replacing old chipboard flooring with t & g boards

[blackwaterpfc]

Is it easy to do on an upstairs room? One of my upstairs rooms is above an integral garage and is much colder than the rest I thought removing the old floor (fibre board sheets I think) and laying loft insulation or similar in between the joists and then laying T & G boards in place of the old sheets would serve 2 purposes,1. Look nicer and 2. make the room a little warmer.

Any thoughts or suggestions please?

 

[JohnD]

yes.

 

[blackwaterpfc]

John Thanks.
The internal walls are stud plasterboard fixed directly on the chipboard I assume, is it no problem just to cut the chipboard level with the wall and go from there with T & G?
This will be the first time I've done something "major" so I'm slightly concerened I'll balls it up.

 

[JohnD]

you will most likely find the wall frame is built on a "sole plate" piece of wood, nailed to the floor. With luck it will be directly above a joist (possibly two next to each other)

if the joist finishes flush with the wall, take off the skirting so you can cut the floor away, and nail or screw a piece of 50x50 or 50x100mm to the side of the joist for your new flooring to sit on.

make sure all short ends of the new flooring end mid-way across a joist. You will have to cut some of the boards to achieve this. If you can have the joins near the edges of the room, they will be walked on less than if they are in the middle. Try not to have two joins next to each other.

Nails are cheaper but I prefer screws (unless you are secret-nailing, in which case it will be very difficult to take up the boards in future, so do any wiring or plumbing while you have the floor up. When I refloored my kitchen recently I put a couple of screw-down panels above pipes and cables that would lift easily, along the edges where they would be concealed by roll-out appliances. The bathroom has a similar lift-out above the pipes, but this is in the middle of the room and creaks a bit.

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[blackwaterpfc]

John,
Thanks for the reply, it all makes sense. I'd like to fit boards and then varnish or stain them rather than put carpet back, so I'd guess I go for the secret nail route, is this where you nail the tounge on each board? However I'm concerned cheapish pine T & G boards may not be good enough for this.

 

[JohnD]

yes. you can hire a device to help you drive the nails at the right angle. You need to clamp or wedge then very tightly first, having left then in the room to dry out and shrink.

As this is an upstairs room with bare boards, it will be very noisy in the room below. you can get dense mineral wool batts (heavier than loft insulation) to pack between the joists which will absorb some of the noise.

 

[blackwaterpfc]

Thanks. off to the HSS webpage for the tool then and B & Q Farnborough for the rest (I seem to be spending an absolute fortune in there ) the room below is only the garage so noise won't really be an issue.
Cheers

 

[mattysupra]

first, having left then in the room to dry out and shrink.

And vice versa, the boards can also grow/expand if they have been been stored to dry john

As john has already adviced, make sure you acclimatise the boards for a couple of weeks in the room to be fitted for the best results!