Not sure. I’ve returned it. I think it was 1mm or at most 2mm. It’s a Wickes product: “engineered wood natural oak”.
Of course I am trying to save money. Who isn’t! Yes -- today the builder ripped it out. After ripping out, I kinda felt bad because 80% of the “fingers” were in good condition and the adhesive was strong almost everywhere. A lot of the fingers came out as “packs” or “tiles” with bitumen stuck to their backs. Half the floor still has the black stuff. I am going to be — God willing! — laying solid wood. Using standard Wickes underlay and screed will be applied when needed.
I am trying to upload pictures but something weird is going on and it won’t let me select pictures from my mobile pictures — I select them but can’t get Done to respond.
You don’t fit solid wood on underlay, you will need to mechanically remove the adhesive, use a surface dpm, screed the floor and fully bond the wood to the floor, I would highly advise against attempting it yourself or letting the builder prep the floor a single pin prick in the dpm is a failure. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You can re sell all that parquet you have just lifted. We get £100 - £150 on every job we uplift on eBay. Someone always needs it for repairs. You cannot use solid wood without going to even more extreme subfloor preparation. You would be better off covering and levelling the old bitumen with a suitable latex levelling compound, putting down a good acoustic underlay and floating a engineered board. You will need to have the moisture content in the subfloor tested first Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Honestly, there’s too much opinion out there. The people on this forum are more or less singing from the same hymn sheet. But the professional I got in yesterday said something completely different. He said rip it out if you want, lay underlay, put glue in the holes in the underlay, lay your wood. He said the Wickes underlay I have is fine and he would happily lay on it and the floor wouldn’t need much more work than ripping the parquet fingers and levelling. This is a man who has laid wood for millionaire households. At least that’s what he says. He is almost 60 and has more than 25 years’ experience. “Don’t worry about moisture, or anything else. You’re on solid, dry concrete in a warm block of flats and you’re on the first floor. Your concrete is fine. You would use normal underlay for a bit of sound-proofing that would be its primary function.” That’s what he said. The kind people of this forum — I am grateful for your input — but you didn’t ask what the subfloor is, what kind of place it is, etc.
You said the parquet was 1980s 1990s which majority of time is fitted on bitumin. You also stated in another post concrete floor. Theres also a very good reason that people on here sing from the same hymn book and it's because we all are specifically in the flooring trade and know what were talking about. Wouldn't find us fitting kitchens, re wiring houses or plumbing in a new bathroom. We fit floors and that's it. Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
You should have stated that, majority of us would assume it's a ground floor in your house. I've never come across parquet on a first floor in a block of flats...
Theres too much to post without frazzling your brain. It doesn’t matter if your concrete floor is on the 10th floor...you would be a mug if you didn’t at least take a reading of the concrete. It takes 2 seconds and will save you from any issues with excess moisture. Again there are lots of reasons a concrete slab can hold moisture but rather than lost them all it’s easier to test it and work from the results. That type of underlay with cut out slots can be used with adhesive so technically you are still bonding the floor down not floating it. Not sure I would trust solid wood on it. Still not enough grab. Also you need a soft latex compound to go over the bitumen adhesive which solid oak will sheer off if it moves(which it will) Most of the advice that’s given on this forum is from people in the trade that are constantly working to overcome these type of problem floors because they have seen what can happen when it goes wrong. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
All fair points — and I am very grateful for everyone’s input. I am trying my best to take it all in and instruct the right people to do the job properly. This is why I came here.