Secondary wooden floor

[b33k34]

We're going to lay a secondary floor on top of the floorboards on the ground floor of our victorian house. We've reviewed options for sanding (boards too knackered), lifting and replacing etc and decided on a secondary solid wood tongue and groove, 200mm wide boards and 20mm thick, sanded but unfinished (we plan to oil). We'll be hidden-nailing the boards down.

However, what we haven't been able to get clear guidance on is what we need to do to prepare the existing floor. We've been told

- no need to lay anything in between if we're laying at 90 degrees but lay plywood first if in the same direction as existing boards

- no need to lay anything in between either way

- use some sort of underlay.

What's the view here?

[b33k34]

[e-mail] wrote: I forgot to add: We're looking at

Does anyone have any other recommended suppliers? Their fitting instructions also advise using a 'a non-polythene vapour barrier' in the situation we have. However, won't nailing through this to lay the floor reduce its effectiveness? Finally, if laying on top of an existing floor over joists (as we are) they advise the use of a

[Michael Mcneil]

Careful how much a you use

[Rupert]

I installed a similar type of floor but in my case it was onto asphalt. How about using a floating floor method (i.e. no nails). The timber is cushioned on a sticky foam backing which evens out some of the imperfections in the existing floor and gives insulation and stops reduces noise. In my case I used antiqued board (i.e. bugged up with the odd bangs etc). Have a look at

[Billythekid123]

We recently fitted a similar oiled solid oak product on top of an exsiting floor in our front room.

By putting down a flat ply-wood base over the top of the exisiting flooring it provides a level which you can then easily secret nail or glue down the solid wood flooring to.

Try -

are a UK based site

We bought our solid flooring through them and it arrived within a few days with free delivery

Bill