Is my floor safe?

[erateb]

Last week I laid a new solid oak wood floor in the living room and corridor. The thickness of the wood is 18 mm and the width is 120 mm. The lengths vary between 600 mm and 120 mm. The subfloor is a mix of wood and concrete. The flooring had been left in the room for a week before installation. The dimensions of the room are 3.5 m x 4.5 me. The corridor extends from the room 1 m.

I wasn’t sure which installation method I should use. I had done some research about the installation. I discussed it with installer and he chose the floating floor method with 3mm underlay (This was the only method he knew). I was not entirely convinced that was the right way because I had never heard of it before. After he finished work the first day, I read the instructions which came with the wood. It stated the wood should be nailed down. This added to my dilemma.

The next day I discussed it with the installer again. As he had already laid the floor I convinced him to screw the boards at the edges of the floor by the walls.

Then I came across this forum. Reading through the posts, it seems you advocate the floating floor method.
The floor looks ok. There is some movement, but this might disappear with time.

Will the screws affect the floor? Should I leave them or remove them?
Also I am concerned about expansion gaps between the floor and the wall as they seem too small. He said if we make them bigger the bead wouldn’t cover them.

Your recommendations please

 

[mypetearthling]

I'm sure you'll get more comprehensive advice from Woodyoulike when she spots this, and I may be wrong, but I thought a wood floor would need to be acclimatised for more than a week in the room. Some people have told me it can take 3 or 4 weeks for it to settle.


K

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Aye WoodYouLike will be along to flog you more of her products!

 

[WoodYouLike]

Installing a solid Oak floor floating depends on various things.
A) what does the instructions on the box tell you
B) if random length, only install floating if the total number of shortest boards are not higher than 15% of the total of the boards. (presume you mean between 600 and 1200mm, not 120mm?)

NEVER EVER screw your floor, that's - excuse my French - screwing your floor because it cannot move with the natural changes in humidity.

How wide did your fitter leave the expansion gap and did he install a threshold between lounge and hallway?

For more information see our article Solid Floors - what to note

 

[erateb]

The instructions manual came with the floor says nail down.

On the box it says lengths 400 mm - 1800 mm. But the actual lengths are between 600mm and 1300 mm. In each box (2 sq m)there is only one peice of 1300 mm, one 90 mm, about 3 x 600 mm and most the the boards are 700 and 800 mm. We fitted some shorter boards at the ends where we needed to cut the baord.

The expansion gap is less than 10 mm. In some cases it is very close to the wall especially at the width of the boards.

The fitter didn't install a threshold between lounge and hallway. The lounge is 4.5 mm x 3.5 m and the hallway extends from the lounge at the shorter length (1 m x 2m). That means the distance at the door is about 5 m. The floor has been fitted along the longer dimension of the lounge (4.5 m)

 

[WoodYouLike]

The boards in the doorway should be cut through and a divider placed to cover the saw gap there. This way the boards in the lounge will now not react with any movement in the hall (where there is normally a different climate).

The gaps all around the floor should have been at least 13mm. Blaming the narrow gap on the width of the beading your fitter used is no excuse for this!

Sound the floor itself can be installed using the floating method IF all other precaution have been taken, which they have not.

Remove the screws, let your fitter cut the floor where it goes into the hall and if possible let him expand the expansion gaps, especially parallel the long walls

 

[erateb]

Thank you very much for your response.

Apologies for the many (stupid) questions

I will remove the screws.

There is only on board in the doorway. Should we cut it through? The hallway floor is (1m x 2m) of the main door and then the stairs along. On the side is the doorway to the lounge.

Is it possible to cut the floor after instalation?

I can't see the gap now because the beading has been fitted. But I gues there is gap parallel to the long wall between 5 - 10 mm. I am more worried about it parallel to the short wall. Some boards looked touching the wall.

The skirting wasn't removed during the installation. I am wondering if raising the skirting or cutting it above the floor level would be easier than cutting the floor.

Regards

 

[erateb]

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[tectonicfloors]

I'm sure you'll get more comprehensive advice from Wood you like when she spots this, and I may be wrong, but I thought a wood floor would need to be acclimatized for more than a week in the room. Some people have told me it can take 3 or 4 weeks for it to settle. The gaps all around the floor should have been at least 13mm. Blaming the narrow gap on the width of the beading your fitter used is no excuse for this! Sound the floor itself can be installed using the floating method IF all other precaution have been taken, which they have not.