Wooden floor on concrete

[andy_aj]

I know this has been asked before, but I'd like some comments on the following:-
I'm about to lay a solid wooden floor (T & G oak) onto the concrete floor of the hallway (approx 3m x 2m). I know that the concrete must be sealed (house is 10 years old by the way) and was assuming to have to use a membrane of sorts along with an underlay or possible subfloor but was advised by the flooring company that if they fitted it (using their normal fitter), they would just seal the concrete with PVA and glue the floorboards directly to it. Now, as I want to avoid creating a large difference in height between the new floor and existing carpets/tiles of the adjoining rooms, sealing with PVA and fixing direct to the floor seems a good option. Am I likely to come a cropper? I would be using the correct flooring adhesive (as sold by the flooring company).

Thanks in advance. Oh, and as an additional question, how long should I let the floor acclimatise in the room before laying?

 

[WoodYouLike]

You could use a two in one product: DPM + sound-insulation, normally 2-3mm thick.
Glueing the boards on concrete: your weakest link is the state of the concrete floor: level? dusty? moist?

3 - 4 days is normally sufficient for the boards to acclimatise

 

[andy_aj]

Glueing the boards on concrete: your weakest link is the state of the concrete floor: level? dusty? moist?

The floor is pretty level and in good condition i.e not loose, crumbly, moist etc. Assuming the floor is sound I guess that it may work OK?

 

[DAZB]

You could also lay a 1200 guage membrane ( Visqueen ) and then lay the oak as a " floating " floor by glueing all the planks to each other and it should be fine just like that. I have done rooms 5-6 times bigger than that in the same way without a problem.

 

[andy_aj]

Thanks. I'm not exactly sure why the company insists that the wood needs to be fixed to the concrete floor??

 

[WoodYouLike]

Thanks. I'm not exactly sure why the company insists that the wood needs to be fixed to the concrete floor??

That's because 50% of floor installing companies swear by glueing everything down and 50% swear by installing the floor floating wherever possible
We belong to the latter part, out of experience here and in The Netherlands.
In both countries we have seen glueing down go horribly wrong and go wonderfully fine, depending on the knowledge of the fitter and the circumstances/quality of the underfloor and materials used.
95% of the floors we install are installed floating and we have to receive a complaint yet.