Replace 20mm floorboards with decking boards?

[JP_]

I have rotten 20mm floorboards that need replacing. Last year I put in some chipboard, but the difference in level is obvious underfoot (even though the carpet fitter told me he'd use thicker insulation over the old boards).

Anyway, as all standard boards seem to be either 18mm or 22mm, could I use these decking boards? I assume they are fine to use?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/grange-decking-board-20mm-x-2-4m-x-100mm-6-pack/8550v

I am getting a quote from a local timber yard, but at the moment not sure how much I need. And these ready to order might work out cheaper anyway?
https://www.screwfix.com/p/grange-decking-board-20mm-x-2-4m-x-100mm-6-pack/8550v

or will the grooves be felt ... I guess not with a good carpet and underlay.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

You'll feel the grooves for certain no matter what underlay/carpet you use. A real timber yard would be able to take 22mm boards down to 20mm. Or just use 18mm boards and shim along the joists (felt protection trays are a useful and cheap way of buying long lengths of 1mm shim). The decking will probably be cheaper than 20mm T & G but not by much

 

[JP_]

Maybe I'll just get 18mm chipboard with 2 shims then.

Been googling shims, not heard of them before! What product do you mean?

 

[John D v2.0]

Shim is just anything with a given thickness. You could rip your own if you have a suitable saw. I've used plastic packers a fair bit for shimming, and folding wedges can be useful for filling arbitrary sized gaps

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Shim is a sort of generic term for a packing piece. 2mm is a bit thin to be ripping bits of 3x2 down to. Felt support trays aka eaves protectors are 1500mm long and made of plastic about 1mm thick- they cut with tinsnips (or a grinder with a diamond disc- bot overkill but nice and neat) and don't rot. You can probably get sheets of random thickness plastic from somewhere but I've never tried. Beermats are quite handy as well

 

[JP_]

Maybe I have finally found a use for all those old DVDs....

 

[SFK]

Plastic shims here that I sometimes use as they come in range of thicknesses:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Window-G...hash=item3604ab5e64:m:m84k560CZqUtpnfjtgRuXuw

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Plastic shims here that I sometimes use as they come in range of thicknesses:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Window-G...hash=item3604ab5e64:m:m84k560CZqUtpnfjtgRuXuw

I use similar but it gets a bit pricey doing 50 linear metres with them .

 

[^woody^]

What will the next thread be " How do I stop these ****ing deck boards squeaking like mouse factory?"

 

[JP_]

ooh, didn't know they would squeak.

Why are 20mm floorboards so hard to get hold of, when it seems to have been standard size in the 30s - surely loads of people must struggle to replace rotten floorboards!

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Get to your timber merchant and price the job up in 18mm T & G- it shouldn't cost much more than chipboard. Or if you've got a selection of timber merchants, have a wander round them- the dimensions are nominal so you can get batches that are a bit fat

 

[JP_]

cheers, will do. I've ordered some 2mm packers from ebay, so should be all set once I can get in there this weekend ... assuming the builders have removed the chimney!