Solid Wood floor, How Wide???

hughm

Hi, we are putting in a solid wood floor all over the ground floor (except kitchen) of our house. We have existing 50 yr old T&G that is not good enough to sand and varnish.

We looked at samples today and saw 3 Oak floos that were very nice but I need some help deciding on the width of the plank.

We looked at 90mm, 120mm and 150mm planks.

I liked the 90mm at first and my wife liked the 150mm. She now likes the 90mm as the supplier said that the narrower boards will make the floor area appear bigger. I agree. But now I'm wondering if it is too narrow.


I need to hear from people who have done this and either loved their choice or regretted it.

Thanks

SoBe

my personal preferance would be to go with the wider boards.i have fitted a good few solid oak floors and think the wider boards look better

The Hill Billy

Me too, but it is purely a personal preference.

hughm

thanks, we are now all in agreement. We are going for the 150mm Forest Oak solids.

kadman

Of course you all know the larger amount of flooring problems occur with wider boards, expansion , contraction, cupping ect. Unless you are buying expensive quartersawn oak as opposed to radially cut boards.

Narrower boards are less prone the same level of distortion, naturally enough by their smaller surface area.

Just my 2 cents worth

kadman

professore

Wide boards all the way - they look more authentic

hughm

New question on same topic.

We have a 12' x 22' sunroom extension being completed at present. It will be connected to the main house via 2 breakthrough arches each the size of double doors. 1 into kitchen and 1 into dining room.

We were planning to put the new floors down in our hall, living room, dining room and to run them out from the Dining Room into the new Sunroom also.

The house is about 50 years old so the existing house is ok in terms of moisture etc but is there a minimum time we should wait before we put down wooden floors in the sunroom? Does it need to dry out.

I presume that withg this weather and with it being connected to the main house it will dry out quicker.

Any thoughts?

professore

hughm wrote:

New question on same topic.

We have a 12' x 22' sunroom extension being completed at present. It will be connected to the main house via 2 breakthrough arches each the size of double doors. 1 into kitchen and 1 into dining room.

We were planning to put the new floors down in our hall, living room, dining room and to run them out from the Dining Room into the new Sunroom also.

The house is about 50 years old so the existing house is ok in terms of moisture etc but is there a minimum time we should wait before we put down wooden floors in the sunroom? Does it need to dry out.

I presume that withg this weather and with it being connected to the main house it will dry out quicker.

Any thoughts?

Yes they need to be put in the room where they are going to be used to allow for expansion etc, can't remember for how long though. Also if they are in boxes lay them flat, not standing up as they might warp.

The Hill Billy

I'm presuming that you're having a new concrete floor poured in the sun room. If so, check out this thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054965776

hughm

Thanks All. I am not undertaking this job myself. The company that are building our Sunroom are also building our deck and will be supplying and fitting the solid wood floors.

It's working out at €5,500 (after some haggling) to supply and fit about 79 Sq yrds of 150mm solid oak. I believe that it is a floating floor. We have T&G floors in all but the extension which is concrete.

The actual workmen (Polish) are very good. The guys that are building the sunroom will also be laying the floor. They seem to have a good attention to detail and care about what they are doing. They have done a fine job on the sunroom and the roofing so far.

The reason that I didn't look for a separate flooring company is that if something goes wrong with he floor I have only one person to address and not get stuck in the middle with floor fitter blaming the builders for the floor not being level and the builders blaming the floor fitters for not doing their job right etc etc. One person(company) is responsible if I have an unsatisfactory result.

As this is their business I presume that they know what they are doing. I just like to be aware of the process so that I am satisfied that they know they are doing.

If it looks like they are not doing everything to ensure that we have a beautiful floor for years to come I want to gently let them know that I know and allow them to get it together.

For instance I will now go and talk to my foreman and ask him in conversation how long he will need to leave the floorboards out in the rooms before they can be fitted. I want him to know that I know that this is supposed to happen. If he says there is no need do i have a problem???

I will check out the thread recommended for the concrete floors..thanks

hughm

The concrete floor of our sunroom was poured about 8 days ago. It has been open to the elements since then as the felt on the roof only went up yesterday. There has been no rain and our garden is south facing so the sun has been on this floor for 7 days.

A leveling compound still has to be poured. The outside walls and windows and door are only going in today.

The Hill Billy

hughm wrote:

The concrete floor of our sunroom was poured about 8 days ago. It has been open to the elements since then as the felt on the roof only went up yesterday. There has been no rain and our garden is south facing so the sun has been on this floor for 7 days.

A leveling compound still has to be poured. The outside walls and windows and door are only going in today.

As in the other thread that I linked - you could be talking about a drying period of 1 month per inch of concrete. Regarding the leveling compound - I've no idea how long this takes to dry sufficiently before flooring. Is there much of an area to level off?

hughm

The internal floor area is 11.5 feet x 21.5 feet.

Is there a relatively cheap DAMP/Moisture meter that I could buy myself to test the floor. I suspect that our builders will want to put the floors down within the next 2 weeks and move on to the next job.

If the floor is not ready to receive a solid wood floor then I would like to be able to prove it to them and arrange for them to return in a month or so to finish off the floor.

The Hill Billy

hughm wrote:

The internal floor area is 11.5 feet x 21.5 feet.

Are they putting self-leveling compound over the entire area?
Sounds a bit strange to me as I would have considered it only to be used to level off dipped areas - not an entire floor.

Maybe a more experienced boardie could offer their opinion?

hughm

not sure, builder sadi they spoke to floor manufacturer and are using the quick drying levelling compound.....

We shall see what happens.

Mellor

If you think of the floor as full of loads of little imperfections, on point os going to be the high point and the leveling compound will bring the rest up to this point. How accurate you are/wish to be will dicate how much of the floor you cover, you could cover just some bad areas, or do the whole lot to be perfect.

Do-more

Don't know how deep your concrete slab is but even having them back in one month sounds very soon to me.

The other consideration I would make is that a sun room floor can be prone to very large temperature swings, due to overheating during the day from direct sunlight and rapid heat loss at night all due to the large amount of glass. A wooden floor will thus be tested to the limit in terms of dimensional stability, as kadman has pointed out the wide boards you have choosen may not perform well, especially so in this situation.

This problem can be further exaserbated if you are going to have a lot of plants in the sun room with high humidity from evaporation, dangers of water spills etc.

hughm

the sunroom floor appears to be at leas 1/2" to 1" below the current house floor level. This will need to be resolved before the floor is layed as the floor is going throughout.

After i chatted to our foreman about testing for moisture, how long they would need to wait, leaving the wood in the room etc he went off to talk to the manufacturer. I mentioned to him that I didn't want to be calling him in a years time saying my floor has gaps or it has buckled etc etc.

I will let them do their job now and if there is a problem down the line I will hold them responsible.

Thanks for all the input.

Do-more

hughm wrote:

After i chatted to our foreman about testing for moisture, how long they would need to wait, leaving the wood in the room etc he went off to talk to the manufacturer. I mentioned to him that I didn't want to be calling him in a years time saying my floor has gaps or it has buckled etc etc.

Very wise move Hugh, you are paying them to do the job and should reasonably expect to have the right job done, first time.

Best of luck and hope you enjoy the finished product.