Really? The standard is 150mm. Never seen a proper tradesman do anything other than that. And in any case, why the centre of the floorboard? Why not the centres of the joists? (which might make more sense - see below) How do you achieve that with random width boards? (they do exist) That "100mm" is an arbitrary measurement, when the idea is to have overboarding which is fixed down consistently, regardless of what is beneath it
That would work well with vinyl or lino, wouldn't it? (it wouldn't) The "expansion gaps" would telegraph through the finished flooring as a series of unsightly lines. The fact is a pre-existing floor in a dry, heated house doesn't expand or contract much, neither does plywood, so there is no need for the gaps in plywood if you fix it down correctly - if you were installing an engineered floor over a concrete sub-floor on a ground floor with an 18mm plywood over board then you'd have a different set of considerations. But you aren't. Sounds like someone is confusing the two, or is thinking about timber frame houses in the more humid states in the USA - but I'm in England, and I as this is a British forum I assumed were, too. And why 2mm? Again, a pretty arbitrary measurement. Why not 6mm or 12mm?
No, you need to know the thickness of the plywood and the original floorboards to calculate the length of screw needed. So, 12mm plywood + 25mm floor boards = 37mm - nearest screw length is 35mm (screw lengths go up in 5mm increments from 20mm to 60mm for most manufacturers), and floor overlays are normally screwed down with 4.0 or 4.5mm screws (and sometimes 5.0mm), so you'd need 4.0 x 35mm screws or 4.5 x 35mm at the rate of 9 x 17 screws, or circa 150 screws, per sheet
No, always at right angles to existing flooring, be it plywood or floor boards, and you lay the boards so that any end joints don't end up directly above joints between floorboards. The plywood should also be laid in a "brick pattern" with the ends of the plywood boards not making a straight line, but staggered, like the bricks in a wall. This may require that you have a circular saw to cut the sheets
Um wow okay not what I was doing I came back to you for clarification as I'm reading and being told loads of different things wouldn't you think if I came back to you it's because your advise matches most of what I've read.
I previously mentioned that the advise/online is harder tto understand for a newbie as its geared mainly to American houses.
Well this is what he wants to do fyi the guy also claimed he was a carpenter so please don't take that the wrong way I'm merely saying anyone can say they are this or that the reason I believed you is because all your advise matched what I've read not just because you said you were.
My housing association is with over £75 million they only concern is that their pension gets bigger be off the backs/blood of the poor you'd think theyd at least give us a decent floor lol never there all ****e tbh.
See 2 days ago I knew nothing about overboarding as I had never had to learn about it no i habe had to only because everyone around me was trying ti feed me some BS lol they really should just do a job correctly what would it be an extra £200 quid it actually cost them more in the long wrong.
I know it wouldn't thats just common sense it wouldn't have anything to stick to the confusion seems either when laying hard wood or tiles take the skirting off then the gaos hidden or what the Americans do is just have ply as a main walking floor like we do with floorboards again doesn't help when your trying to learn but it's my only source but don't you get mad again lol if any of thats wrong i obviously think your advise is worth listening to as I'm taking time out of my day to ask you. And I alsi appreciate you don't have to answer so thanks.
It's probably overkill to acclimatise plywood, unless it's been out in the rain in the lorry and arrives a bit damp (unlikely). If you fix down at 150mm centres (or 150+ screws a sheet) it really can't move very much, and in any case plywood is very stable as a rule and the core should be very dry, so it is highly unlikely to move. Ideally there should be a couple of days gap between laying the overboarding and applying the finished floor
Rented haha ( if I had all the tools I would need I would have lol).You could have finished this floor by now, if you had stopped writing such long posts.
As I said, the core veneers are very dry - any moisture wil be in the outer veneers, and only if it's been transported unsheeted. The delivery guys generally know better than to do that
Probably nothing. 150 screws a sheet tends to stop any movement dead
I can understand their need to get the job done in short order. It will probably be OK. When I'm doing it I'm doing large areas and/or multiples and we normally have other trades who need access, so a day or two gives the others access as well as allowing our QS to pick up the measure and if there are any issues like creaking floors, knocking pipes, etc it gives us the chance to get them fixed
l'd expect anyone doing flooring to at least sweep the floor before laying plywood or laminate - even if only because it means that you don't end up working in sh1t! Not sweeping up or vacuuming up after you've finished is just bad manners and poor customer relations - after all, as I always say to the guys, how would you like it if someone did that in your house?
Yeah but I don't know as much as you. Do was going off what I had read, Again they don't normally operate is to pick up the material till the morning I think they use Jewsons.
Yeah well I have debris and loads ( even have paint splatter on the ply great for flush lino right) again you said they need to came close to edges and were the sheets meet as it will telegraph and show through the lino. You'd think they would know this i think that assumption is fair if your employed in that position.
It's the same flooring as we have been talking about aka the ply I have read that you could use ply at different thickness to try and fix this... What do you think on that?
Do a job badly and you'll often end up doing it twice - and if construction firms could be bothered to "do the math" they'd see that the cost of call-backs and correcting flawed workmanship is a major drain on resources (and it affects your bottom line at the end of the day). So doing it right in the first place will very often actually cost less in the long term.
It is true that I have spent a good part of my working life in interior fit-out/commercial where standards are relatively high - but amy job still needs to be brought-in on budget and on time (something the construction industry is bad at doing). When I go into a domestic housing job as I do from time to time, be it a new build or work on voids I am often underwhelmed and sometimes appalled by the poor quality of workmanship which is allowed to pass
That's just poor management - another thing I rail against in the construction industry. There is no better place to work in social housing that a void. You aren't looking over your shoulder watching your kit, or falling over kids toys/dogs/piles of washing, etc. or being bitten by the dog, and so on and so forth. As a tradesman voids are a far better proposition
Not always - even new builds can be very variable. It often depends on the site manager. I recently did a small bit of work on a new build project (national builder with a multi million turn over) where the SM turned up half an hour after site opened in the morning, frequently left early and on Friday afternoons he wasn't to be seen after midday. He also didn't really understand the various trades he was dealing with and the standards they should be working to. The joiners in particular were taking the p1ss and the kitchen fitters were cutting corners all over the place (the dry liners on the other hand were actually quite conscientious) - but the deco contractor compounded this by putting a pair of what I could only describe as "brush hands" on the job, and they really didn't give a stuff. The result was 3 to 4 times as much snagging as should have been necessary. Yes, the trades were getting it wrong, but the underlying issue was that the overall management of the site was really poor because quality issues should have been picked up and dealt with as they occurred and not 3 or more weeks later
Yes, that works, but you do have to skim the floor with levelling compound as well to get a decent surface to lay carpet, etc onto. Standard practice on commercial jobs these days
Lol be careful there speaking such gospel will both end up like william wallace lol
Yeah like why you couldn't have used galvanised nails instead I understand cost and budget but what £3 more for a box of non rust to ones that will again cost them more now as they need more nails to put it right.
Yeah better dairy keeping skills always helps
Can i skim over ply or just floorboards I was told you couldn't use self levelling compound??
I've always been told (by the flooring guys) that it isn't advisable to skim directly over floor boards - too many joints which can potentially move. They generally require a layer of plywood to go down first (on 150mm screw centres...) over which they apply the levelling compound
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