Replace floor

[LEH]

Hi,

I'd like to lay some decent laminate downstairs. Currently there is a suspended chipboard subfloor which is not in a good way with water damage, sagging etc.

I need to repair the water damaged patches for sure, but I figured while everything was up why not replace the whole lot with tongue and groove ply for a much better job.

However I read somewhere that this might be notifiable and I might be required to put insulation under the floor (increasing the cost significantly). Any thoughts?

 

[^woody^]

A floor or a subfloor?

I can't imagine that you have a suspended timber ground floor covered in chipboard

 

[LEH]

Yeah sorry it's the floor. Thinking about another floor issue. So yes I'd take the old laminate off and the chipboard she then screw ply on then underlay and laminate etc.

 

[chappers]

the question is are you concerned about the lack of insulation.
If not then don't worry just crack on, who will ever know

 

[LEH]

Not particularly concerned, it's a mid-terrace and from what I've read these don't benefit hugely as they have a small perimeter obviously. I'm already baulking at the price difference of ply v chipboard so not really up for the cost of kingspan or celotex.

Given the tight budget I might just replace the kitchen floor and leave the living room as it is, which is in much better condition. This would be <50% of the floor area so would also duck the building control issue, if my reasoning is right?

 

[Ian H]

Why would you need building control involved?

 

[LEH]

Change to thermal element (approved document L1B)

 

[chappers]

Don't worry about it, also a well laid chipboard floor will be better than a badly laid ply floor.
You want to cover it in laminate, just use chipboard, glue and screw it down and glue the joints, it will be fine. While you have it up address any issues with regards to flatness and level, sagging/bouncing joists etc.

 

[LEH]

Thanks chappers. Is ply harder to lay than chipboard then? I was going to buy the T+G stuff (hence the cost). And I thought of using it for better water resistance and stability (our washing machine is trampolining at the moment). I was going to reinforce the joists under the units/washing machine anyway to deal with this, but thought ply might do better. Don't mind spending the ££ if it works better, but equally T+G ply is about 3 times the cost of the chipboards.

 

[chappers]

If you are using T&G ply then no exactly the same process.
The regime is set with all round T&G whereas with plain ply you find people cutting thin strips to fill in etc
T&G ply will be a better product as referenced by the price, but IMHO isn't worth the cost for a plain domestic floor that you are going to laminate or carpet over, if you do a decent job, then you won't have problems i.e. sort the joists as you suggest then glue down and glue all joints and screw down.
Use something like caberfloor D4 glue.

 

[LEH]

Would you say the same for the bathroom or would it be worth going for ply there? I'm thinking to put a floating luxury vinyl tile in there, like Quickstep Livyn.

 

[chappers]

I would be perfectly happy with chipboard again, ply is more resistant to water but at the end of the day there shouldn't be leaks