Hi I am soon going to be proceeding with fitting real wood flooring in my kitchen , the sub floor is a suspended floor of timber floor boards T &G , my question is would the best way to do this be to lift the existing floor boards and have the T&G solid oak flooring fitted directly over the joists . I am obviously giving consideration to the fact that if the new flooring is placed over the existing sub floor then it's going to mean an increase in floor level from hall to kitchen .. What's the usual way of doing this I'm wondering guys ? Any constructive advise very welcome please.
Fitting Real wood flooring
- Thread starter shaw7380
- Start date
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There are pro's and con's to both options but I personally would lay the new floor over the existing floor. You fix with a PortaNailer and special nails that drive in through the tongue so the fixings aren't seen although you may have to face nail the perimeter where the nailer won't access and sink and fill the heads.
Solid Oak floorboards in kitchens is asking for trouble to be honest. There's a lot of moisture in there: cooking, washing etc.
You would be better off getting a load-bearing wood-engineered board: much more stable
You would be better off getting a load-bearing wood-engineered board: much more stable
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shaw - if the room is empty of units then lift the existing f/bds and secret nail the new directly to the joists. However, if your new stuff contains loads of small lengths and most of the packed 'solid' stuff from the sheds do, then fix these over the old boards (or ply replacement) ... but you'll have the dreaded level issue. Engineered boards are long standard lengths so short lenghts aren't an issue. I don't fully subscribe to the view that solid stuff shouldn't be laid in bathroom/kitchens as we've been laying reclaimed solid for about 30 years without any problems later. In my own former home I laid reclaimed 150 year old maple even in my plant full (humid) conservatory without any problems - it was down 25 years 'til I moved house.
Before you do any of this lift a couple of the original f/bds to check distance between joists; some of the shed pack stuff can be on the thin side to span widish joists so the floor may 'give' a little under foot.
In summary I think the step problem is your main issue so go for long length stuff directly on the joists and that probably means engineered; longer length engineered is cheaper than long length solid and actually once down difficult for the untrained eye to tell the difference.
Before you do any of this lift a couple of the original f/bds to check distance between joists; some of the shed pack stuff can be on the thin side to span widish joists so the floor may 'give' a little under foot.
In summary I think the step problem is your main issue so go for long length stuff directly on the joists and that probably means engineered; longer length engineered is cheaper than long length solid and actually once down difficult for the untrained eye to tell the difference.
Thanks for that "woodyoulike" is your advise to lay the engineered directly over the joists
20mm, such as the Hattan Range, is suitable to be installed straight over joists - as long as the joists are no further apart than 40mm
I stand corrected 
(no booze while working though - just coffee)
(no booze while working though - just coffee)DIYnot Local
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