New flooring

I'd like to put new flooring in a 15x20' room. In order to keep the cost down and for better wear, I was thinking of using "chipboard", similar to plywood, but made of strands of wood, or chips of wood, and then polyurethane. Years back a friend mentioned that she had seen it done in a house, so someone has done it, but I don't know the construction details.

One thing that concerned me, well maybe two:

  1. I assume I'd screw the chipboard into the (E) 2x T&G decking that is the current (sub)floor in the room. I hadn't planned on countersinking and filling the screw holes because the look isn't that important for the room.

What's the minimum field and edge spacing I could get away with?

  1. Would it be necessary to leave spacing between the 4x8 panels? If there is no space, would the panels buckle with changes in temperature?

  1. Any ideas on making the chipboard panels into a "floating floor? Not screwed to the subfloor, but with all the edges glued to each other (and perhaps, glued along the edges and sides to a thin piece of plywood). If it isn't screwed to the subfloor, any expansion wouldn't buckle the panels. If so what sort of glue or adhesive work best?

Reply to
Charles Bishop
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My uncle did it years ago because he could not afford to finish the house properly. It was a mess. Not smooth - so it held dirt - and not enough structural integrity - the fibers kept breaking off, and it got soft.

Forget it. Just find a normal floor material made for the job. Neithe OSB or Aspenite are made for that use.

Reply to
clare

But the crap he can get here is different stuff.

Reply to
clare

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