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Anyone on here know much about flooring?

Iain Sutherland

Iain Sutherland

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UKAPS Team
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7 Jul 2011
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Cambridge
Hey folks, hoping someone on here might have the skills to advise me about my flooring.....,

In my new house I will be laying an engineered oak flooring which will be glued down across all the down stairs which has 2 bases.
Most of the house is concrete with has very solid,original, thin and possibly asbestos tiles while the other half is floor boards.

Due to the possible asbestos I don't want to lift the tiles. They are very firmly fixed and removal would mean chipping it all up.

I'm assuming my best bet for a solid floor throughout would be to lay 18mm t&g chipboard??

If this is the best bet should I leave the chipboard floating and glue the flooring to the chipboard or should the chipboard also be fixed to the tiles/solid floor??

The floor isn't perfectly level, will the chipboard solve some of this problem or do I need to screed the floor first with some self level?

Thanks a lot for any advise you can offer 🙂


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Hi
Not sure whether this is helpful but I recently laid an engineered oak floor I also have concrete covered by tiles.
Why do you want to glue the floor? You may be just creating more work & expence.
Mine is floating I just laid 6 MM. underlay you don't need the really expensive stuff for your floor base, mine is also tung & groove I just glued the joints looks fantastic any unevenness is taken up by the underlay & the weight of the boards underlay also suppresses noise when you walk on it. Leave a gap round the edge about 10mm for expansion with those wedge spacer thingies & bead the gaps with oak beading.
Whole job took a couple of days my room was 20 X 15 feet. Job done.
 
Ah just read your post again over the floor boards you may require the better underlay with the thermal moisture layer but other than that a floating floor will be fine here too
 
My downstairs is solid oak glued concrete and I have a 180l tank parked on it, no problem. This is the more modern better way to do solid wood floors, thought not sure engineered boards can be glued as they still expand and thus need to float, though if you say can glue them then I assume OK.

With asbestos tiles, you are best to seal them before working with, not PVA as that seals non breathable, but a latex based sealer. I bought sealer I have used on asbestos tiles (friends kitchen) from Screwfix and sealed the asbestos sheets before tiling on top. Tiles are still up, so I assume it works.

You are really best to self level screed the concrete first as all the chip board will do to provide a less "wonky" surface than the original concrete. As for on top of wooden floor boards, you can use concrete based insulation boards to provide a surface to glue the solid oak floor to.
 
I think engineered boards are designed mainly to float though they can b glued in some cases the joints on mine were recommended glued just run a bead of glue along the top edge of the tung . I've had do problems solid oak I think you have to glue down. Taking those tiles up will be a nightmare they are probably glued to the concrete with bitumin though I guess sealing would be a good thing if they do have asbestos
I have a 270l tank sitting on mine with a completely over engineered solid oak stand I built myself weighs a ton but looks fantastic even if I do say so myself.
 
Well I just Googled to why some floors are glued direct and other floating. Well it appears sold wood floors should be glued to the floor as they have a higher expansion and if laid floating will have a tendency to "move", unlike engineered boards, which expand less and can be laid floating (or glued).

More about it here.
https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/2014/08/28/how-to-lay-solid-wood-flooring/

Also read if concrete floor is uneven then self leveling compound is required.
 
Marc1t said:
Why do you want to glue the floor?
Click to expand...
Hey Marc, initially i was told this would be the best option... have been thinking otherwise since. Are floating floors not a bit bouncy?

ian_m said:
With asbestos tiles, you are best to seal them before working with, not PVA as that seals non breathable, but a latex based sealer
Click to expand...
thanks ian, had been advised this by a friend so shall be doing so prior to the floor going down.

ian_m said:
Well I just Googled to why some floors are glued direct and other floating. Well it appears sold wood floors should be glued to the floor as they have a higher expansion and if laid floating will have a tendency to "move", unlike engineered boards, which expand less and can be laid floating (or glued).
Click to expand...
why cant there be one right answer...!! My parents had engineered oak laid in a new build last year and it was glued direct. Same guy advised me that the floor is better fixed this way than floating???!!!!

I guess the biggest issue i have is that i will need to chipboard the whole floor anyway as if i lay engineered flooring over floor boards id guess it will be very bouncy.....??? Then i cant board just half the house or levels will be off....
 
Iain Sutherland said:
Hey Marc, initially i was told this would be the best option... have been thinking otherwise since. Are floating floors not a bit bouncy?


thanks ian, had been advised this by a friend so shall be doing so prior to the floor going down.


why cant there be one right answer...!! My parents had engineered oak laid in a new build last year and it was glued direct. Same guy advised me that the floor is better fixed this way than floating???!!!!

I guess the biggest issue i have is that i will need to chipboard the whole floor anyway as if i lay engineered flooring over floor boards id guess it will be very bouncy.....??? Then i cant board just half the house or levels will be off....
Click to expand...
I don't think you will have much of an issue with bounce I'm sure my floor moves a bit in certain places I don't even notice it & I recon gives a softer feel it certainly does not creek.once it's been down a while it will settle down & look fantastic. You may notice the sound change as you walk from concrete base to floor board base it wouldn't worry me but maybe something to think about. Ian is right screeding would give you a perfect flat surface but it really is a job for the pros & expensive best for tiled floors. Engineered flooring really doesn't need that much prep that's why it's called Engineered .& im sure it will be fine just floating. If you spend a bit extra on some quality underlay you will be fine I'm sure & it will still save you a packet.
 
This is great guys, thanks a lot for the input, its a massive help to bat these things out and now i have my head around it.

On concrete floor laying damp membrane - then OS board screwed directly to the concrete floor and now followed by underlay which the engineered floor will float on. Bit of a change from the original plan but having spoken to the company supplying the flooring they have suggested floating is better. Why didnt they say that when i bought the floor and 2 tubs of adhesive!!

Now just to figure out if the floor is flat... i know its not perfectly level but it looks flat enough so figures crossed as self level screed will be a nightmare ... it'll all be in one corner!!!
 
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