hardwood platform floor

[julianx]

hi everyone

I need some tips on laying a hardwood platform floor.
The area is 16m (35 joists) by 8 m.
I've layed a fair bit of flooring before, but not for quite a few years and never this long.
My concerns are;
1.keeping the boards staight over such a long length
2. expansion joints
3.minimising the number of clamps, I used to use one every third joist ( thats 12 clamps) with a piece of 90x35 between clamp and board.

The floor is to be nailed and glued to LVL's (I have not had much to do with this either)

Any tips/ideas on laying this floor would be greatly appreciated. Also any recent inovations in timber flooring, like I said I haven't put down a floor in about 15 yrs.

Thank you

[KevM]

Julian,
Check out the info on the Tasmanian Timber site. http://www.tastimber.tas.gov.au/species/pdfs/4pgdoc.pdf

regards

Kev

[journeyman Mick]

As you won't have any 16M lengths of T&G you won't actually need that many clamps. I've only ever used three clamps at a time (coz that's all I own). Just spend plenty of time getting the first run of boards straight. Don't work off the wall (unless you built it and you're willing to bet a piece of your anatomy on it being straight) measure the width of the floor at both ends and snap a line down the middle. Measure back off that and start your first board off the wall a few mm less than the thickness of the skirting you will use. Keep measuring back to the line as you go along, once past half way measure to the other end.
The other possibility is to hire a secret nailer, with the price of T&G nowadays you might as well get it really schmick by secret nailing it. This also means you won't need clamps. I'ts slightly slower than clamping and nailing with a T-nailer, but probably as fast if not faster than clamping, handnailing, punching and filling. Whichever way you go get end matched boards.

Mick

[julianx]

thanks for the advice Kev & Mick

With the fear of sounding like an idiot I still can't see how to lay 16 metre runs of decking with 3 clamps unless I only clamp one board at a time. general practice is to clamp 8 or 10 runs at a time.

[journeyman Mick]

Using end match flooring you lay down your 8 - 10 boards, longest to shortest, cramp & nail them down. Then lay down another 8 - 10 boards, end matching them into the boards you just laid, cramp them and tap the ends with a block if neccesary to get the end match joints tight, then nail down. Continue doing this and cut the ends of the boards on the last run where they butt into the end wall. Use these offcuts to start the first 8 - 10 boards of the next run. Basically your end joints will be in diagonal staggers right across the floor.

Mick

[julianx]

Thanks Mick

The advice is great, this was a concept I had considered though I was concerned with getting the ends to marry up and getting them straight. Hearing the idea from someone who has obviously done it many times before has given me the confidence to do it.

Many thanks

[journeyman Mick]

Julian, I almost forgot, avoid having adjacent end match joints between the same pair of joists, if possible have at leasttwo joists between joints. Have fun.

Mick