Hi guys
I have recently bought a Quick Step laminate floor for my living and dinning room (both rooms in ground floor). The laminate floor will be installed over a wooden subfloor. I’ve read in many different places including this forum that DPM is ONLY needed when laminate will be installed over a concrete subfloor.
However see below the answer I got from Quick Step to my question about the requirement to install or not DPM in my case.
Normally, on a wooden floor, we recommend to use softboard (6mm fibre boards) as an underlayment, in order to level the unevenness in the plankfloor. The ideal solution is to put, on top of the softboard, the traditional 3mm Uniclic foam underlay to absorb also the unevenness between the softboard panels. In any case, if your plankfloor is on ground floor level, a proper damp proof membrane (screen-plastic film) has to be installed to prevent moisture ingress from the subfloor or from condensation. Make sure that the UNDERSIDE of the plankfloor is sufficiently ventilated.
If the underside of the wooden floor isn’t sufficiently ventilated, than the wooden floor has to be taken up because:
You need to install a Damp Proof Membrane on top of the parquet in order to protect the laminate floor against rising moisture and/or condensation. But if there are then problems of rising moisture or condensation, the parquet underneath will start to rot or smell… If you don’t install a Damp Proof Membrane on top of the parquet, it will be the laminate floor that will be affected in case of problems with rising moisture or condensation… So on ground floor, without ventilation underneath, the parquet will have to be removed first from the concrete base, before a laminate floor can be installed without problems…
So in any case, on ground floor level, one always needs to install a DPM. If you take a COMBI underlayment, than the DPM is already integrated in the underlayment.
We hope that the information about is sufficient, however if you have further questions please do not hesitate to contact me again.
Best regards, Frederik Daneels, technical services
I would like to know your thoughts about this. My only concern is about to loose the guarantee if I don’t install the DPM although the guys from ukflooringdirect.co.uk which was where I bought my laminate say that I really don’t need the DPM.
Thanks a lot
I have recently bought a Quick Step laminate floor for my living and dinning room (both rooms in ground floor). The laminate floor will be installed over a wooden subfloor. I’ve read in many different places including this forum that DPM is ONLY needed when laminate will be installed over a concrete subfloor.
However see below the answer I got from Quick Step to my question about the requirement to install or not DPM in my case.
Normally, on a wooden floor, we recommend to use softboard (6mm fibre boards) as an underlayment, in order to level the unevenness in the plankfloor. The ideal solution is to put, on top of the softboard, the traditional 3mm Uniclic foam underlay to absorb also the unevenness between the softboard panels. In any case, if your plankfloor is on ground floor level, a proper damp proof membrane (screen-plastic film) has to be installed to prevent moisture ingress from the subfloor or from condensation. Make sure that the UNDERSIDE of the plankfloor is sufficiently ventilated.
If the underside of the wooden floor isn’t sufficiently ventilated, than the wooden floor has to be taken up because:
You need to install a Damp Proof Membrane on top of the parquet in order to protect the laminate floor against rising moisture and/or condensation. But if there are then problems of rising moisture or condensation, the parquet underneath will start to rot or smell… If you don’t install a Damp Proof Membrane on top of the parquet, it will be the laminate floor that will be affected in case of problems with rising moisture or condensation… So on ground floor, without ventilation underneath, the parquet will have to be removed first from the concrete base, before a laminate floor can be installed without problems…
So in any case, on ground floor level, one always needs to install a DPM. If you take a COMBI underlayment, than the DPM is already integrated in the underlayment.
We hope that the information about is sufficient, however if you have further questions please do not hesitate to contact me again.
Best regards, Frederik Daneels, technical services
I would like to know your thoughts about this. My only concern is about to loose the guarantee if I don’t install the DPM although the guys from ukflooringdirect.co.uk which was where I bought my laminate say that I really don’t need the DPM.
Thanks a lot