Hi All, I have two questions regarding the installation of solid wood flooring. Firstly I have a house with concrete floors both upstairs and downstairs on which i would like to lay down 18mm thick 3 1/2" wide planks of solid maple flooring (premium grade....although I doubt this makes a difference). Between the maple and the concrete I expect to lay down a timber layer about 2" x 1" in a roofing joise formation (ie: 16" apart with no cross-overs) and then fix the flooring to this timber layer. The house is fully insulated to latest standards and the flooring is not in any area capable of creating water leak (ie: washing machines, wash basins, etc). My question is whether on not I should have air vents between the maple flooring and the concrete to the outside world (via external wall vents) to allow timber to breath or is this simply not necessary or perhaps even a bad idea. Secondly I have one room in the shape of an "L" which is 40' long by 20' wide + the bottom part of the "L" shape also 20' wide by 8' long in which I would like to also install a maple floor with a similar setup to above (ie:2" x 1" timber underneath). I've been told that covering an area this size in one block is very dangerous as obiously timber is a natural product and will therefore expand and contract. I have also been told that spliting the area into perhaps three sections with a gap of perhaps 8mm filled with "cork" timber fitter flust with the top surface of the flooring would be sufficient to account for changes in timber dimnesions. Is this approach still a very bad idea or is it sufficient or indeed should i scrap the whole idea of putting a solid maple floor down in this room completely.
Any help greatly appreciated
Regards
Thankx in advance
Seamus Mc Loughlin