Laying Solid oak floor on floor boards

[Mike26]

Hello,

I'm going to lay a solid oak floor onto my floorboards in my hallway. From reading posts on this site many people recommend floating the floor rather than nailing or gluing. I had it set that this was what I was going to do but then in the literature that the flooring came with it says "Solid hard wood floors must never be floated" this has confused me a little does anyone know why it may state this? and would you still advise floating?

Under the floorboards there is a 2 foot cavity and then just soil/building rubble as you would expect under a 1950's house. Due to this would you advise using an underlay with a built in DPM? Presumably I could only use this If I float the Floor?

My final question! I want to lay the floor in the same direction as the original floor boards. Would you advise laying ply wood on top of the floorboards to strengthen the floor or is this not necessary?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Mike

 

[WoodYouLike]

One solid flooring company says you must never, the other says you can install their solid flooring floating. Our manufacturer of quality solid floorboards says we can, so we do, without any problems.

No, don't ever use DMP (combi-underlayment) on original floorboards and YES do ply over the existing floorboards when installing the new boards in the same direction as the old ones

 

[Mike26]

WoodYouLike, thanks you for your quick response. I will float the floor then as it sounds like the best way from reading other threads on this site.

You say not to use an underlayment with built in DPM, is there a specific type that I should use or just any that doesn't have the DPM? With regards to the ply, what thickness would you advise that I use?

Many thanks for your advise.

 

[WoodYouLike]

If you first level out you existing floorboards with 8 - 12mm ply (depending on the levelness of the floorboards now) then all you need as sound-insulation is 3mm foam (green or white)