B&Q hardwood floors - can they float?

[NathanielStarbuck]

Hi

I'm replacing all carpets in my upstairs with solid wood tongue& groove oak from B&Q.

The B&Q leaflet, and also their instructional video both present 'floating' floor method as an option for this type of flooring, however every other source that I can find says you should never float a solid wood floor.

By sub-base is the original planking, and I'm putting a combi-lay between that and the B&Q flooring.

It seems to me that if I make sure I have my 15mm expansion gap then I should have no problems floating this floor. But I'm worried that everything I read gives the opposite advise of B&Q?

Anyone any thoughts / experience on this?

Thanks

NS

[The Natural Philosopher]

If its solid wood and NOT engineered, it may well cup and warp a lot under humidity variations.

As well as expand.

You need to allow about 0.1% expansion along the grain and about 1% across it..i.e. 15mm gap all round (30mm total) is enough for say a 3 meter wide floor.

The nicer the grain pattern, the more likely it is to be cut nearly parallel to the heartwood, and the worse it will move..

By all means try it, but be prepared for some problems.

Right now the indoor humidity is as high as it is ever likely to be, so if you lay now, you should not leave a lot in the way of expansion..leave the wood in the room a few weeks till it settles, and expect SHRINKAGE in the winter.

[NathanielStarbuck]

It is solid wood, not engineered. I realise that it will react to humidity more than engineered wood / laminate, but I don't understand why floating is considered worse that e.g. secret nailing by most writers on the subject.

[rrh]

I wasn't aware that most writers consider floating worse than secret nailing but I have just fitted a floating engineered wood floor over what I had measured as a completely level suspended timber subfloor (floorboards), with just the 3mm underlay the suppliers recommended. I wasn't delighted that a large patch in the middle of the room deflected visibly when stepped on, though it's a bit better now with the furniture in. On reflection it's a tall order for the materials I used and next time I think I'll lay 6mm ply first or perhaps use thicker underlay.

Presumably nailing (secret or otherwise) avoids this problem at least.

[NathanielStarbuck]

Floating is considered fine (even preferable?) for engineered or laminate. Its just solid wood that people seem to have a problem with floating.

However, with solid wood your deflection problem would not have occured (assuming the subfloor was level) as the strips of solid wood are considerably heavier than engineered.

[Ian White]

We laid exactly the same boarding in January, as a glued and floating floor over a dry and carefully levelled concrete sub-floor, with the recommended 3mm underlay between. It obviously hasn't done a whole year yet, but we have gone from a very wet winter through a very dry spring and into the warmer weather, with no problems whatever.