
it very hard to see just that.

 

[andywatson]

I have recently done most of the rooms in our house with their flooring- the scraped oak, and because I had a concrete subfloor I couldn't nail it down. Didn't like the idea of gluing as it seems both slow & messy.

In the end I went for a self adhesive underlay, which has worked really well. Its a bit tricky to start with, especially as it can slide on the DPM, but then becomes very quick and easy. It's also not cheap- about £50 for 10m2 from B&Q. Also invest in some straps- they make it really easy too.

End result was excellent though, and whilst I'm sure woodyoulike will quite rightly harrumph something about getting what you pay for, the fllor looks great, it din't cost the earth and most importantly the other half is delighted!

 

[WoodYouLike]

Andy

If you're pleased, your pleased. simple. Client is King

 

[andywatson]

I do agree about there being too many short bits though!!! They look OK in the end though.

 

[Fil6]

So what is the issue with the short planks?

I don't really like the idea of glue, I would much prefer to secret nail the wood to the floor.

Is it worth me hiring a Overlay Flooring Nailer from HSS or pre drilling and hammering the nails in myself?

 

[WoodYouLike]

Many, many short lengths mean many, many joins in your floor.
If the boards are also bevelled on all four sides it just looks odd (in our opinion)

 

[Fil6]

Ah, I get ya.

I will keep this in mind when laying the floor.

The floor itself is going in the kitchen, which will have no plinths around the floor cabinets. So I could utilise the short cuts under the floor cabinets

 

[WoodYouLike]

Sound idea!

 

[Symptoms]

Fil - if you're going to nail then hire a floor cleat nailer (an air one is best); this will ensure the stuff goes down properly. Drill & nail? Don't. You'd have to use oval brads through the drilled holes; eventually the nails will 'loose their grip' and you'll be left with a 'squeaky' floor. Years ago when specialist tackle wasn't available to the DIY sector then people did drill & nail; no excuses these days 'cos the proper stuff is available for hire.