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https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl DIY Forum >> Carpentry Questions >> Engineered/Solid Flooring https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1208103892 Message started by Sandy on Apr 13^th, 2008, 5:24pm

Title: Engineered/Solid Flooring
Post by Sandy on Apr 13^th, 2008, 5:24pm

Hi All,

I'm looking at re-flooring one (or possibly more depending on how it goes) of my ground floor room/s. I'm considering using flooring called "Bausen" from James Latham (http://www.lathamtimber.co.uk/images/literature/hardwood%20flooring.pdf), but have a few questions.

Current situation - T&G floorboarding down now (but not in a good state) on top of solid wooden joists. The joists are held into the brickwork with about 18/20" gap between the underside of the joists and the ground/earth.

Questions
1) Solid Wood Flooring - felled timber, sawn, planed/thicknessed, T&G's added and stress grooves added to the underneath, (sometimes finished in some way ie stained/lacquered etc) Is this correct, Yes/No?

2) Engineered Flooring - Essentially plywood layered up with the top layer being the best face and again, sometimes treated. Is this correct, Yes/No?

3)If the above is correct, am I right in saying that engineered flooring is likely to be more stable with less of a tendancy to warp and/or shrink?

4) Beyond leaving the flooring indoors for a few days to acclimatise and leaving expansion gaps when laying, do I need to do anything else? Is it just a case of ripping the old flooring up and laying down the new flooring?

5) Has anyone used this product before and is it any good?

Thanks in advance.

Sandy.

Title: Re: Engineered/Solid Flooring
Post by woodsmith on Apr 13^th, 2008, 11:13pm

Hi Sandy,

I couldn't link to the page you posted :-/

1 Yes
2 Sort of yes; the top layer is normally a thick layer of timber glued to a ply back.
3 Yes, but engineered flooring comes in relatively short lengths whereas timber flooring can be supplied in long lengths
4 timber will need maybe 2 weeks to aclimatise, engineered often doesn't need any aclimatisation. However laying a floor on joists does present more of a challenge if the sub base is earth or damp concrete.

Keith

Title: Re: Engineered/Solid Flooring
Post by CWatters on Apr 14^th, 2008, 9:08am

We laid 21mm thick Engineered Oak over UFH. Very happy with it. One advantage is that you can safely use wider boards. Ours are 210mm wide. Normally suppliers of solid wood say you have to keep the width down to 130mm ish whan using UFH.

Basically its 14/15mm of good plywood with 6/7mm of oak on the top. The oak goes down to the tounge so it can be resanded about the same number of times as solid before the T7G fails.

We went for Osmo Hardwaxoil finish. Highly recommended as it can be recoated without the new and old looking too different. Got ours from Kenton Jones/Woods of Wales...

http://www.woodsofwales.co.uk/

I looked at samples from about 20 different companies and the finish ranged from a nice brown to a horrible orange so well worth the exercise.

They supplied mixed length packs but about half of ours is around 2.9 meter. I've no issue with the length.

Don't forget to add insulation if taking up the floor. Perhaps nail gun battens either side of the joists to form a rail to rest solid sheet insulation on. Will need to comply with building regs.

Title: Re: Engineered/Solid Flooring
Post by londonman on Apr 14^th, 2008, 3:14pm

Aesthetics also comes into it and also depends on what type your house is. IMO engineered boards are best sited for more modern properties. If your house is old then real wood ..with it's differing widths and lengths and knotty bits looks miles better.

Why rip up the existing boards unless you need to maintain floor heights. De[pending how old your property is but you may find that when they laid the current boards that they cut and chiselled away loads underneath in order to compensate for non-flat joists. So if you rip up the existing boards then you may find yourself with a whole load of extra work. At least at the moment the existing boards are pretty flat, I would guess and so a good surface to lay down the new stuff on.

Title: Re: Engineered/Solid Flooring
Post by WOLF on Apr 15^th, 2008, 12:24am

the correct link!

http://www.lathamtimber.co.uk/images/literature/hardwood%20flooring.pdf