help - kitchen and laminate and underlay??

[luger]

Hi,

I have just stipped out our old kitchen in our 1960's bungalow. The floor is floorboards all through the house, the kitchen is the same although the old pantry area has a quarry tile?? not sure if this is on top on the old floor boards or not? Anyway, they have installed ply to the walway area to the kitchen as lino was sitting on top, but under the old units the floorboards are still on show. I have bought kitchen suitable laminate floor, but have no idea to use as underlay. Its a floating floor I think as the house has air bricks all around it and I felt the air under the floor in the hallway as their is a brocken/rotten floorboard.

Please help, do I need a waterproof membrane? I will only lay floor to just under the kickboards so this will mean the laminate will be sitting over the ply mostly.

 

[WoodYouLike]

NEVER use a DPM on existing floorboards, that's asking for trouble - it will stop the ventilation, cause condensation and might even rot the joists.

 

[NickStone]

NEVER use a DPM on existing floorboards, that's asking for trouble - it will stop the ventilation, cause condensation and might even rot the joists.

Gosh, that sounds bad. So, if one has floorboards, is it best to lay the laminate straight over the top? (At right-angles to the floorboards, of course).

 

[WoodYouLike]

Straight on top of suitable underlayment (like the white 3mm foam underlayment) on top of the floorboards.

 

[luger]

thats great, we did buy that original and then took it back as we though we had the wrong stuff.

 

[NickStone]

Straight on top of suitable underlayment (like the white 3mm foam underlayment) on top of the floorboards.

Thanks for that advice. Phew, it's great to be told something before you make a mistake

 

[anobium]

NEVER use a DPM on existing floorboards, that's asking for trouble - it will stop the ventilation, cause condensation and might even rot the joists.

That is not strictly true, what happens when you lay vinyl flooring on a timber floor which has similar qualities to a DPM in preventing moisture movement.
The real cause of rot in a floor is the lack of ventilation to the underside of the floor.
If your airbricks are blocked and there is moisture on the sub floor you will get rot in the boards and joists irrespective of what is on the top surface.

 

[WoodYouLike]

True anobium, but since we 'talk' wood we don't think of vinyl

 

[luger]

Ok next question , following on from the original post. The tiled area (only underneath where my fridge sits (the old larder area) is sitting higher than the floorboards. These are like old stone tiles and appear to be the actual floor rather than sitting on top of the floorboards, so can not be removed. I want to lay the laminate all over but the floor where the tiles are are higher, so do I need to lay plywood first to bring the floorboard level up to meet the higher area?? I have bought the white foam underlay, could I just lay that thicker to bring the level up?? What effect will laying ply over the floorboards have in respect of ventillation?? Help!!