reall wood flooring question

mstar

i have solid oak wood flooring and it will be laid on my bare floor boards (ok old and a little creaky) is it wise to put underlay before putting on the solid wood flooring??? i was thinking as the florbboards are not air tight etc is it wise to keep warmth in the room to put some underlay or can i save a few pounds and skip this process of underlay before putting real wood flooring?

Emmalou

I was only looking into oak flooring today (solid or engineered, haven't decided yet). I'm sure the man I spoke to said that underlay would be necessary. He said that it would give it a cushion (so to speak) and make it feel nicer to walk on, as well as sound insulation.

No doubt it would act as an insulation from drafts as well.

I was more concerned with the look of the wood at this stage so wasn't paying full attention to what he was saying. I will watch this thread with interest to see what others say!

mstar

thanks emmalou, thats what the floor sales man said to me to, but i was not sure if he was being "salesman" and trying to make a bigger sale.

Doozergirl

You need a solid base for your flooring. Old and creaky floorboards will cause your new flooring to move around as well.

And yes, if you are laying it as a floating floor, you should use underlay.

BARGAINHUNTER!

I am looking for a new solid oak floor for my hallway (about 8m x 1m). i have pine floorboards at the moment which I stripped and varnished, and now they look terrible, some of them split where football boots have walked on them, massive gaps, scratches etc. As I live in an old period property, I was wanting to retain my beautiful skirting boards, and taking them off would possibly damage them and certainly damage the plaster. The floorboards are laid directly onto floor joists, with a void of about 1ft and them bare earth! Because of the state of the floorboards at the moment, the drafts are terrible. My plan was to remove the pine floorboards, fix insillation in between the joists and then lay the new oak floor directly on top in place of the floor boards. This way, it should fit under the skirtings. Do you think this would be ok and the floor stable enough?

latecomer

Unless you are very lucky you will need to remove the skirting boards somewhere to get the oak flooring down. Also you'll need to make sure that the replacement is the same thickness as the original.

PS I'd have started a new thread

BARGAINHUNTER!

latecomer wrote: »

Unless you are very lucky you will need to remove the skirting boards somewhere to get the oak flooring down. Also you'll need to make sure that the replacement is the same thickness as the original.

PS I'd have started a new thread

Thanks - I have now started a new thread!

bigdoozer

Enginered flloring (IE 5mm solid wood and 10 mm of block board) usually use underfelt as the boards are not fixed to the existing floor. Solid wood floors are normally fixed on the substrate. If existing wood is wood then blind nailing is used and insulation under it is no good as you don't want is to move. If solid floor is the base it has has to be glued down, so same applies. Skirting off is best as you will not need trims etc.

MrHelpful

Hello - can I please seek some advice just been to floors2go today as we are looking to put down some solid oak flooring in the hallway. We were quote £35 per sq meter. The skirting was £40 for a 8m strip and we need 3 of them. Altogether quote came to £400 but he said he would do it for £350. Is this a good deal? How much have people been able to negotiate from floors2go.

We were also told no insulation is needed as the blindnailing would be all you need. Insulation was also for laminate flooring only? Is this true... I want to get this sorted before Feb so any help would be appreciated