Problem with the floor

pruney

leveller2911 wrote: »

Ive seen so many timber floors having to be taken up and re-laid due to expansion from moisture.The floor must be completely dry.

If you intend to lay say a "Junkers" floor which is solid oak, and pre-finished which is a floating floor then you put a membrane down first which is a barrier against a certain amount of moisture.

Junkers flooring is very good, easy to lay and goes down on metal clips,pre-finished so theres no sanding or sealing etc..........

Good luck Pruney, hope it all goes well........

So many people are saying the same thing, perhaps this is why some friends of ours waited a year to pay their solid oak floor in their new extension... I'd prefer to have a concrete floor for a year rather than a timber one that has to be pulled up and relaid.

pruney

David_Aldred wrote: »

Hi Pruney,
If you are going down the route of laying a new solid floor please be mindful of ensuring the damp proof membrane to the floor is taken into the damp proof course in the perimeter walls and sealed to give one complete barrier to ground moisture. The solid floor will move seperately to the walls and a gap often occurs between the two where dampness can emerge and affect timbers and plaster directly above. Remove the black ash entirely as it contains sulphates which are disruptive to Ordinary Portland cement used in the concrete to the floor and you may wish to consider using or requesting a sulphate resisiting cement in the concrete ordered.

Complying to current Building Regs and given that the new floor will have a damp proof memebrane beneath it all that construction moisture can only evaporate one way and that is into your kitchen. The slowest thing to dry down in a new build is the solid floors and be aware they may take well over a year to dry down! Yes that is twelve months! You can try to trap this moisture by laying asphalt on top before you lay the wood floor as the asphalt is impervious but its not ideal laying moisture sensitive flooring over a structural floor that you know to be still damp within it.

In any case before you lay any moisture sensitive flooring especially wood you need to have those who will be laying it come and inspect and undertake a humidity test to the floor in a few places. This is done over a minimum of 72 hours.

Get the floor layer to take responsibility for this and for them in writing to confirm the structural floor as satisfactoty for that product before laying and preferably before you commit to buying the product. Also aclimatising the wood for sufficient period in your property is crucial, especially in what is classed as a wet room area such as th kitchen because the relative humidty can get high and the wood will change shape to be in equilibrium with this so don't have them deliver and lay it the same day as it will swell and change shape to be in balance with the relative humidity at your house and if it can only do this once it is laid it will crown and cup and split all over the place.

Get them to bring it into the room to which it will be laid and allow more than sufficient period out of its packaging for it to settle just left in the room stacked to adjust its new environment and get them to sign that they did this for a sufficient period. Most of the expansion and contraction of the wood will be across the width of the board not its length and they need to allow for this to happen with sufficient perimeter and if applicable movement joints.

Make sure the entire contract is between you and the company supplying the product that is to say just pay them and they pay the fitter. If you pay a fitter they nominate direct who may be self employed there is a split liabilty if anything goes wrong and you do not want to be arguing who's fault it was so just have one contract.

British Standard BS8201 is one of the primary documents to refer to with regard to this issue.

Hope this helps, kindest regards, David Aldred of Aldred Ltd Independent dampness and timber surveyor

Thanks for taking the time to give me such a thorough reply, I appreciate it so much, especially as I'm a bit green in these areas.
The alarm bells are now telling me to get the concrete floor done and leave the solid flooring until a later date; I think I could live with that (certainly more than I could live with having it pulled up at a later date!)

flooring-craft

I dont think anyone else has mention about having engineered floor rather then solid (sorry if i missed it), engineered wood flooring is more dimensionally stable so it can be installed in areas where solid wood is not compatible due to moisture such as top of concrete, kitchen and bathrooms.

Although you can use humidifiers (one can be rented for around £30 per day) and membrane to seal you floor from moisture, you can never be 100% sure that with time moisture will not come through and expand solid wood extensively, that is why engineered is recommended, it has the ability to fight expansion (although to a certain degree) and should never have a problem with it if laid properly.

I'm sure by next Christmas your wonderful new kitchen will be ready for you and your family to enjoy a lovely Christmas turkey.