Hello, new user with a difficult floor - conflicting advice

Discussion in 'Introduce yourself' started by Catherine, May 13, 2019.

  1. Catherine

    Catherine New Member

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    Hello
    I am renovating an old cottage and originally the plan was to put down engineered oak in the main living/dining area. We are getting conflicting advice from potential fitters, albeit they all agree the floor is problematic. The floor isn't level and the latest person round measured the levels and said there is a 20mm difference between the high and low points. He said have i considered Karndean, he could get the floor flat but not level (on a reasonable budget). Now someone else is saying that the Karndean will show the differences and that the engineered oak will be a better bet, floor needs to be perfect for Karndean as everything will show......I might go mad. I stumbled on this forum whilst googling for answers.

    TIA
     
  2. d'Arcy

    d'Arcy Well-Known Member

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    So, what they're saying is that they can smooth out the level discrepancies, but not get it level. To get it level, I'd say get a builder in, dig out and start again. If you were to keep flowing stuff on the current subfloor to get it level, it'd throw out heights across the rest of the building. Getting the floor smooth would allow the Karndean to fit flush to the subfloor.

    So, I'd say on a reasonable budget, the skim to smooth the floor would be best bet.
     
  3. merit

    merit Well-Known Member

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    You can put down levelling compound to fix that. Then you could have either floor.


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  4. Rugmunching

    Rugmunching Well-Known Member

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    Exactly what Merit has said. Get the floor nice and flat before either. Dont put wood flooring down if there is dips here and there.
     
  5. tarkett85

    tarkett85 Well-Known Member

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    You will absolutely need a surface dpm at minimum in an old cottage though, the likelihood of having a working mechanical dpm is very low, they absolutely need to do a rh% test before giving anymore advice and that goes for any flooring.


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  6. Catherine

    Catherine New Member

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    Thank you for the replies. We don't want to dig out the floor, we are looking for the best solution whilst avoiding that. The fitter who asked had we considered Karndean did say we need the surface dpm, and then can put on the smoothing product and lay Karndean. I'm starting to feel like his was a trustworthy opinion; just had someone round to quote who I know will be expensive due to fancy showroom, platinum partner etc and he didn't check the levels or damp, just measured the room so that doesn't fill me with confidence.
     
  7. mjfl

    mjfl Well-Known Member

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    You may find dpm will be matter of course within his quote? or perhaps not!
     
  8. Catherine

    Catherine New Member

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    Hmm, not it would appear.
    So we now have several apparently reputable companies who will lay karndean with smoothing but not levelling and one who insists the whole floor must be levelled to the point where either engineered wood or karndean can be fitted per our choice. Two say dpm, the others haven’t checked.
     
  9. crazydaze

    crazydaze Active Member

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    Karndean is going to be cold on an uninsulated solid floor, something to consider. Engineered will be more tactile and forgiving.
     

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