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