Real Wood floorign advice

[Vee239]

Good morning

We've recently extended our house and are now selecting flooring for downstairs.
There is 90 sq/m of open plan floor comprising joists & floorboards.
It is all at the same level and the boards are pretty secure.

I'm tending towards engineered wood for cost reasons.
Is it possible to lay this flooring over this sort of area without any breaks in it ?
Can it be laid floating or should it be secret nailed ?

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Depends on the width of the area really and if there are no very small door openings anywhere that could 'block' the normal movement.

could you give some more details re this?

 

[Vee239]

More details . .

The house is a 3 bed, halls adjoining semi so the hallway is relatively large.

The diagram below shows the whole area to be floored.
The front door is at the bottom left.
The room to the right is about 12 sq/m, the hallway about 15 sq/m.
I expect these are fine to lay the floor on.
The issue is the rear of the house, where the only real blocks to movement are the 2 pillars (30cm x 30cm) and the 1m opening between the hall and the rear section. This area is about 63 sq/m.

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• Vee239
• 11 Jun 2008
• 3

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[WoodYouLike]

We would install a threshold between hall and the rear section, meaning install the hall as a separate area.

 

[Vee239]

Just to resurrect this.

Here is a pic of where it is going.

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• Vee239
• 9 Jul 2008
• 1

The area is approx 63 sq/m and I've chosen a 189mmx1860mm engineered oak which I intend to lay using the floating method with glued T&Gs. There will be a threshold between the hallway and the 'back' area of the house.
The supplier says standard foam underlay but my builder, who isn't laying the floor, suggested using the fibreboard, such as that sold by B&Q, as it will give better sound insulation - is this fibreboard a better choice ?
The base is very level & secure - screwed down ply.

I guess I just want to make sure I've not missed anything obvious which will cause a problem.


Edit to add :

This is an extract from the WYL site
Make sure all joints of row 1 fit tightly and straight. Then move row one slightly away from the wall enough to place your spacers and move row one back against the spacers. Once this is done, check joints again.
Making sure your first row is straight is the most important step of the installation.
If needed use extra thin material behind some of the spacers to ensure the first row is straight.

Now, should it be straight in comparison to the wall or straight to line of sight to someone standing on the threshold. ie adjust for the possibility of the wall not being straight.

ps Subscribed to the Wood You Like factsheet(s) - extremely useful info in there for novices.[/b]

 

[WoodYouLike]

Hi Vee239

Sorry for the confusion. It should be: make sure your first row is straight, period. Meaning no gaps between the joins of the boards.

Straight compared to the wall or the whole room is a different matter and depends on how 'straight' your wall is or what shape your room.

Most important thing is that the first row - even if you start 1 meter away from any wall - is straight. Then, using distancers between the wall and the first row of floorboards you line the floor up as aesthetically possible for the room you're in (and adjust distancers according to the straightness of your wall)
But the most important thing is to make sure your first row of floorboards is straight.

Sorry to be such a pain, but that is where most floors go wrong: the boards in the first row not aligned with each other. If that's the case then it doesn't matter how straight, curved etc your walls, rooms etc are.

Nice to hear our fact sheets are appreciated, but as you can see above: it is a constant process of improvement on text (getting rid of the Double Dutch English mostly )

 

[Petest67]

Easiest way to check that they are straight is to use a string line along the edge pulled tight. Looking down the line you can see if any adjustment needs to be made. Alternatively you can fix the string away from the wall but parallel to where you want the floor to be squared from and back measure to the edge of the flooring to check for any deviation.

 

[Vee239]

Thanks for the feedback todate - much appreciated.
I have a couple of final questions . . .

This floor is planned to be laid floating.
Is an expansion gap at the threshold between hall and back room an absolute must, or, can I get away with a straight run of flooring. It will be over a distance of 14m but only 7 boards wide - the rest will be broken up by walls.
Each board is 1860mm so thought it they'd be more stable than lots of much small pieces acting like hinges.

Also is the fibreboard a better choice than foam underlay in terms of sound insulation ?

Thanks again

 

[WoodYouLike]

Rule of thumb we normally use to determine if a threshold is needed: if the opening between rooms is 3/5 of the whole width than it shouldn't cause problems.
It's not the length that's the problem, but the width of the rooms when installing straight through.

Never really in favour of the fiberboards: too thick and 'springy' for the purpose.

 

[Vee239]

Rule of thumb we normally use to determine if a threshold is needed: if the opening between rooms is 3/5 of the whole width than it shouldn't cause problems.
It's not the length that's the problem, but the width of the rooms when installing straight through.

Sorry WYL I'm a bit confused. Is a threshold required if opening is less than 3/5 or more than 3/5 of the room width ?

ie. on the diagram below the doorway/opening is about 1.5m wide (marked in green).
The back section is approx 10m wide and the hallway on the otherside of the opening approx 4m wide.
Can I lay a floating floor straight through without a break at the threshold ?

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• Vee239
• 10 Jul 2008
• 1

 

[WoodYouLike]

Sorry Vee, should have made it more clearer. If 3/5 of the whole width is open than you can install straight through length ways.
If you are going lengthwise from back room, hall way into living area then I'm afraid it is not recommended and you should use a threshold.
(Even if you would install the other way round I would suggest to use a threshold between hallway and living room in this case)

 

[Vee239]

OK, I will leave a gap where the threshold is.
Out of interest, and to help anyone reading this in future, would you mind explaining the mechanics around leaving this gap ?

Thanks again, really appreciate that you're giving advice even though the flooring hasn't been bought from your company.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Wood works, always due to the changes in humidity in your home. When you would install boards from one room to the other the narrow opening of doorways could act like a obstruction and parts of the floor could buckle or worse.
Treating every room separate - by installing a threshold or strip covering the expansion gap between the two rooms in the doorway prevents this.
And not all rooms have the same temperature, just think of normal homes with a cold hallway and a warm living room.