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Installing Wood Flooring


Alpinemist
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Hi All

Onto my next project. I’m installing engineered wood flooring in 3 bedrooms and a hallway upstairs. The bedrooms are very modest (17m2 / 16m2 / 12m2). The hallway is narrow and small with the 3 bedrooms leading off of it.

My question is where to start installing the flooring. Bedrooms and work out to the hallway or hallway and go into the bedrooms and your reasoning why would be valuable.

Also, I have read on line that you should always use a threshold on every doorway so as to leave an expansion gap but with such modest rooms and a small hallway is this really necessary. I’m just concerned that having 3 thresholds in a small area won’t look very nice.

If relevant, I’m using 5mm insulation underneath, with a wooden sub floor. I’ve got an option to buy another 2mm mat to go under this if it’s needed.

Thanks

 

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[quote user="Alpinemist"]

My question is where to start installing the flooring. Bedrooms and work out to the hallway or hallway and go into the bedrooms and your reasoning why would be valuable.

[/quote]

Work out which way your flooring is going to "flow" i.e. up and down or side to side. I think it normally goes lengthways with the longest length of the room. All the stuff on the interenet always talked about starting in the middle of the largest room and working out from the center to the walls, but that was with solid T&G, not the thin klic-klac stuff. We started against a wall to get the first length parallel, and then worked across the room, but our rooms weren't square and that worked best for us. Will all the boards go the same way? Or will your corridor be perpendicular to the bedrooms. If so, I think a threshold would look OK. That stuff will expand so be prepared for some buckling if you don't leave a gap.

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Just work out which way your joists run and then your "floor boards" should run across the joists like normal floor boards do; for obvious reasons. It's only a personal opinion but I think a threshold looks more natural, and looks good when it's a slightly different colour to the main boards.
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Hope you don't mind me asking another question on your thread but does anyone have any ideas about how to finish wooden flooring where it meets a stone wall? I'll have to leave an expansion gap but there won't be any skirting board to cover the gap. I had thought to maybe fill with mastic or is there a simple solution I've overlooked?

Good luck with you project Alpinemist.
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[quote user="canard"]Hope you don't mind me asking another question on your thread but does anyone have any ideas about how to finish wooden flooring where it meets a stone wall? I'll have to leave an expansion gap but there won't be any skirting board to cover the gap. I had thought to maybe fill with mastic or is there a simple solution I've overlooked? Good luck with you project Alpinemist.[/quote]

I put a thin board over the flooring against the wall to protect the new boards, and ran long vertical boards close to the wall, the same height as the proposed skirting, to act as shuttering.

I filled the gap between the wall and the shuttering with mortar to match the pointing on the wall, and left several days to cure before removing the shuttering and the thin board. I then glued the skirting board to the vertical surface.

The floor boards have ample expansion space below both the skirting and the mortar supporting it.

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I forgot to mention that I backed up the shuttering with heavy timbers, fixed to the board over the flooring and to the shuttering, to keep it in place.

Also (as advised on the instructions with the flooring panels), I laid the length of the panels at right angles to the windows, to minimise the light showing up the joints.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Is the flooring true engineered as in MDF or is it factory finished planks?  If it's planks then remember the wood will expand across it's grain and it is best, despite some esthetically pleasing ideas to run the planks length ways with the longest length.  I had flooring fitted in the UK a few years ago, when I was too busy to diy and the fitter did it the way you are supposed to.  The planks side on in a 25 foot run.  The result was a back door casing that got pushed out by 10mm.

Also, remember no mater what flooring you are using let it aclimatise fully for a few weeks out of it's packaging.  We replaced some floor boards here that have shrunk 5mm infront of the fire.[:@]  My fault, I should have waited till winter :-(

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I laid some laminate flooring in my UK pad in the summer, it was allowed to acclimatise beforehand and the weather was quite hot so I left very little gap for expansion, on the basis that it already was (expanded), and that I had little coverage by the skirting. The place is unheated when I am not there although well ventilated by a VMC.

I returned in November to find my new floor looked like a ploughed field, just like real wood there was little expansion lengthwise but loads across the width, it looked a real state.

After about a week of acclimatisation with the underfloor heating on the floor was nearly but not quite flat again, I will decide what to do with it next spring.

So from my experience the expansion is due to humidity rather than heat, i would have been better off using the flooring in the condition that it was after being stored in my garage than letting it acclimatise in the building.

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The timber should acclimatise to 'normal; prevailing conditions ie. the way you have the rooms normally in terms of temperature and humidity. There are a multitude of floors sold as being 'Engineered' some of which are a wood veneer on a semi inert backing or multi directionally layered ala plywood with veneer facing or solid wood  which is 'Crowned' and machined on the opposite side to contain warp. You can measure the moisture content of timber using a Protimeter and estimate whether it is going to get more or less damp in situ - adjusting the installation to suit a projected average.

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Volige is usually pine or poplar.

Poplar which in fact is not wood is particularly prone to lateral expansion when wet, a gap commensurate with the width of each board should be left between each board. A few slipped tiles causing leakage on to butted boards laid on the chevrons in the summer can be awkward in winter.

I have in november nailed down about 20 m2 in a barn which I am renovating as a winter project; charpente & parquet finished, currently pointing the walls in part but with a NHL enduit on the inside of the pignons.

