Afternoon

I am looking to fit engineered wood flooring in my hallway. Unfortunately the joists run parallel to the direction i would like to run the wood flooring in, and various searches suggest conflicting information as to this being a good idea or not.

Does anyone have some real experience in this? I would expect that removing existing floorboards and fitting 18mm ply to the joists would be sturdy enough to take the new flooring in any direction. I am looking at fitting 20mm thick t&g boards and nailing down over the ply.

Muchly appreciate any help / info
Thanks

Not done it myself so ignore at will. From a practical level though running flooring parallel to the joists just sounds a recipe for disaster.
I have two questions:
Can you access unde the floor, if so you could reinforce if any problems did occur?
Why are you taking up the existing floor? Can’t you sand them and varnish? If there are gaps and and the answer to question one was yes, why don’t you board from underneath to improve insulation. Don’t forget to allow for ventilation under there if you do though.

Right in the middle of doing exactly the same.

If you are putting ply down its completely irrelevant which way the boards run according to my fitter. If you are fitting onto existing boards it’s easier to run them perpendicular to existing as its harder to compensate for existing changes in level.

Obviously my fella hasn’t finished yet and I haven’t paid him yet either 😉

I put down t&g 15mm oak flooring – admittedly it was on concrete and then on to insulation but found the following.

First couple are the most important – take time as these are the most important. EVERYTHING is governed by these. Dont forget to think about the direction of the panels – i would place them along the longest wall or the focal point of the hallway
I would imagine that 15mm ply would be good enough but depends on how wide apart the joists are
Leave a 10-15mm gap around the outside and cover with skirting boards. I didnt use any nails and wouldnt advise to – I just used a tool (sorry dont know the name – large piece of metal on a sliding bar – placed against edge of board and then slammed the metal against it and it compressed all the gaps), used silicon sealant for the decorative bits on the end.

good quality saw is a must! good luck

Bobs your uncle

I laid an engineered floor on top of lining boards directly placed on existing boards. Once all the sections are glued together it was so solid that it didn’t really matter that the original floorboards werent completely level. Because of the totally random legths of engineered board you’ll get across several packs I think that running along the longest edge would be the most economical.

Have I got this right? engineered floor onto floor-boards which are on joists.

The floor-boards already run across the joists, so if you were to run across the floor-boards your running with the joists.

Cheers all. I am pretty confident the 18mm ply will be enough. Taking the boards up as they are pretty battered (and bit woodwormy!) and I want a nice flat base. I have fitted solid wood before (across existing boards) But not on ply…also don’t like the idea of glue fit!

It’s possible to add noggings to brace the joists but thinking this may be overkill?! It’s 5m x 2m so fairly small area…

Lift existing boards. Fit minimum 18mm ply (assuming sheets of 8′ x 4′?) but imagine you’re laying them so that the long side of the ply runs perpendicular to your new flooring. Use No. 10 screws that are at least 2.5 times the thickness of the ply (40mm will do it, 50mm better). Make sure they’re countersunk at least flush with the surface of the ply.

Nailing isn’t a bad idea, however, it might help reduce squeaking if you were to glue-fit as well (or instead of). For a small area and as it’s engineered (so should fit together really nicely and all boards exact same width), you could fit with liquid batons using one of these:

Or actually, HERE for some better quality adhesive (Bona – industry standard). A box of sausages (free gun) would do the whole job for you. I’d probably use some of the above glue along the joists as well as screwing the ply down. Won’t hurt.

Cheers dd – have noted your comments re fitting ply. I dunno, just something about the glue makes me wary but I will look into it a bit more….

8)

Thanks

Using liquid batons is a doddle to be honest. Also, no matter what you read, do not use PVA on the tongues and grooves.

Use egger (d4 I think) expanding glue under the ply, you’ll be able to hear a fly fart because there will not be any creak! Rule of thumb ignoring joist layout is lay the floor in line with the light through the main windows to the room.

Also, no matter what you read, do not use PVA on the tongues and grooves.

What’s the reason for that ?

@nealglover, the type of floor the OP is fitting should be fixed to the sub-floor only (either by nails or glue). When PVA cures in a T/G the bond created is often stronger than the timber itself and if the floor expands or contracts, the delicate part (ie the groove) can end up splitting. Also, if you ever have to take some up, it’s nigh on impossible to get it out without wrecking the T/Gs and one can forget ever getting it to go back together. PVA has no flex either when it cures.

If you’re floating the floor on underlay, and it’s not click together, then that’s the only time PVA should be used.

Cheers DD.
It’s not something I do often, but its nice to know how to do it right.