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Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete (Read 8372 times)
tea_drinker
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Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
May 22nd, 2017, 12:07am
 
Hi there, firstly apologies for posting in this forum if its incorrect but I thought it may be better here?

So im currently renovting my house and bought some 38mm solid maple floorboards with the intention to lay on the ground floor of the house. The boards came from an old factory that was knocked down so come with plenty of character and when sanded look really good.

The floor in the living room is concrete and has been levelled out with latex self levelling compound

The thing is the flooring, probably likely to how its been stored has bowed in some parts, and I feel trying to lay it with adhesive wont work as when you walk on the one end of some pieces the other side comes up.

The flooring is tongue and groove and Although ive had quotes from carpenters i think with the floor being in the condition that it is wont work being stuck down.

From reading other places theres a suggestion of putting down a dpc then plywood drilled into the concrete the nail/ screw the boards to that?

Im so stuck with what to do with it so any advice at all would be very appreciated. Thank you
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thescruff
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #1 - May 22nd, 2017, 10:49am
 
Not an expert, they be along later.

You'll need a vapour barrier so I would have thought the best way would be fix 2 x 1 tile battens to the floor first then secret nail the boards
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #2 - May 22nd, 2017, 10:54am
 
Hi there, thank you for the reply.

I did think about battening it out but the floor level will too high for clearing the front door as I don't want a step up into the livingroom.
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #3 - May 22nd, 2017, 11:00am
 
Only other way I can think off is to screw every 5 board, maybe on the end so the skirting covers the screw.
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woodsmith
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #4 - May 22nd, 2017, 6:50pm
 
Dealing with boards that have bowed a bit is not such a big problem just try to put them so that you alternate the bow to dissipate the tension. If you have any that won't lie flat at all you could cut them in half which will really reduce the bow. A bigger problem would be if they have cupped across their width, then they would be very difficult to use. Try putting a straight edge across them to check.

I'm not a fan of gluing the boards to the floor, I've seen too many bulge up. You could get some of the foam underlay designed for laminate floor, make sure you completely cover the floor as this will act as a vapour barrier as well as take up any minor irregularities in the floor. Lay the ply (18mm thick if you can fit it in) on top, stagger the joints and don't screw it down but leave about a 15mm gap all round the outer edge to allow for expansion.

I would glue the boards to the ply using a cartridge adhesive like Sikaflex and then secret screw them through the tongue using Tongtite screws.

When you refit the skirting make sure it is well fixed as this will hold the floor down at the edges.

Good luck
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« Last Edit: May 22nd, 2017, 6:52pm by woodsmith »  
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #5 - May 23rd, 2017, 6:12pm
 
Hi Woodsmith,

Firstly thank you very much for taking the time to reply to my post. I have taken some photos of the flooring

Image 1Image 2Image 3
Image 4

As you can see some pieces are worse than other but I also thought Id try putting a few pieces on 11mm osb which I had in my house. To be honest Im quite surprise at how well it stays but I think it would need secret nailing which I'd have to look at as ive never done anything like this before.

With regards to clearance in other parts of the house I may stuggle with my front door and also the height of the actual doors into the rooms but I have been told there is no minimum height for doors its just whether they can be plained and whether it would look right.

Could I get away with using smaller depth of osb/plywood?
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #6 - May 23rd, 2017, 9:53pm
 
I've looked into what cupping means and some of the boards have a slight cup on them.

If I laid these, would they eventually return back to normal?
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #7 - May 24th, 2017, 7:42am
 
The wood does not look so bad at all. How big is the room?
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #8 - May 24th, 2017, 9:32am
 
The room is approximately 13 square metres. Other people have said to just lay directly to the concrete but I think there would be a bit too much movement? But I really don't know.

Im also planning to fit in the kitchen or if there's not enough, the livingroom and hallway.
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #9 - May 24th, 2017, 9:28pm
 
For a relatively small room like you have you should be able to lay this as a floating floor. Get some decent quality foam underlay for laminate flooring and lay the boards directly on that. You will need to glue each board as you go (standard PVA woodglue should be fine) so it a time consuming job, and ideally you will need strap clamps designed for laying floor, Bessey make them and they are not too expensive but you will need three of them. Fit spacers round the edge, which can be removed after you have finished; this is to make sure you keep a 15 mm gap all round the edge.

Ideally store the boards in the room they are to be layed in for a few weeks before you start.

Stagger any joints and try to alternate any bowing boards.

Take the skirting boards off, that way the expansion gap will be completely hidden when you refit them.

Cut away any door casings so the floor fits underneath, again remembering to leave an expansion gap.

Every job is different, this shouldn't be too hard to do if you take your time.
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #10 - May 25th, 2017, 11:51am
 
Thank you very much for all your advice, I really appreciate it.

Using foam underlay instead of ply will take the worry off of clearing the doors etc through the rest of the ground floor. Ill be finishing sanding it off over the weekend so will put it in the room its being laid in. Theres no skirting board yet or doors frames so that sorts that.

A couple of things I wanted to ask was about underlay, theres fibreboards ive seen, are they good to use? Ive only looked on the screwfix website so far.  I also wondered how id fit the last piece in the room?
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #11 - May 25th, 2017, 5:54pm
 
If you use fibreboard underlay you will also need to fit a vapour barrier under it. The only slight problem with fibreboard is that the surface is quite friable and if you are not careful you can gets bits of it in the tongue and groove joints which makes clamping them up difficult.

The last piece should not be a problem, you are leaving a gap round the edge which should be at least as big as the tongue so the board just pops in the gap and is then pulled up to the rest of the floor leaving the required gap.
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #12 - May 25th, 2017, 10:18pm
 
Ah I see, okay so can you recommend which underlay would be best to buy? There are so many brands and types out there plus I 'd like one with a decent bit of depth on it maybe it will be better for the floor to sit on.
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #13 - May 26th, 2017, 12:52pm
 
B&Q sell one that I have used a few times.
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #14 - May 29th, 2017, 5:09pm
 
I've decided to lay it straight onto the concrete so which adhesive would be best to use? Does it need priming first at all?
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Re: Laying 38mm maple floorboards on concrete
Reply #15 - May 30th, 2017, 7:59am
 
I have seen too many floors fail that have been glued directly onto concrete so I have not laid a floor this way myself. All I can suggest is you find a good quality proprietary adhesive and follow the instructions meticulously.
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