Wooden floors

[John Carlyle-Clarke]

Got 26 sq. m. of floor to lay on concrete. As well as tiles or stone, I'm considering wood. It's a porch/hall area, so quite high traffic. I'm quite interested in some of the engineered wood floors (e.g. Kahrs, Natura) with the 3 to 5 mm of wood, so that they can be sanded. Does anyone know how they stand up over time, especially since we have a labrador?

The other option I've seen is solid wood floor designed to glue straight down on to concrete, after testing the moisture content and applying a latex screed of some type. I always thought you couldn't lay solid wood right onto concrete, but I'm assured by the flooring shop you can. Are they right?

I've seen you can also get some solid wood floor designed to float, from Junckers, but that is pretty expensive.

Because of levels, there's no room to fit batons and nail.

Any comments or advice appreciated.

[meow2222]

why get crappy 'engineered' flooring when you can use real wood. Lay it on a sheet of soft squishy stuff for best results. Wood is pretty cheap, and makes a nice floor.

NT

[The Natural Philosopher]

I see no reason why you cant' lay T & G straight onto a dry and DPC'ed concrete..

Expansion is the main problem, but with T & G, just use glue down the middle and lay in midsummer, when humidity indoors is at its highest.

[meow2222]

pse wood is all you need, plus wood glue. Because you're laying onto level crete, the wood can be fairly thin, 10mm would be fine. Even oak can be got for only =A325 per cu ft.

NT

[adder1969]

The worst problem is pointy high heels (so get your lab to wear flats) but a lot also depends on the hardness of the wood.

[nafuk]

Friend laid some solid wood floor (Birch, 19mm thick from ebay) on a new build concrete floor. Used the glue supplied with the planks and a notched trowle, and white wood glue for the tongue and grooves. Went down very quickly and looks very nice. Will be getting some myself. He got it for =A320/sq m.

[hicks]

You pay a premium for Kahrs. We just put down an 'Upofloor' engineered floor. Looks great, and more reasonably priced than Kahrs. Can't comment on the durability over time though, as we only just installed it.

[hicks]

Ease of installation, less chance of movement. Also variance of floor levels between rooms might be an issue with a solid wood floor. BTW engineered floor does use real wood.

[PeTe33]

We did the whole of our "living" area inc. etc 46 Msq. with Khars "Oak London" We have 2 dogs, one about the weight of a "big" labrador (Greatdane/greyhound X)

Thought Oak would be resistant to dog claws..... it's not!

The trouble with wood floors is they look great when new, but show up every dent. up to the point you say bugger it, it's wood, it's a floor, it's _supposed_ to wear and be used. This point I acheived after about

7 days, I think my partner is _just_ getting to the point of not worrying 6 months down the line.

When the dog lies down he slides down on his front feet, presumably trying to gain traction with his claws. This leaves 4 fine lines indented into the floor.

If he has a flea, he does that scrabling for grip while trying to get to his back thing. again, more lines.

Now the whole visible surface is becoming distressed you don't notice it any more. Still make sure shoes are left in the porch and stillettos are completely forbidden.

Having UFH throughout means folks appreciate the warm floor with no shoes on.

Personally I don't think We'll ever bother with the hassle of re-sanding, well, not for a very long time.

HTH Pete

[Mary Fisher]

It's a random textured floor then? Like our sanded and sealed floorboards.

We like it, it gives some grip for the chickens, you should see them skating on laminate :-)

We certainly shan't. We're creating history :-)

Mary

[meow2222]

there's less chance of cupping and les expansion, but once water gets into the joints, engineered flooring made from a base of chipboard with veneer on top quicky becomes knackered. Solid woot otoh is normally ok

100 years later.

NT

[Bob Mannix]

Kahrs (for example) engineered flooring uses a cross-bonded plywood base and a 5/7mm surface layer of the wood that shows - hardly chipboard and veneer!

[HLAH]

"nafuk" wrote

Friend laid some solid wood floor (Birch, 19mm thick from ebay) on a new build concrete floor. Used the glue supplied with the planks and a notched trowle, and white wood glue for the tongue and grooves. Went down very quickly and looks very nice. Will be getting some myself. He got it for £20/sq m.

Don't suppose you know which seller it was do you?

Cheers

H

[meow2222]

Ply and veneer is certainly much better. Chip and veneer is a much poorer performer, and is 'in the wild'. Probably most people dont fit Kahrs.

NT

[meow2222]

it crosses my small cell that if you want wood on ply, buying wood and ply would be much cheaper.

NT