Laying solid oak floor

benjus

I've recently bought some solid oak flooring to install in the bedroom. I'm trying to decide how best to lay it. The subfloor appears to be chipboard and there is no underfloor heating. I've been looking at the following products:

• Adhesive backed underlay
• Glue-through underlay

The adhesive backed one looks a bit scary because once you peel off the liner and the floor board hits the adhesive there's no room for adjusting position, and also because the floor boards aren't attached to the subfloor so may not feel as solid.

So I'm inclining towards the glue-through one.

Any thoughts or comments on using these products?

Warwick_Hunt

Does the manufacture recommend a glued down finish rather than floating?

I'd be inclined to remove the chipboard and nail it down.

benjus

Warwick_Hunt wrote: »

Does the manufacture recommend a glued down finish rather than floating?

I'd be inclined to remove the chipboard and nail it down.

I don't think removing the chipboard is an option - AFAIK the oak flooring is designed to be laid over a subfloor, not directly to joists. The supplier hasn't been particularly helpful to be honest - they suggested nailing down, but I've read that nailing doesn't work well over chipboard as the nails may not embed securely without breaking the chipboard.

Aylesbury_Duck

I've laid solid oak flooring in three bedrooms and it's floating in all of them. I used a really good quality underlay board then glued the planks together. The whole thing is floating, with expansion gaps hidden under skirting which I ripped off and replaced on top of the laid floor. Never had any problems and that was four years ago. I did make sure I acclimatised the planks in the room for a few days beforehand and laid them at normal room temperature. I left the skirting off for a while over a warm period to get an idea of the level of expansion.

Decent quality underlay boarding stops a lot of the hollow noise you can get with a floating floor.

benjus

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

I've laid solid oak flooring in three bedrooms and it's floating in all of them. I used a really good quality underlay board then glued the planks together. The whole thing is floating, with expansion gaps hidden under skirting which I ripped off and replaced on top of the laid floor. Never had any problems and that was four years ago. I did make sure I acclimatised the planks in the room for a few days beforehand and laid them at normal room temperature. I left the skirting off for a while over a warm period to get an idea of the level of expansion.

Decent quality underlay boarding stops a lot of the hollow noise you can get with a floating floor.

Thanks - can you remember what underlay you used? Something like this? http://www.screwfix.com/p/vitrex-premier-wood-laminate-underlay-boards-5mm-9-76m/68038

benjus

Bit more research and a new option has presented itself: fixing the boards using screws instead of nails: http://www.screwfix.com/p/tongue-tite-screws-3-5-x-45mm-200-pack/85991

Aylesbury_Duck

benjus wrote: »

Thanks - can you remember what underlay you used? Something like this? http://www.screwfix.com/p/vitrex-premier-wood-laminate-underlay-boards-5mm-9-76m/68038

That's the stuff I used.

I'd still go for a floating floor. Nailing, screwing or adhesive won't give the wood the opportunity to expand and contract naturally and I'd worry about ridges or gaps appearing as temperature and humidity fluctuates. It could be a particular problem if the room in question is south facing or next to a bathroom where temperature and humidity will vary more than in other rooms.

benjus

Ok, thanks.

Looks like I need to decide then... I understand your arguments for installing it as a floating floor, although I'm a bit uneasy with the idea as most guidance I've read is that solid floors are better off attached to the subfloor. For example: https://www.woodandbeyond.com/blog/can-i-float-a-solid-wood-floor/

Jonesya

I've used tongue tite screws, I pre-drilled the boards to ensure the tongues didn't split they worked well, used it on solid oak planks and 3-strip boards, fixing to floor boards and to plywood battens without problems. Been down several years now.

In addition to tongue tite, have a look at the Lost tite range from Toolstation - they come in a range of different lengths, for various flooring plank thicknesses - you don't want then going through the chipboard and hitting cables/pipes underneath.

https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Screws+%26+Fixings/d90/Tite+Range/sd3339