Viewing 16 posts - 1 through 16 (of 16 total)
  • Oak floor help please
  • spursn17
    Free Member

    Hi

    I’m going to lay a new floor in our living room soon. It’s about 32 square metres (8m x 4m) and it’s on bone dry 50 year old concrete, the skirting is coming off to make a decent job of it as well.

    We’ve pretty much settled on going for an engineered wood floor as I understand that this is more stable than solid wood. We have found one we like the look of and it’s 18mm thick, with a 5mm oak layer on top (oiled finish), but (and there’s always one isn’t there?) it’s tongue and groove whereas I was looking for a click fit type for ease of laying.

    Now the questions for the floorist’s amongst us…

    1) Can I lay this as a floating floor on 3mm underlay?

    2) If the floating option is a non-starter and I have to glue it to the floor roughly how much adhesive do I need?

    3) What adhesive to use?

    4) How do I finish the floor off where it butts up against the french doors at the end of the room?

    5) What oil to get to give it a coat once the floor is laid?

    Thanks
    Spursn17

    Moses
    Full Member

    Deadly Darcy to the forum, please !
    (He’s an expert floorist)

    freeagent
    Free Member

    Deadly Darcy to the forum, please !
    (He’s an expert floorist)

    He’s probably in bed – I think all the Floorists were really busy yesterday ;o)

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    40mpg
    Full Member

    1) Read the manufacturers literature
    2) Read teh manufacturers literature
    3) Read the manufacturers literature
    4) Oak threshold
    5) Are you sure you want oiled? Dependent on usage, you could be re-oiling on a fairly regular basis, anything from yearly to monthly (extreme). I’ve just spent 2 months persuading a client not to have an oiled finish in a theatre as they’ll need to re-oil every month. Thats remove all furniture etc, shut down for 24 hours, cost of oil and labour. She’d seen the floor in a restaurant, I eventual;y persuaded her to ask them about it and they confirmed bad decision. She’s now gone for lacquered and everyone’s happy.

    Oiled looks great but needs caring for. Also oiled on engineered – if you need to sand to ghet rid of staining, you can only do so many times before the overlay gets too thin.

    Rider* My experience is commercial rather than resi so applies to more extreme use, I expect proper floorists will be along shortly with more applicable suggestions

    spursn17
    Free Member

    Thanks 40mpg

    The idea of going for oiled is that I thought that it would be better for repairing any digs/scratches, I just know that I’m going to forget and mark it with my Speedplay cleats one day.
    Also the french doors are our access to the garden so I wondered if the lacquer would show wear after a couple of years that couldn’t be repaired easily?

    johndoh
    Free Member

    What oil to get to give it a coat once the floor is laid?

    The standard answer is Osmo Hard Wax Oil (or PolyX as I believe it is now called).

    (I assume you will be buying untreated flooring so be careful when laying as any grease marks will be difficult to remove and will show through the eventual finish).

    Our old house had engineered oak on a concrete floor and was glued directly to it – it was faultless.

    However, I note about the floor being laid next to external doors – ours was too and it did start to get dirt ingrained into it and no amount of cleaning would remove the marks.

    We have just laid a floor in our new house and that leads directly onto both the front door and the bi-folds to the garden so we have opted to lay a Karndean floor because it is much more hard-wearing and easier to clean.

    Rockape63
    Free Member

    Agree with above, go with the lacquered finish. Its normally around five coats and very hard wearing. You need a DPL and float it on that with a foam underlay. Tongue and groove is fine, any wood glue would be fine too. Just make sure its all level.

    THE most important aspect is ensuring you leave a 1cm expansion gap around the outside. New skirtings will cover it and cork strips will make a neat job if exposed.

    johndoh
    Free Member

    THE most important aspect is ensuring you leave a 1cm expansion gap around the outside. New skirtings will cover it and cork strips will make a neat job if exposed.

    Unless it is glued of course. If it is glued it ain’t expanding anywhere.

    Rockape63
    Free Member

    Unless it is glued of course. If it is glued it ain’t expanding anywhere.

    🙄 Erm…yes, wood expands when its warm and contracts when its cold, plus atmospheric conditions affect it. The whole floor expands.

    Really…..don’t comment if you haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about!

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    “Unless it is glued of course. If it is glued it ain’t expanding anywhere.”

    someone should come round and shout at my glued oak floor which moves in and out with the temperature and moisture…..

    spursn17
    Free Member

    Why Mrs Spursn17 wants oiled is that she wants something with a bit of texture on it, the lacquered samples we’ve had so far are billiard table smooth.

    This is what we’re looking at if it’s any help…

    Victoria Oak

    johndoh
    Free Member

    someone should come round and shout at my glued oak floor which moves in and out with the temperature and moisture…..

    Really…..don’t comment if you haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about!

    Ours didn’t and there was no expansion gaps either. As I said above it was faultless and it was laid through from a living room and into a south facing sun room so it was also subjected to some big swings in temperature.

    So I *do* know what I am talking about and have direct first hand experience….

    😛

    leebaxter
    Free Member

    Even if its bone dry, install a membrane, or at the very least a paint on memebrane.

    If the slab is stable, go glued every time. I always feels better under foot.

    Tongue and groove is better if glueing down in my experience, Click fit better if doing a floating floor.

    spursn17
    Free Member

    THE most important aspect is ensuring you leave a 1cm expansion gap around the outside.

    Yep doing this, that’s why the skirting (and probably half the plaster!) is coming off.

    chickenman
    Full Member

    If a floor is laid in high summer when the heating is off and the air is humid it requires no expansion gap; laid now with the heating on and it will definitely expand. Clip together is only a PITA to fit into tight corners as it needs to be angled in (no push the final piece under the skirting whilst you drop in the penultimate one..). Glue together t+g works fine too though you do need to allow the first few rows to set ( preferably with clamps) before doing the rest of the room.
    Oiled will get dirty if you come in from outside with your shoes on. A coat of Osmo from new will help though.

    spursn17
    Free Member

    Thanks chickenman, how many rows should I let set before I do the rest?

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