We are planning have some solid oak laid in our lounge. It is 120mm wide and 18mm thick, random length tongue and groove. The lounge has been extended so the new half has a concrete floor, and the other original part has parquet wood on top of concrete. The level of the extended part is the same as the top level of the parquet - therein lies the problem.
I am a little confused about how to lay the new floor as I have conflicting advice from the installers we have invited to quote. The options are:
- Glue down the the new oak on top of the existing floor (both the parquet and concrete parts). This is how we were going to proceed until a second installer told me 'absolutely whatever you do, do not glue on top of parquet, as it will prevent it from breathing and it will warp and could lift the new floor'. Apparently he has seen this happen and it obviously is a big job to rip up (and destroy) the glued floor to put it right.
- 'Float' the new oak on top of the existing floor using self adhesive foam/underlay. This is also a risk as the underlay is a moisture barrier so prevents the parquet from breathing and so may lead to it warping and lifting the new floor. At least with this option I suppose if it did go wrong the oak could be taken up and re-used after correcting the problem underneath. I wondered whether, if I chose this option I could take up some of the individual parquet pieces (they are mostly easy to pull up from the black (bitumen?) adhesive that they are stuck down with) so provide a space for expansion to reduce the risk a bit?
- Take up the parquet in the old part of the room (which will mean we have two levels of concrete) and then fill the old/low level bring it up to match the extended part (then float or glue on top of that). Options of how to bring up the low level (it's about 8mm (3/8") ) that have been suggested here are to use concrete (which may crack as it is so thin) or latex (very expensive) or plywood (but that seems to me like just changing one type of wood for another). The other issue with this option is the time it would take for the concrete/latex to dry (about 6-8 weeks) enough to lay the floor over it, and the disruption of concreting the lounge. However, disruption and delay is preferable to having to do the job twice..
Any advice would be much appreciated!
I am a little confused about how to lay the new floor as I have conflicting advice from the installers we have invited to quote. The options are:
- Glue down the the new oak on top of the existing floor (both the parquet and concrete parts). This is how we were going to proceed until a second installer told me 'absolutely whatever you do, do not glue on top of parquet, as it will prevent it from breathing and it will warp and could lift the new floor'. Apparently he has seen this happen and it obviously is a big job to rip up (and destroy) the glued floor to put it right.
- 'Float' the new oak on top of the existing floor using self adhesive foam/underlay. This is also a risk as the underlay is a moisture barrier so prevents the parquet from breathing and so may lead to it warping and lifting the new floor. At least with this option I suppose if it did go wrong the oak could be taken up and re-used after correcting the problem underneath. I wondered whether, if I chose this option I could take up some of the individual parquet pieces (they are mostly easy to pull up from the black (bitumen?) adhesive that they are stuck down with) so provide a space for expansion to reduce the risk a bit?
- Take up the parquet in the old part of the room (which will mean we have two levels of concrete) and then fill the old/low level bring it up to match the extended part (then float or glue on top of that). Options of how to bring up the low level (it's about 8mm (3/8") ) that have been suggested here are to use concrete (which may crack as it is so thin) or latex (very expensive) or plywood (but that seems to me like just changing one type of wood for another). The other issue with this option is the time it would take for the concrete/latex to dry (about 6-8 weeks) enough to lay the floor over it, and the disruption of concreting the lounge. However, disruption and delay is preferable to having to do the job twice..
Any advice would be much appreciated!
