WOOD FLOORING

[2DIYorNOT2DIY]

Hi all,

Some advice would be great.

Im looking to install solid oiled oak flooring in my living room. The subfloor is conctrete and has DPM laid under it with no signs of damp or moisture. My plan was to lay down ply wood sheeting, then an underlay, the secret nail the wood flooring (hence why the ply is needed). I'm not in favour of glueing or floating solid wood floors.

Can anyone advise the following;

1. What are the advantages/disadvantages of solid wood flooring and engineered wood?
2. Do I need some form of DPC between the concrete floor and the palnned ply wood sheeting?
3. What underlay is good to use with solid wood floors?
4. Any recommendations on companies that offer reasonably priced oak flooring, medium dark colour (we are currently looking at the solid wood floor company smoke oak s752)?

Your help and advice would be great.

 

[WoodYouLike]

See here for info on solid versus wood-engineered
In many cases solid floors should be fully glued down, going the way of adding plywood to secret nail is IMHO a bit OTT (extra materials, money and effort).
You need DPM between ply and concrete. How do you plan to install your ply?

If you nail or fully glue you don't need underlayment.

As for price: you get what you pay for and there's plenty of rubbish out there in regards of Solid Oak flooring

 

[2DIYorNOT2DIY]

WoodYouLike..........Was going to screw down the ply so it was nice and solid. I was only thinking of doing that in order to provide something for the secret nails to grip into as I wasnt sure if they would penetrate and hold sufficiently in concrete.

I take it I can just use some form of DPM poly sheet or is the liquid stuff you paint on better?

Cheers.

 

[WoodYouLike]

So the screws will penetrate the DPM - wasting materials, money and efforts.

IMHO you're better of applying a liquid DPM (after testing the moist content of your concrete floor to make sure a liquid DPM can be applied, too much moist will render the DPM useless) and fully bond the floor with flexible adhesive.