Hardwood floor tile installation

[Lew]

My son wants to install Pergo hardwood flooring in his recently purchased (30 year old) concrete slab constructed home. The forced-air heating ducts run inside the walls so I'm pretty sure that there's no heat or anything else coming up through the floor. I can't find any definitive information about what, if anything, needs to be put between the flooring and the concrete, and I'm mystified that I can't even find a mention of the idea of including a layer of insulation. Heating a concrete slab through a north eastern US winter can't be cheap. I welcome any comments and ideas.

-LS

[roderonner]

By Pergo Hardwood Flooring, I assume you mean laminate flooring. Pergo is actually one of (and the most well known) dozens of manufacturers of laminate flooring....people refer to laminate much the same way we refer to a photocopy as a "xerox"

Laminate flooring is a pretty easy DIY project. All he needs to do is put down a vapor barrier and underlayment and then float the floor on top of it. Some laminates have underlayment attached....in that case all you have to do is put down 6 mil plastic sheeting over the slab as a vapor barrier. Overlap the seams by about 6 inches. If the underlayment is not attached, you can get a combination underlayment/vapor barrior that just lays on top of the concret. Put the underlayment down and then float the floor on top. Any flooring store will be able to show you how to do it.

Al

[Lew]

Thanks, Al. Are there any issues re heat loss and/or recommendations for insulation underneath the laminate? It seems to me that the concrete slab will get pretty cold during the winter and suck heat out of the house.

[roderonner]

Lew, I can't answer your questions regarding insulation....i never really thought about it. you can try hardwoodinstaller.com or diyflooring.com for some answers. Or, if you go to a flooring store in your area they may be able to answer that question. There are several different types of underlayment ranging from foam padding to a fiber similar to felt, to cork. The better the underlayment the better the noise insulation. There are not many negatives to laminate, but one of them is the sound (they sound hollow) so better underlayment helps that and its not really that expensive. Al

[Lew]