solid oak to wood flooring tips

[Rubberball]

Hi Guys, just bought a lot of 22mm solid oak coffee flooring from B &Q. i took advantage of their 15% off promotion and got a further 10% off as i got my mother in law to pay for it on wednesday past (O.A.P discount) .

Anyways i plan to nail it down this coming week all through my ground level house starting in the livingroom and working my way throgh the house. i have lifted most of the existing laminate and the floorboards look pretty fine and level. there are a few boards that are 2 or 3 mil high in places.
i know the basics of floor laying but wouldn,t mind a few tips before starting and i have a few questions.

1- Is it best to ply the floor first or can i plane/ sand the rare high spots in the floorboards ?. Don't really want to add extra height to flooring to avoid step into bathroom /kitchen..

[b]2[/b] do i carry the wood straight through the doorways or is making a door bar essential ?.

3if door bar not needed then If i carry the wood through from the hall into a bedroom how do you work backwards into the other half of the room ?.

4is underlay needed ?. house is still warm /no draughts with just floorboards but slightly worried about noise factor even though no neighbours below .

5 There are a couple of small stone fireplace bases in the house (2ft x 1ft) where i can't nail down. how do i deal with them ?. small piece of DPM then glue boards ?

sorry for long post and if any of these questions have been covered and thanks in advance for replys, tips and advice.

Paul

 

[mattysupra]

1- always best to sand flat and then plywood also with 6mm wbp plywood. You can get away with sanding flat and then run the boards at the opposite way the floorboards. If you plywood with 6mm you can glue floor down anyway you want. You can also work in both directions. You can also float the floor on elastilon underlay or glue tongue and grooves if recommend in your instructions for the flooring.

2- If running through door ways you need to be aware of the amount of expansion needed. All depends on the size of the area. I would always advice to break in door ways and use door strip so every area can move as it likes.

3- If you fully bond the floor to the sub floor you can work in any direction.

4- underlay is only used if you plan to float the flooring. You must never use a dpm underlay over a wooden sub floor.

5- you should not glue and nail. You can face nail if you know what your doing or pre drill the tongue and hand nail the last couple etc. If its the last couple of boards then you can get away with glue tho.