Tips needed on laying solid wood floor.

Slinky_Malinky

Hi,

I am posting on behalf of ex-dh, his sister wants a solid wood floor laid, it will be on top of a solid concrete floor. Ex is a carpenter with 25 years experience and very good at his work but has never fitted a solid wood floor before so wants to make sure he gets it right.

Please can anyone share any tips or recommend good online tutorials where he can look for tips/advice on the best way to fit it ( there seem to be several different options, involving glue, nails or self adhesive underlay...)

I know it sounds strange to be asking for advice from such an experienced carpenter but he is a perfectionist and won`t settle for a `just okay` job.

Many thanks.

tomfun

Have a look on the Screwfix forum ,if you post there you will get all the advice you need and more, a chap by the name of Evo is the best to talk to..

Slinky_Malinky

Thanks Tomfun. Didn`t know there was a forum on Screwfix - that`ll be another site he will be hogging when he asks for `5 minutes` on my pc lol.

thomasanchovie

I laid solid wood floor in our house.
The main thing is to store it in the room it will be going for as long as possible. The advice leaflet that came with mine recommended 2 weeks, I left it a month and I wish I'd have left it a bit longer.
Also make sure you leave a gap around the edge to allow the wood to expand. I did but it still expanded and started to lift in the middle but it was easy enough to take up the edges and trim them down.
You'll be surprised at how much it will expand, if you're planning to put beading around the edges or re-fit the skirting boards I'd leave them loose for a couple of months so that if you do need to trim the edges down you don't have to rip them up and risk damaging them.

Oh and another recommendation for the screwfix forum, that’s where I checked before I laid mine.