Hi,
I have been into a number of flooring shops to ask about real wood flooring that I want to install in my lounge which has a concrete floor. All the shops have told me that real wood flooring has to be glued down to the floor because it is too "unstable" to have it as a floating floor. Now I'm not sure what "unstable" means exactly here so I was wondering if someone can enlighten me (I guess I should have asked as the shops instead of accepting it). I would prefer to have a floating floor in real wood if possible instead of wood engineered flooring.
However, I found some past posting in these forums in which WUL has said that real wood can be laid as a floating floor (contrary to what I was told in the flooring shops). Also that when WUL lays a wood floor they have to go back after a while and potentially trim the edges where the wood has expanded. Can WUL clarify this? Also, it would be a pain to have to trim the edges some time after laying because it would mean that skirting boards may have to come off again?? In fact, if skirting is covering the expansion gap, how do you know that you may have to trim the edges?
The reason why I prefer real wood flooring is that it is thicker than wood engineered flooring (commonly only 14mm) and so I figured it would feel more stable (+ it will better hide minor height variations in the sub floor). Can someone who has more experience tell me whether you can immediatly tell the difference between real wood and wood engineered flooring when walking on it?
thanks
sanjay
I have been into a number of flooring shops to ask about real wood flooring that I want to install in my lounge which has a concrete floor. All the shops have told me that real wood flooring has to be glued down to the floor because it is too "unstable" to have it as a floating floor. Now I'm not sure what "unstable" means exactly here so I was wondering if someone can enlighten me (I guess I should have asked as the shops instead of accepting it). I would prefer to have a floating floor in real wood if possible instead of wood engineered flooring.
However, I found some past posting in these forums in which WUL has said that real wood can be laid as a floating floor (contrary to what I was told in the flooring shops). Also that when WUL lays a wood floor they have to go back after a while and potentially trim the edges where the wood has expanded. Can WUL clarify this? Also, it would be a pain to have to trim the edges some time after laying because it would mean that skirting boards may have to come off again?? In fact, if skirting is covering the expansion gap, how do you know that you may have to trim the edges?
The reason why I prefer real wood flooring is that it is thicker than wood engineered flooring (commonly only 14mm) and so I figured it would feel more stable (+ it will better hide minor height variations in the sub floor). Can someone who has more experience tell me whether you can immediatly tell the difference between real wood and wood engineered flooring when walking on it?
thanks
sanjay