Under laminate insulation

johneym

Folks,

its an old house with a cold concrete floor. The ceiling is 8 ft 4 inches high so there is scope. I am putting down laminate but the 3 mm standard roll they push you to buy with it seams pitifull. I need to put something better. Iv thought about sheets of aeroboard but am afraid the floor will move on this.
Any ideas?

Thanks a lot

slimjimmc

The 3mm foam roll is not intended as thermal insulation, it's function is to compensate for small unevenness in the floor so that you don't get creaks or joints opening up. In what way do you think the laminate floor will move on aeroboard?

johneym

thanks slim,

I suppose because 1 inch aeroboard is so lightweight and may also be a little soft. Any other ideas?

John

Buford T Justice

The Ceiling might be 8ft 4 high, but you door opes will all be at current ground level. Raise it up too much and you'll have a big step into the room.

johneym

thanks fingers,

Iv thought of this. If I insulate all the house inside to the same level this will not be an issue. I will get rid of the door saddles and if necessary take a little of the bottom of the doors. The only problem would be with the front an back door. The step is not an issue as the is a step ther anyway an 1 inch is not a lot.
BUT, these doors may hit the ground.
Its another issue but I am trying to figure out ways of not having to replace these 2 doors. All ideas/help greatly appreciated.

John

slimjimmc

johneym wrote: »

thanks slim,

I suppose because 1 inch aeroboard is so lightweight and may also be a little soft. Any other ideas?

John

You could sheet it with plywood which would spread the load and you won't have any risk of the laminate kinking along the joints and digging into the polystyrene. You could also consider a more rigid floor insulation board such as Kingspan TF70, I'm not familiar with these boards so I can't say if it would be better than aeroboard or suitable for laying laminate directly on top without sheeting. I've laid 2 layers of 6mm fibre-board as underlay for some of my own semi-solid floors and it's solid to walk on. You could try thicker fibreboard but laminate is more flexible than semi-solid so you might get some sponginess.

Buford T Justice

johneym wrote: »

thanks fingers,

Iv thought of this. If I insulate all the house inside to the same level this will not be an issue. I will get rid of the door saddles and if necessary take a little of the bottom of the doors. The only problem would be with the front an back door. The step is not an issue as the is a step ther anyway an 1 inch is not a lot.
BUT, these doors may hit the ground.
Its another issue but I am trying to figure out ways of not having to replace these 2 doors. All ideas/help greatly appreciated.

John

My parents insulated one of their floors with Kingspan insulation there a while ago, but it was about 2 inches thick. they got away with it because they were raising the whole floor in the room about 7 inches. Be mindful of the lanky people out there that would be in the house having to duck going through all your doors if you raised the floor and trimmed the doors.

CJhaughey

I have been researching laminate underlay as well.
Most shops sell the foam/foil combi underlays but they are usually max 5mm thickness.
However I have come across a product which seems to me to be like a form of softboard, it is called whisper walk and is 12mm thick.
I haven't actually seen the product in question but it is the thickest underlay I could find.

ronaldo84

theres a insulation called jabfloor havent used it yet so cant tell u much about it. you could also consider cork underlay