underlay! underlay!

[Calvados]

I've had a couple of quotes for installing oak flooring in our hallway and study.

On the question of underlay (I asked because our house is not very well insulated and gets quite cold in winter) one chap said that it isn't usually used under wooden flooring because it dampens the 'noise' that a wooden floor makes when walked across and that it doesn't make much difference any way.

The other guy didn't seem to have an opinion on whether it would help with insulation but said eh could do it.

Will underlay make a difference in our situation? The flooring will go over wooden floorboards, the house was built in '69.

Regards, Cal

 

[JohnD]

is it a suspended timber ground floor, laid on joists, with a ventilated cavity underneath?

or is it concrete?

 

[Calvados]

the former I think.

Certainly a wooden suspended floor (with air bricks dotted around the exterior walls).

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You need to add insulation if you want a warmer floor. Some underlay will reduce a few draughts but do very little to reduce heat loss. The way to insulate it properly is posted on here almost weekly if you're interested.

 

[JohnD]

yep, that's the answer!

 

[Calvados]

I never really got to the bottom of this one but I have a bit more info now....

The flooring we'll have is engineered.

One fitter said that 20mm boards would go straight on to the wooden subfloor. No underlay, as it wouldn't make much differnce to insulation.

The other option (I think) was to have 15mm flooring on top of 5mm of plywood, which is in turn fixed to the subfloor but the guy siad there wouldn't be much difference bewteen this and option 1 just more expensive.

He also receomeedned buying my pre-finished engineedred flooring from Natural Wood Floor Company and to expect to spend around £45 psm for quality materials. Is this good advice?