Solid Wood Flooring - Around Chimney Breast

[alanthomaswatson]

All

I have some 18mm solid wood flooring to install in the dining room. Couple of questions please:

1. The furthest corner from the door (where I need to start) is to one side of the old fire hearth (about half the width of the room). I have 150mm boards but the depth of the fire place is more than this and I will have to trim a board lengthways. Is it better to start a new board level with the fireplace front and work back into the recess, or have full boards coming out from the back wall and have to cut notches where the chimney breast will be?
2. The timber floor is a bit uneven but not massively. I don't want the floor to be too high compared to the adjacent rooms but do want it to be level. If I put down some 6mm fibreboard how much does this compensate for?

Alternatively, if I put down ply (would 12mm or 18mm be needed?) would I also need to put down underlay?

I'm just a bit concerned that I put down flooring, plus ply underlay and end up with a 42mm step.

Any help much appreciated.

 

[BigRobCanUFixIt]

Im not an expert but when I laid my floor i worked out which way would leave me the least wastage. I had a similar scenario with a wall in my lounge which petruded, I cut the least amount of boards to go around the corner but luckily when I got over to the other side of the room required a similar width to the off cut pieces. If you go back from the hearth you may have to cut all the boards along the wall.

Is your floor going on concrete or floorboards? If on concrete I would just float it on underlay. and glue the boards together. If on wood I think it has to be nailed but I have not done this so can not offer any advice.

 

[alanthomaswatson]

Hello, and thanks for the reply.

It's on old Victorian floorboards. They're not too bad but not exactly level.

Thanks

 

[Symptoms]

Alan - start at the front of the hearth and continue this line of boards the whole way across (or along the room) - this becomes your datum from which you begin to cover the rest of the floor. You then come off the back of this datum INTO the recesses. Tip: after this datum set of boards are down screw a batten (on the recess side) down onto the joists, this will help prevent the datum boards from shunting back when doing the rest of the floor. Obviously, when you come to do the recesses first remove these stop battens.

Do, do, do consider lifting the old manky pine boards and secret nail the new stuff directly into the joists. This will ensure same level to existing floor at doorway. But, before you lift all the old stuff check how far apart the joists are and check the board lengths of your new stuff; lots of solid wood packs have random lengths with many short boards which are unsuitable for spanning joists (remember the general rule of 3 points of contact with joists).

 

[alanthomaswatson]

Thanks Symptoms. Very good plan about the battening at datum point.

I can't lift the current floorboards unfortunately as the the side wall is actually built off them in typical Victorian fashion. As such I can't take them out without de-stabling the wall.

Any thoughts on how I can best prepare the existing boards?

Thanks

 

[Symptoms]

Alsn - which way do the existing f/boards run in relation the the side wall you mention? It is possible to remove existing flooring when you have a partition wall which is supported by flooring.

If the f/bds run parallel to the wall remove all f/bds APART for the one under the wall, you may have to cut this length-wise along and flush with the edge of the wall ... you will retain wall support.

If the f/bds are at a right-angle to the wall it becomes a little more complex depending on the position of the joists and any sleeper walls in the void below the floor. The aim is to introduce additional support, via an extra joist/joist-noggin combo to 'catch' the cut ends of the f/bds as they emerge from below the partition wall. Check to see where the nearest joist is to partition wall and note the size of any gap and report back for further advice.

 

[alanthomaswatson]

Thanks again for the reply.

They're perpendicular to the side wall I'm afraid. As you look at the rear of the side wall (which i can see as it is the access to the cellar) the short ends of the boards are visible. These rest on perpendicular joists (that are parallel with the side wall) which are supported via a central honeycomb wall.

The other problem is that the boards (and I quote from the box) are "of differing lengths". As such I would think that using these as replacement floorboards may be a non-starter.

I'm happy with a bit of a step but just want to minimise this as much as I can.

Thanks.