Floating Wood Floor

Our builder is telling us there is no such thing as floating wood floors anymore. The new floor he proposes to put down is nailed, and there is no need to put anything under it, he says.

Is he right, or is he trying to spin me a story?

I haven't a clue so would appreciate some help on this.

Floating is still used, is this a solid or engineered floor? Most hardwood flooring suppliers will recommend nailing.
Leo

i not sure what an engineered floor is...............he says it's a solid oak floor.

It's on the ground floor. Do we need any underlay? He says we don't.

For instance:
What are solid wood floors? see here
What are engineered wood floors? see here
Also, some installations guides for both type, see here.

he assures me it's a solid oak floor, and I have no reason to doubt him.

Slash said:

The new floor he proposes to put down is nailed, and there is no need to put anything under it, he says.

Is he right, or is he trying to spin me a story?

Click to expand...

He is correct if this is for your first floor rooms which have timber joists which he can nail the solid oak to. The only thing is that most people go for a bit of sound proofing now and that means some form of underlay.

Unless you have timber joists on the ground floor what is he going to nail the boards to? The concrete floor?

I thought underlay might make it a bit more comfortable to walk on also, but it's probably too late now as it is due to be finished today.

Is he proposing to fix it directly to the concrete floor ?
If so I would be very concerned.
Is this a new build ?
A solid oak floor is normally fixed to timber battens underneath.
In more recent times, solid timber floors are being put down as floating floors i.e. not nailed to the floor but each board is glued to each other and can therefore move or float when expansion contraction occurs. A layer of plastic dpm is nomrally placed under a solid floating floor.

Not a new build.

he is proposing to nail it to the floorboards, with nothing between the solid oak and the floorboards.

Slash said:

Not a new build.

he is proposing to nail it to the floorboards, with nothing between the solid oak and the floorboards.

Click to expand...

That would be fine if the existing floorboards were in reasonable condition. As above a layer of foam would have given a quieter floor but it's not vital.

Hey Slash - our chippie did this, we have insulation under the ply wood on the first floor so he just fixed the solid oak ontop of that!! downstairs we are putting down insulation - battens, then ply and fixing the oak ontop of that!! some people have posted here that they do not agree with battens - but we have it done now! ill have to post again when we move in to let u know how we are getting on with the sound thing!!!

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=69427

Slash said:

I have no reason to doubt him.

Click to expand...

Did i say you should have any doubt about him? nooo..
here is your post

Slash said:

i not sure what an engineered floor is..

Click to expand...

here is mine

bacchus said:

For instance:
What are solid wood floors? see here
What are engineered wood floors? see here
Also, some installations guides for both type, see here.

Click to expand...

Your OP was "Is he right, or is he trying to spin me a story?"

Well, i guess you don't trust him that much then....
Good luck

Sorry, bacchus. Didn't mean anything. Thanks for the links you posted which were very useful.

Very interested in this thread as I received a load of bamboo yesterday - 60 sq m. It was ordered from Urbane Living whose well recommended existence I discovered on this board. Bamboo is described as being as hard as oak, and our plan - having read lots on this board - is to put battens down on the existing concrete and nail (as described above) the bamboo to the battens. We are putting bamboo over most of the downstairs floor of our house.

My one concern is that of sound. I know when trying to find a place in the wall to insert a fixing for a picture or whatever, I knock until the hollow sound disappears. I am really concerned that a bamboo (or for that matter any wood) floor is going to have the same effect, i.e. be really noisy!

If it's of any interest/help to the OP, I have been told several times that bamboo should be treated the same as oak, and that bamboo should not be installed as a floating floor, that it will not look as professional as a glued or nailed floor.

From reading this thread I now know I have floating Oak floors throughout the downstairs of my house. Was a bit dubious when the guy was laying them but it was at the end of a long building project and I just wanted them done so didn't ask any questions. Normally I wouldn't recommend that approach but 3 years on the floors are still perfect so the "floating" thing seems to work OK. hth. LS.