Hi there, So im currently renovating 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
Are the boards too warped to lay it as a floating floor using the t & g glued together to pull things into line? Leave an expansion gap under the skirting or finish off around the edges with cork.
Yeah someone has suggested a floating floor but the height may be a struggle to clear the front door to keep the whole downstairs level. Whats the minimum batten height I could get away with a would I need a membrane underneath?
Definitely use a membrane, then your plywood (or T&G OSB 18mm) followed by your maple. Just don't fix any layer to each other. Does that give you the clearance you need? 38mm flooring is bl##dy thick. Nice, but thick. There are a few of us like that on here....
If you're struggling for height then your hands may be tied and have to glue it down, unless you can Jack your front door and frame up higher. Minimum batten thickness is 18mm, which is the same as the minimum thickness ply I'd look to put down, so check your door will clear 56mm? Seems a bit much to me unfortunately...
Ah okay, im going to sound thick here but what do you mean by not fix any layer to another? How would it be fixed?
I know, its a lot isnt it. Things i didnt think about when i bought it. I will then need to raise the rest of the downstairs floor to that level too.
By gluing the T&G OSB together at each joint and by gluing the maple together similarly, you create two larger sheets which are independent of each other and allowed to move on top of one another or 'float'. In practice any movement isn't noticeable (or possible in a lot of instances). The weight of each 'sheet' keeps it in place coupled with a degree of friction - 38mm maple ain't going anywhere. You need to allow for some expansion and contraction which is usually accommodated by leaving gaps underneath skirting if fixed afterwards, scotia beading or similar fixed to the skirting board if that isn't possible or cork strips which can compress to a degree to accommodate some expansion - not used very often nowadays. I hope this helps. I hadn't realised that this wasn't a project for the entire downstairs floor and I'm not sure how practical this would be to isolate it to one room. Either way, good luck with it - I'll bet those boards will look great.
Hi WilluEckerslike, Thank you very much for taking time to reply. I thought I'd show you some photos of the floor. I thought Id try and lay and few pieces on a piece of 11mm osb that I had in my house. I'm surprised by even just knocking it together it's quite sturdy but loose in some places but some pieces would need secret nailing..something I'll have to look at as i've never done before. I'm planning to put skirting around it too..doing this today has made me feel more confident about it but I am going to struggle with clearing the front door but I am getting a new one so its something I could work around. The only other issue would be the height of the actual doors. Ive got 2020mm to the top of plasterboard but this doesnt include the frame or floor. I've been told theres no minimum height for doors but Its just whether it would look right and the doors I buy could be reduced. Could I get away with laying the boards on anything less that 18mm ply/osb?
Bow not severe. I would lay and let nature take it course. I am sure, with a proper gap around the edges that the boards will level off with time. I would not use adhesive
Thank you koolpc. With regards to the sheets..should I use ply or osb with t and g or moisture resistant chipboard with t and g?
By contrast, having just seen the non life threatening bows in the maple I would omit the sheet material underneath and glue it directly to the concrete using Sika t54. An excellent product I've used with great success with oak floors in the past.
Sorry I said about secret nailing..as here you've said to keep the layers seperate so I would need to glue it.
Thank you Jord. So you're saying to glue the ply? osb? to the concrete and not have a dpc or something similar underneath? You'll have to excuse the lack of knowledge here, I'm just getting my head around it all. Plus also Willyeckers said about keeping the layers seperate so I'm a bit confused.
Now that I've seen them I would either float them (glued together) without any sheet material underneath or glue them down as Jord suggests. Never been lucky enough to use boards this thick and the bows don't look too bad. They are going to look great. Good luck.
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