Timber floors and glue........sorry...

Do-more

FrankGrimes wrote:

I've read through several posts here on this subject but can't definitively figure out what would be best for my scenario (I don't have underfloor heating).

I have to lay 24 sq metres of solid acacia floors in my extension soon and am wondering what's the best way to do it. I did the sitting room in the existing house by laying plywood directly onto the concrete and securing it with loads of 60mm (or 40mm can't remember) express anchors. I then secret nailed the acacia directly into the plywood.

This gave a finish that is solid as a rock and also very quiet, but I probably used too high a grade of plywood as it was difficult to break it's surface with the first strike of the portanailer.

I was thinking of glueing the acacia directly to the concrete in the extension as it will be in the dining part of a kitchen/dining open plan room and it would make it easier to join the acacia to the tiles in the kitchen part. The cost for the express anchors and plywood I used wasn't cheap either, though for some reason I still think this is the 'proper' job. The kitchen part of the new kitchen/dining room had old floor boards nailed directly into it and pulling these up revealed a very rough uneven concrete floor, so I'll be pouring concrete in that part to level it either way.

I've been advised against doing the glue myself as it's supposed to be very difficult, but to be honest I'd like to lay it myself as I enjoy doing it and like sitting in the sitting room knowing I laid the floor, it also saves on the cost of paying someone to lay it with glue.

From the sounds of it there seem to be some types of underlay that have adhesive on both sides which might be ideal as it would absorb minor bumps and also be far less messy than glueing. Does anyone have any experience with these and are there any particular ones I should consider? Would appreciate peoples' advice on what best suits my scenario. Thanks

Hi Frank - Yeh there's nothing quiet like the satisfaction of knowing you have done the job yourself and from the sound of it you have been doing a great job on it.

I glued about 55 sq. m of engineered flooring direct to the concrete myself and while I would say that it is more difficult than floating it, I wouldn't say that it was "very difficult".

To ensure a good job when glueing you really need to have a nice smooth level floor, mine was a power floated slab and even so I have too small spots (each about the size of a dinner plate) where the flooring has lost bond, I think due to small dips. From your description of the subfloor, you would need to use a good levelling compound such as Ardex K15 and this will be as much or more work than your other option of sheeting and nailing.

My opinion would be to stick with the devil you know and continue with the nailing.

You could of course bring up the level of the kitchen sub-floor to reduce the difference in floor levels. My advice would be not to use regular portland cement, but a rapid drying mortar or a levelling compound. Ring Technical service in RS Sales in Dundrum on 01 6731300 for advice, they distribute Ardex products which I can highly reccommend.

I haven't used the self-adhesive underlay myself, but have seen a guy doing it and it seemed to be very high tack and I wouldn't fancy doing it myself!

Hope this helps.