Hi all, Im going to be fitting the above in a new house im moving into at the end of the month (new build). In my current house all downstairs is parque, installed when it was built in the 60's and still to this day looks good. When walking over it, it sounds solid and doesnt have that sound of laminate flooring if you know what I mean. Can I simply glue my flooring down with a wood bonding adhesive or do I have to use a underlay? and will underlay give the sound of laminate flooring does (hollow echo sound) The floor is concrete and perfectly level, the house has been water tight for about 3 weeks now. Should I wait for a few months before laying the wood to ensure the floor is completely dry? Any help appreciated, Thanks Gaz
The first thing you must do is carry out a moisture test on the sub floor to determine an acceptable level before you glue down any wood floor.
Does your new house have a traditional heating system or is it underfloor heating? If its the latter, I wouldn't recommend fitting solid wood better with an engineered board. Concrete should be checked for moisture before even thinking about fitting your flooring. Once you've satisfied yourself that the subfloor is ready you can glue your floor down. Always an idea to prime the subfloor first. Have to ask, have you fitted wood flooring before? If not, do yourself a BIG favour and let a professional do it for you. I know a couple who built a new house and decided to fit the flooring themselves, the entire floor buckled as soon as they turned on the heating. The couple blamed the flooring supplier for faulty flooring who simply pointed out that they hadn't fitted it correctly or acclimatised it properly and lastly had not followed the instructions relating to building up the room temperature gradually. They hadn't a leg to stand on!!
and you ALWAYS need a surface membrane then a fitters screed NOT a builders screed prior to installation. Get a professional in to do it correctly will save you money in the long run
Meant to say about the heating, its just a traditional, ive installed UFH in other areas of the build but not in hallway where the wood floors going. Ive fitted a few floors in the past, I work on sites myself so have contacts with a lot of joiners. The flooring will be left in the hallway for a couple of weeks to acclimatise, ive already got the onsite joiner to leave skirting boards and arc's off.. Will check the moisture level before ordering the floor to be honest, as its been a rather soggy build shall we say!! soon as it was water tight the sun came out!! damn it! Thanks for the advise guys, appreciate it. As you say the floorings not cheap, same thing in my trade get it done right the first time by someone who knows what there doing! save the later cost of putting it right ;-) Gaz
as you say joiners, they're not flooring installers mate and never float a solid wood they move way too much with expansion and contraction. Plus a concrete subfloor in this country will NEVER be dry enough to fit a solid wood without applying a surface membrane first.
