Laying a solid wood floor

[Jim54]

Hi everyone,
I have a part of a room space, 3x3.5m, with 21mm chipboard T&G flooring and no skirting. The floor is secure and solid. which is raised above another part of a room, connected by a L shaped step.

I want to lay solid oak flooring (90mm wide, 19mm thick). I'm planning to screw down the floor using tongue tite screws, and I'm perfectly happy to leave a 15mm gap around the edges for skirting.

I did get told by someone at floorstogo to use a green barrier foam, about 4-5mm thick, is this correct? I've tried to test it, but without screwing the floor down and wasn't impressed by the results.

The problem I'm really having is that I don't want the flooring to go right to the edge where the step is, and I have a thick piece of oak that I want to actually make the step out of. I don't want to leave a gap horizontally between the two pieces, or have to raise the step so I can rout an expansion gap underneath it.

Originally I'd planned to cute a tongue into the step piece of wood and have them running flush, long edge to long edge, but I have a horrible feeling this won't work. Solid wood expands mainly in the width direction I've been told. I expect either the flooring will expand around the step, the wood behind the step will buckle, or the step will be ripped off the chipboard.

I'm thinking I might need a flooring strip or something to hide the gap, is that right?

So;
Is screwing with tongue tite a good idea?
Do I need the barrier foam?
How best to handle the step?

Thanks for any help you can offer, it's really starting to do my head in!

 

[ree]

Tongue tite sounds fine - probably two boxes will be enough.



This "step" business seems to be a projecting nosing? Is it at the top of a flight of stairs?

Typically, this kind of detail is best left to a pro floorer or joiner.

 

[Jim54]

Thanks for your reply. I think from what I've found there should be no foam under the hardwood floor. If you could confirm, I would be very grateful.

Yes the wood I'm trying to connect to is a projecting nosing but these steps only cover a one foot rise. What I think I'm going to have to do is leave a 15mm gap and cover it with a thin piece of wood. That's how they deal with connections between rooms. I've been told that if I use an adhesive that can handle expansion we should be OK?

I was going to use secret nailing to place the screws in, but how would I secure the first set of flooring?

 

[ree]

Why not go with the underlay the Mfr's recommend - call them, dont rely on sales people.

Depending on the situation but the first run tight to a wall should be face nailed and hole filled near the wall and secret nailed at the tongue.

But people who do this full time often come up with ingenius ways of fixing. google around maybe?

I cant advise you further ref the nosing.