Floorboards on cement / come and have a laugh at the DIY kid

Discussion in 'Carpenters' Talk' started by bowen192, Jun 12, 2019.

  1. bowen192

    bowen192 Member

    It would be easy to lay some wood effect laminate on my new cement floor. Cheap as well as I'm going to need about 60m2 of it.

    I just hate the way it looks and feels though. Everyone says how great modern laminate looks but the stuff just depresses me.

    So I've looked into using real timber and it's quite expensive. Even cheap reclaimed pine is around £60 pm2.

    I want to do the following, which has disaster written all over it, but hey:

    Lay down DPM: https://www.screwfix.com/p/stikatak...wood-laminate-flooring-underlay-3mm-10m/41337

    Buy and float this: https://www.savoytimber.com/catalog...oove-redwood-timber-floorboard/category/1337/

    Three/four coats of this: https://www.screwfix.com/p/liberon-hard-wax-oil-for-wooden-furniture-floors-matt-2-5ltr/5182f

    I know people are going to say that the wood will just be destroyed, but when I've look at reclaimed stuff at £400 pm2, it looks similar just, er, older.

    I suppose I'm going to do it, just after any advice on how to minimise the inevitable.

    I'll post pics.
     
  2. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    I have floated pine flooring before.

    Strictly on my own place. Wouldnt do it for a customer though.

    Worked fine.

    If I did it again I would kerf the underside of the boards to minimise cupping.
     
    bowen192 likes this.
  3. DIYDave.

    DIYDave. Screwfix Select

    I’m only diy myself and never laid a wooden floor - laminate yes

    My thoughts;

    If you lay that redwood in your link as a floating floor it’s gonna warp, shrink, buckle, move, twist, bounce and everything in-between

    Picture shown in company link even looks like timber is cupped before you buy it :eek:

    Not a great advert (or could just be my eyes, viewing on phone)

    Others on here will give there advice and/or alternatives
     
    koolpc and bowen192 like this.
  4. Mr Rusty

    Mr Rusty Screwfix Select

    If you buy redwood floorboards and float them, they will do exactly what DIY dave says - you'll be bouncing all over - and you'll never fix them together. Floorboards need clamping tight together when being nailed/screwed. How you gonna do that on a floating floor? you'll never hold the joints tight together.

    @goldenboy - How did you manage that - very straight stock? was it just a small area - not 60m2?

    However, don't use cheap laminate. Ever. I agree it looks carp. Look at quickstep, and use their rigid underlay suitable for concrete floors. Or tile it - you can get nice looking wood-effect printed ceramics quite cheap.
     
    bowen192 likes this.
  5. LEH

    LEH Active Member

    What’s wrong with engineered flooring?
     
  6. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    Strap clamps and exterior pva.

    Was around 15sqm

    Was over a concrete slab using a dpm backed underlay.

    Left it to acclimatise for a couple of weeks.

    New skirtings went on which helped with keeping it flat.

    As I say I would never do it for a customer.

    But the OP has asked the question and I have done exactly what he is proposing.

    But 60 sqm (if its one area) is big.

    And all the joints stayed tight. Still are now as far as I know. I lived in the house for nearly 15 years and it was the first job I did.

    The flooring was free as I worked in a joinery attached to a wood yard. I carried 4 boards home every day for a couple of weeks!
     
    bowen192 likes this.
  7. Is it not possible to fit a batten to the concrete floor, then nail the timber to that with a porta-nailer,obviously you would need to cut down the doors if you cannot raise the linings.
     
    bowen192 likes this.
  8. LEH

    LEH Active Member

    If you don't mind the buildup, a DPM and ply overlay could be used, then fix the boards to the ply.
     
  9. Timber battens,like roofing battens are a lot cheaper and any dips can have a packer put below it,much better job in my opinion.
     
    bowen192 and LEH like this.
  10. Mr Rusty

    Mr Rusty Screwfix Select

    bowen192 likes this.
  11. candoabitofmoststuff

    candoabitofmoststuff Screwfix Select

    It's not your phone... it looks cupped on a proper screen as well!
    Cando
     
    DIYDave. and WillyEckerslike like this.
  12. candoabitofmoststuff

    candoabitofmoststuff Screwfix Select

    With the company's blessing, as part of your wages, no doubt!
    Cando
     
  13. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    4.8m offcuts!
     
    chippie244 likes this.
  14. furious_customer

    furious_customer Screwfix Select

    I struggle to understand why anyone prefers solid wood to engineered flooring - I wonder if it's just marketing tricks making it sound like a superiior product?
    Engineered flooring has had all the problems with solid wood floors engineered out!
     
  15. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    If you want traditional looking pine floorboards there isnt really an engineered that replicates that.

    I fit virtually zero engineered or solid these days. Nearly all is LVT.

    Lots of engineered these days is horrible cheap soft oak etc. Looks knackered inside a year in busy houses.
     
    bowen192 likes this.
  16. bowen192

    bowen192 Member

    Doesn't look great, does it? Obviously I'll be checking before I buy, but...

    As Mr Rusty says I'd be better off here. Live round the corner from them so I know their reputation.

    Nothing except to get anything like a natural looking finish I'll be paying through the nose. At least 5 x the cost imo.

    It's purely aesthetic from my point of view: nothing looks better than natural, well worked, treated wood.

    I think this is what I'm going to do.

    20 mm battens glued to the floor (I don't want to start drilling plugs into the concrete base) and then timber nailed on. I wouldn't even need t&g then. Like you say the doors will be cut down.

    60m2 is the entire floor btw, not just one room.

    This man knows. :)

    Thanks, I appreciate all the replies.
     
    goldenboy likes this.
  17. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    Redwood not whitewood for sure.

    Whitewood is carcassing stuff and not for a finish.

    Redwood much better.
     
    bowen192 and JustPhil like this.
  18. Mr Rusty

    Mr Rusty Screwfix Select

    In theory I totally agree with you, but I find wood these days quite variable in consistency - I think , because the same species come from so many countries and climates and grow at different speeds, sometimes the quality of what what is classed as whitewood is IMHO no worse and sometimes better than the redwood (which by rights should be a little bit denser, and being a bit more resinous is better for exterior). I floored a bedroom recently in the whitewood boards I linked to, and a builder mate came round and asked after where I got the boards from because he though they were better quality than he was getting - nicely finished, not too knotty or shaky and nice and straight.

    Don't be tempted. The T&G helps to lock the boards together so they don't flex against each other and creak and squeak.
     
    bowen192 likes this.
  19. bowen192

    bowen192 Member

    I layed down the dpm backed underlay, and using the boards Mr Rusty suggested, glued the t&g together. I went with glue and straps method goldenboy had suggested.

    Used floor sander and edger to level, filled any gaps with a leftover sawdust and pva mix and then quickly sanded again.

    Will cover tonight with Fiddes Hard Wax Oil & a tint and then install skirting which will hopefully push the edging down a bit. :eek:

    [​IMG]
     

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