Floor Board Replacment

planemad

In my kitchen the wooden floor board are rotten due to water ingress by last owners washing machine (now sorted)

I would like to replace the whole lot with the green P5 chip board stuff that they use in new builds.

I can rip all the old stuff up but i'm unsure how to lay the chipboard back down correctly.

What thickness of chipboard shall I use?
Do I need to leave a gap between boards to allow for movement and expansion and contraction? Do I nail or screw? What size screws or nails are best to use

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

ormus

18 or 22mm.
you dont need to leave any gaps, the boards are tonge/grooved.
as a rough guide, use fixings twice the size of the wood thickness. ie approx 40mm.

robv_3

Leave a small gap around the outside of the room of about 10mm. You can put a _little_ pva glue on the tongue to help reduce noise. Use around 1 3/4 / 45mm screws at 100/150mm centers. You don't need to worry about having joints over joists with t&g.

If the boards are rotten expect the joists will be also. Can normally tell if the floor is bouncy.

What floor finish are you going to use as this normally determines what thickness of board along with the original floor boards thickness, eg make it the same height as other rooms unless its tiled. If tiled I like to use 18mm T&G and 9/12mm ply screwed and glued on top, i've never had complains of cracked tiles / grout. 22mm T&G for anything else.