Click Fitting Solid Wood Flooring - Does it work??

[nick8081]

Good morning all!

I read these forums a lot as my questions are usually already answered somewhere! But this time I cant find anything. I'm looking to lay solid oak flooring in my living room, which is a suspended timber floor above the (dry, heated) cellar. I intend using a 6mm fibreboard underlay between the floorboards and oak flooring.

My question is regarding the flooring. I'm looking at a click solid oak floor from B&Q, 14mm thick and 90mm wide, which is currently down from £44/sqm to £30/sqm in their current sale, and I can get it a bit cheaper if I buy it through work. So it seems very good value, and allegedly very easy to install as it can be installed floating without any glue.

I think click fitting solid wood is a fairly new thing, so probably hasn’t yet stood the test of time, but has anybody used it and is it ok?? I'm imagining that without glue or nails it would move all over the place after a couple of seasons!?

There doesn’t seem to be much info on it, so if anybody has any experience with it or any advice on fitting it, I would be very grateful!

Many thanks!
Nick

 

[crazydaze]

I can't understand any reason to buy a click, floated solid, when an engieered board would look and feel the same and be more dimensionaly stable. Fit an engineered and tell everyone it's a solid, no one will know any different!

 

[nick8081]

Thanks for the response crazydaze. I know engineered flooring does have lots of benefits. I was actually looking for engineered flooring then I saw this. This stuff looks better than any engineered I've seen though, and is cheaper at the moment. So just seeing if anyone has any experience of click solid oak flooring? It seems not...!

Cheers

 

[crazydaze]

Thanks for the response crazydaze. I know engineered flooring does have lots of benefits. I was actually looking for engineered flooring then I saw this. This stuff looks better than any engineered I've seen though, and is cheaper at the moment. So just seeing if anyone has any experience of click solid oak flooring? It seems not...!

Cheers

In what way does it look better? The surface you are looking at is the same stuff, it maybe that the engineered that you have been looking at is lacquered rather than oiled or unfinished, for the money you are looking at, I'd be looking at V4 Alpine Engineered ranges.

 

[nick8081]

I think you're probably right about the finish, Crazydaze. I agree engineered is better if it looks the same. If I can find an engineered board that's got a brushed and oiled finish, is a relatively narrow board (90mm-125mm wide), and not rediculously expensive, I think I'll have what I'm after! Majority of the engineered seems to be quite wide, about 180mm? The mrs likes the narrower stuff!

 

[phatboy]

The Click system works well, it makes a tight join unlike tongue and groove, and its easier to fit than the other style, where you need to attach a full length for the room together, then attach them to the last length and push down.

I've only used it once, but I laid a 5m x 4m room in about 2 hours, including all required cuts

 

[nick8081]

Thanks phatboy. Did you do it for yourself or on a job? How long ago was it and have you had any problems with movement or anything since?

Cheers

 

[phatboy]

It was for myself about 9 months ago, in a study.

No problems at all. When it goes down the joins are very solid, so I would be very surprised if there was any movement.

It is floated, but once you have a decent amount down, its too heavy to move around anyway.

I fitted skirtings afterwards so it has expansion room under them.

 

[nick8081]

That's a massive study!! Ha. That's great, thanks for the info.