I've just installed an Engineered oak floor (click loc 14mm) over a concrete subfloor, with a vapour barrier and fibreboard underlay. The subfloor has wet underfloor heating (although I've not had the underfloor heating on since installing).
The subfloor had a few areas which needed levelling compound (which I did) but overall was in good order (after I removed some tiles), there are still a couple of areas which aren't perfectly flat (it runs downwards towards one corner of the room), but they are within the manufactures tolerances (of 2mm over a metre). I didn't use levelling compound on these as quite simply over such a large area I know I wouldn't have been able to get it much flatter than it already is..
I have a couple of issue, firstly there are a few areas where there is excessive movement (not just at the low spots), this isn't an expansion issue (there is a good gap all the way around, skirtings are remove (and there is plenty of extra room for expansion under the plasterboard walls) and no pinch points, it's like the floor is just riding up by a couple of mil in quite a few places.
Secondly, the whole floor feels a bit spongy, and if you stand on a joint with the ball of your foot it crunches/crackles..
So my questions are, does it need sometime to settle after installing? Will the cruching/cracking calm down after it's been installed for a while?
Is the fibreboard the issue here, like it's too soft and is giving hence the spongyness. It also feels to me like the fibreboard might be magnifying any issues with the subfloor (it was a smooth even surface, but I thought the fibreboard would help with any minor imperfections, but it seems to be doing the opposite - like a magnified seesaw). Will that lessen as the fibreboard compresses?
I'd hate to lift it all, and my feeling is to wait a while and see if it settles, but I'm at a crunch point, as I need to continue with skirtings and other jobs (fitting a fire hearth which will overhang the floor making lifting it a pain in the backside), and ultimately I'm not sure what I'd do even if I did lift it, don't think I'd get the sub floor much leveller, and even if I could I don't think that would do anything for the spongy/crunchy issue. I could try different underlay, but I don't want to do that if it's going to make it worse. Added to that the end joints on the click lock don't seem to like being pulled apart (or is there a knack I'm missing)? So any suggestions welcomely received...
The subfloor had a few areas which needed levelling compound (which I did) but overall was in good order (after I removed some tiles), there are still a couple of areas which aren't perfectly flat (it runs downwards towards one corner of the room), but they are within the manufactures tolerances (of 2mm over a metre). I didn't use levelling compound on these as quite simply over such a large area I know I wouldn't have been able to get it much flatter than it already is..
I have a couple of issue, firstly there are a few areas where there is excessive movement (not just at the low spots), this isn't an expansion issue (there is a good gap all the way around, skirtings are remove (and there is plenty of extra room for expansion under the plasterboard walls) and no pinch points, it's like the floor is just riding up by a couple of mil in quite a few places.
Secondly, the whole floor feels a bit spongy, and if you stand on a joint with the ball of your foot it crunches/crackles..
So my questions are, does it need sometime to settle after installing? Will the cruching/cracking calm down after it's been installed for a while?
Is the fibreboard the issue here, like it's too soft and is giving hence the spongyness. It also feels to me like the fibreboard might be magnifying any issues with the subfloor (it was a smooth even surface, but I thought the fibreboard would help with any minor imperfections, but it seems to be doing the opposite - like a magnified seesaw). Will that lessen as the fibreboard compresses?
I'd hate to lift it all, and my feeling is to wait a while and see if it settles, but I'm at a crunch point, as I need to continue with skirtings and other jobs (fitting a fire hearth which will overhang the floor making lifting it a pain in the backside), and ultimately I'm not sure what I'd do even if I did lift it, don't think I'd get the sub floor much leveller, and even if I could I don't think that would do anything for the spongy/crunchy issue. I could try different underlay, but I don't want to do that if it's going to make it worse. Added to that the end joints on the click lock don't seem to like being pulled apart (or is there a knack I'm missing)? So any suggestions welcomely received...
