Solid Oak Wood flooring

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Guys,

I layed real wood floor in my hallway.
even though i checked the levels etc there are a couple of area where the boards creak and sink a bit when stepped on. looks n sounds awful.
clearly i wasnt thorough enough when checking the level of the ground.

seriously disappointed! :(
what can i do now to sort this out?
is there ANY way to get the boards up again without damaging them?
they are T&G.. and they were glued together.

please please help. all comment and suggestions are very much appreciated.

Paul
 
Are they 'solid' wood as in the real thing or 'engineered' wood? i.e. real wood veneer on a patchwork of cheap battens underneath? I suspect the latter because real wood would be a bit thick to follow minor irregularities in a good floor. Unfortunately if they are engineered boards I think the only recourse is to lift them form the edge and re-lay them with maybe another layer of underlay and don't bang them up to each other so tight that they can't expand and contract with the temperature changes.

Good luck.
 
Paul - Glued - as a floating floor or bonded to the sub-floor? Solid or engineered & how thick? What's the sub-floor, concrete or timber or chipboard? How is the oak finished, oil?
 
did you leave an expansion gap all l round !!!!

how did you leave an expansion gap around door frames!!!!
 
Are they 'solid' wood as in the real thing or 'engineered' wood? i.e. real wood veneer on a patchwork of cheap battens underneath?
Not sure where you've seen this patchwork of cheap battens underneath in quality wood-engineered products?
It happens, but is definitely not common!
 
Afternoon all,

the wood is solid oak throughout. not engineered. its not been treated yet as they've only been layed. i was intending on oiling it this weekend.
sorry not sure how thick they are exactly. its pretty thick about 17-18mm

they've not been glued to the floor. only to eachother in between the T&G. so they're just sitting on thin foam underlay.

ive left about a 15mm expansion gap all around. however I've more or less layed it flush to the door frames (leaving no gap )because i wanted the clean finish.
the 15mm expansion gaps will be covered by placing the skirting boards over them.

i feeling is that there is enough room for expansion so i discounted that for a possible cause. (of course i could be completely wrong.) i think the concrete subfloor has a slight ditch in the problem area. i wonder if there is a way to pad that area out.
:(
many thanks, guys.
 
You have to leave expansion gaps everywhere- otherwise none of the others will have any use at all!

The movement could be caused by dips in your underfloor or the floor still has to settle - which might take a few days.

Make sure you do create an expansion gap at your door frames - you are asking for trouble otherwise.
 
Paul - from your Sun pm post I'd agree with WYL to leave it for a week to settle but during this period ensure that you've got gaps all round.

Your problem is to create gaps where the stuff is touching frames, etc. The fix here is to either use something like a padsaw to manually remove material to create the gap, or to use a slot drill (a type of twist drill with cutting teeth up it's shank) - you drill through the board next to the frame and then by the application of sideways pressure you can cut the gap). If you lay any floors in future you can avoid this problem by cutting away a section of frame so the flooring will slot into it whilst ensuring the cut-out is deep enough to leave an expansion gap. You can do this with a hand saw, resting on an off-cut section of your flooring to get the right height, then chisel out.

If, after the floor has settled down, the floor continues to creak and sink in a couple of places, and obviously whipping the glued floor up isn't an option 'cos of the damage you'll do, then there is a fix. Accurately identify the sinking area, bore a small hole through the floorboard and inject a small quantity of builders foam below the board, then immediately plug the hole. The foam will expand SIDEWAYS between the underside of the flooring and the sub-floor taking-up any voids; let the foam set before walking on this section of floor.

OK ... the hole and the plug. Make the hole with a screwdigger (or a counterbore) to match the size of the nozzle of the foam can. The plug is made from an offcut of your floorboard using a plug cutter (this is matched to the counterbore). This plug is inserted in the hole with it's grain in the same direction as the floorboard; pare-off or sand level. I challenge you to find the small plug once the floor's been oiled. You can get a plug cutter/screw digger set from:
www.itslondon.co.uk
or
www.screwfix.com

Just an observation ... lots of folks are precious about their new floors, worried about slight colour/grain variations between adjoining boards (well it is a natural material after all), a perfect surface finish, etc. My own view is that a beautiful wooden floor gains character by being walked on, having the odd slight creak, being 'scuffed, not looking 'perfect' (if we wanted something that looked like this plakka laminate would be everywhere).
 
Just an observation ... lots of folks are precious about their new floors, worried about slight colour/grain variations between adjoining boards (well it is a natural material after all), a perfect surface finish, etc. My own view is that a beautiful wooden floor gains character by being walked on, having the odd slight creak, being 'scuffed, not looking 'perfect' (if we wanted something that looked like this plakka laminate would be everywhere).
LOL Symptoms

You don't want to know what some clients are willing to pay to have their brand new wood floor looking just like that: lived on for years already and full of instant character!
 
WYL - I know what you mean; it's one of the reasons we source reclaimed stuff (loads of instant character) and install it at a whacking great premium (justified on prep grounds :wink: )

To be honest I've never understood the obsession some folks have for pre-lacquered, almost mirror-like, finishes (one scratch/scuff spoils the look for them); give me oiled any day.
 
thanks for the info.

i wondering whether i should make sure (if possible) the foam is sprayed under the underlay. (i.e. between the underlay and subfloor) i think this is will be very difficult to do when working through a small drill hole. if the foam spreads between the underlay and wood, would that be a big issue?? i hoping the foam will not ruin the wood or react with it in any way.

just a thought.. instead of using foam.. would it not be possible to pour thin levelling compound through it? just a crazy thought.!

Thanks

p.s. totally agree with you guys on the imperfected wood look. ive gone for the rustic look.. with lots of minor chips n discoloured sections. looks great... well it almost does! :P
 
Paul - the point of using the foam is that is injected under pressure so you'll be sure of getting the stuff in the void; you won't be able to do this with compound. Also, the foam EXPANDS so filling the void. There is little danger of the stuff oozing up through the flooring joins and even if it did when it sets it can be cut/scraped away (industrial razor blades are great for this task). I'm not sure it really matters if you foam above or below the underlay but drill through both as the injected foam will follow the path of least resistance to the void.

Good for you in choosing the rustic, it'll look even better after oiling.
 
ive just a friend come over to take a look at the floor... and he's pointed out that the floor actually rises up at a certain point.
i thought there were 2 ditches in the floor. hence my suspicions about an uneven sub floor. however it seems theres one big ol' bump in the middle of it.. stepping on it compresses the floor about 2mm.

now.... does this latest revelation back up the suggestion of creating expansion gaps around my door frames? i'm hoping this will sort out the problem... and i can avoid the foam treatment. :P

many thanks

Paul
 
Paul - the thing about expansion gaps ALL around the floor is to allow the floor to move due to expansion/contraction. Clearly, if there's any resistance to this movement (your lack of gaps at the door frames say) then the floor will still want to move ... how/where? Upwards in a hump. Get those gaps all round sorted.
 

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