 

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[quote user="pachapapa"]

Volige is usually pine or poplar.

Poplar which in fact is not wood is particularly prone to lateral expansion when wet, a gap commensurate with the width of each board should be left between each board. A few slipped tiles causing leakage on to butted boards laid on the chevrons in the summer can be awkward in winter.

I have in november nailed down about 20 m2 in a barn which I am renovating as a winter project; charpente & parquet finished, currently pointing the walls in part but with a NHL enduit on the inside of the pignons.

 

[/quote]

I understand that breathalyser kits are going to be compulsory in cars in the near future, might also be a good idea to be fitted to computer keyboards.[B] [B] [:D]

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[quote user="NickP"][quote user="pachapapa"]

Volige is usually pine or poplar.

Poplar which in fact is not wood is particularly prone to lateral expansion when wet, a gap commensurate with the width of each board should be left between each board. A few slipped tiles causing leakage on to butted boards laid on the chevrons in the summer can be awkward in winter.

I have in november nailed down about 20 m2 in a barn which I am renovating as a winter project; charpente & parquet finished, currently pointing the walls in part but with a NHL enduit on the inside of the pignons.

 

[/quote]

I understand that breathalyser kits are going to be compulsory in cars in the near future, might also be a good idea to be fitted to computer keyboards.[B] [B] [:D]

[/quote]

My electric plane does not work well on poplar. Should I breathalyse it too?[;-)]

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While I wouldn't expect to find it as a finish surface, If the substrate of the floor has any plywood in it , I'll bet you a pound to a penny that's (one of the varieties of) Poplar.

But FAR more importantly..... if you didn't have Poplar, you'd have to carry your Camembert home in your hand !

p

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[quote user="Gyn_Paul"]While I wouldn't expect to find it as a finish surface, If the substrate of the floor has any plywood in it , I'll bet you a pound to a penny that's (one of the varieties of) Poplar.

But FAR more importantly..... if you didn't have Poplar, you'd have to carry your Camembert home in your hand !


p

[/quote]

Camembert is tasteless gunge.

In fact chewing the box is probably a better taste sensation.[+o(]

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[quote user="pachapapa"]

[quote user="Gyn_Paul"]While I wouldn't expect to find it as a finish surface, If the substrate of the floor has any plywood in it , I'll bet you a pound to a penny that's (one of the varieties of) Poplar.

But FAR more importantly..... if you didn't have Poplar, you'd have to carry your Camembert home in your hand !

p

[/quote]

Camembert is tasteless gunge.

In fact chewing the box is probably a better taste sensation.[+o(]

[/quote]

To misquote P.G. Wodehouse,  "It's seldom difficult to differentiate between Pachapapa and a ray of sunshine."

In fact, it's being so cheerful that keeps you going, isn't it?  [:D]

p

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[quote user="Gyn_Paul"][quote user="pachapapa"]

[quote user="Gyn_Paul"]While I wouldn't expect to find it as a finish surface, If the substrate of the floor has any plywood in it , I'll bet you a pound to a penny that's (one of the varieties of) Poplar.

But FAR more importantly..... if you didn't have Poplar, you'd have to carry your Camembert home in your hand !


p

[/quote]

Camembert is tasteless gunge.

In fact chewing the box is probably a better taste sensation.[+o(]

[/quote]

To misquote P.G. Wodehouse,  "It's seldom difficult to differentiate between Pachapapa and a ray of sunshine."

In fact, it's being so cheerful that keeps you going, isn't it?  [:D]

p
[/quote]

Google "camembert fromage industriel"

4.300 t de camemberts AOP - 90.000 t de produits industriels

Seuls 5% des camemberts, contre 10 à 15% dans les années 2007-2008, sont aujourd'hui fabriqués dans le cadre de l'AOP : pour 4.300 tonnes de camemberts fabriqués chaque année sous l'AOP (mention camembert de Normandie) la production atteint 90.000 tonnes pour les produits industriels (mention fabriqué en Normandie), selon M. Mercier

http://www.pleinchamp.com/elevage/bovins-lait/actualites/les-camemberts-de-normandie-attaquent-les-fromages-industriels-en-justice

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I have in november nailed down about 20 m2 in a barn which I am renovating as a winter project; charpente & parquet finished, currently pointing the walls in part but with a NHL enduit on the inside of the pignons.

20m2 of Poplar / Parquet ...nailed?? that's a bit of an odd sounding specification...Unless perhaps you refer to some kind of laminate and nose nailed but it does sound a bit grandiose for eighteen quid a metre stuff ....

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[quote user="BIG MAC"]

I have in november nailed down about 20 m2 in a barn which I am renovating as a winter project; charpente & parquet finished, currently pointing the walls in part but with a NHL enduit on the inside of the pignons.

20m2 of Poplar / Parquet ...nailed?? that's a bit of an odd sounding specification...Unless perhaps you refer to some kind of laminate and nose nailed but it does sound a bit grandiose for eighteen quid a metre stuff ....

[/quote]

volige is volige is roof: parquet is parquet is floors: and n'eer the twain shall meet.

The 20 M2 refers to a mezzanine forming a 1st floor to a barn; the ground floor is completely tiled.

Are you thinking of " parquet flottant "?

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