Laying Hard Board & Laminate on top.

[Westbeef]

Hi All,

I'm looking at replacing my current flooring which is very old Parquet, there is nothing underneath so it looks like I'm going to have to lay some hard board down before I can laminate. Laminating over the top of the parquet is not an option as the blocks have started to pop out due to expanding with no place to go!

What is the procedure for laying hardboard, anything to avoid and anything that is a must do? It's going to be all downstairs, from the hall to the dining room & living room so it's a big job. How higher is my floor going to be if the Parquet block are about 5mm thick?

 

[crazydaze]

If your parquet is blowing that badly, hardboard is not going to be the answer.

If the bitumen is breaking down, you could re-stick the blocks that are loose, you should be able to fit laminate on an underlay straight over the top.

If there is moisture causing the issue, this needs to be fixed.

If the blocks are bad, lift the blocks, primer and screed the floor, and your new laminate won't be too high either.

 

[Westbeef]

If your parquet is blowing that badly, hardboard is not going to be the answer.

If the bitumen is breaking down, you could re-stick the blocks that are loose, you should be able to fit laminate on an underlay straight over the top.

If there is moisture causing the issue, this needs to be fixed.

If the blocks are bad, lift the blocks, primer and screed the floor, and your new laminate won't be too high either.

Thanks, it's actually a rented house and I've offered to put down the flooring if he buys it. The blocks have popped out due to the swelling and won't go back in without being flashed, and it's happened to so many now it's less of a job to rip them up. The Parquet is straight on the floorboards too nothing underneath. It appears all the houses on this row suffer from moisture due to the position of the properties, if we get a rainy season then the moisture gets into the properties. (according the the landlord, but the next door neighbour agrees)

I take it the hard board will react in a similar way with the swelling issues? I have read that wetting them first means they shrink back to normal size after being placed, I thought this would end the problem of swelling floors.

 

[crazydaze]

Are you saying that you have a parquet block floor, glued down directly onto floorboards? Is this 100% confirmed? It is unbelievably unusual and most certainly not the way they should be laid if so.

IF they have been laid this way, and they suffer from moisture issues , laminate, engineered wood or solid wood is entirely inappropriate to lay under the circumstances, you will get exactly the same problems that you are getting now.

Parquet blocks would normally be bonded onto a concrete subfloor or may be bonded to heavy duty marine ply.

Hard board is a smoothing product and not very rigid, prewet hardboard is ideal for smoothing under layers and is purely more stable in humid environments but it is in no way designed to cope with moisture or damp, it would only make issues worse if you fitted this and then hardboard over the top.

 

[Westbeef]

hello I will pull up a few blocks later and take a picture. My next door neighbour has the same damp problem but his floor has survived so far.

 

[Westbeef]

As you can see it's old so it needs changing anyway, but I can confirm they are floorboards, but quite a lot of dust has gotten through. The problems are arising from the cellar I think as they collect quite a lot of water and that's what happens to all the row of houses along here.

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[crazydaze]

The cellar is the problem then, and unfortunately, I can't think of a way of separating the issue so you could lay laminate without the same thing happening again. If you stop the floor from breathing, moisture will rot the surfaces underneath, if you allow the floor to breath it will rot the laminate or whatever you fit. Carpet will breath to a certain degree, but really the cellar area needs sorting before flooring can be laid without any risk of damage.

The landlord needs to invest sort some money in resolving the problem, not patching over it.