Laying Floorboards

[maglite]

Gday,

My mate has roped me and a few others in to help him lay floorboards in his new house.
Apparently the boards are the glue down type onto a concrete floor.
I would appreciate any tips or hints.
cheers
Steve

[arms]

run away,run away aggahhhhh

Gday,

My mate has roped me and a few others in to help him lay floorboards in his new house.
Apparently the boards are the glue down type onto a concrete floor.
I would appreciate any tips or hints.
cheers
Steve

[maglite]

Geez Arms,

I was kinda hoping for a little bit more detail.

Seriously tho, does anyone have any useful information.
The house is new, is green concrete a worry,how long before laying boards is acceptable.
What is the easiest way to lay them ( if anyone says flat i will f****** kill them ) ie: from the outside in or the centre out.
If the room happens to be out of square.....whats the easiest way to get it all looking uniform or alternatively hiding the places that out of whack.
That being said,i am told that this is a project home, so am fully expecting the floors to be less than completely flat also.....What do i do if this is the case and does anyone know of an easy way to find out wether it is all ok.

Apparently the boards are costing somewhere around the 7 grand mark, so i want to be able to do it properly.
Personally, i reckon he would be better off getting a pro to do it, but he wont take no for an answer.
Any useful tips or hints would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Steve

[MarkV]

Firstly I have never done this type of job. For 7 Grand he should be able to afford a Pro to do it! That being said he should be able to get extensive instructions from the manufacturer of the flooring ( I assume that it's some of the 8mm type stuff available from Carpet/Flooring type stores) I have done some Googling on this and the consensus seems to be that it will require some type of underlay ,usually plywood, to allow the boards to be attached to. As far as checking flat use a large level/straightedge to give you an idea. Regarding moisture content of the slab I did find some info from a site

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>For a properly constructed slab, with good ventilation, drying from one face only and poured on top of a continuous vapour barrier, it could be expected that 75 to 80% of the moisture originally present will have been released to the atmosphere 4-6 months after laying. After the moisture release period has been completed the surface of the concrete slab will attain equilibrium conditions with the surrounds. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
To check for such a condition can be done either by the:
1. hygrometer test (not described herein because of the need for specialist apparatus);

2. sheet of glass or polyethelene film test.

Either of (b) above involves taping, a say, 450mm square sheet of glass or clear polyethelene to the floor and leaving it for 24 hours. If moisture appears on the glass or film the slab is in an unsuitable condition for plywood interconnection.

4-6 months does seem like a long time, though I can't imagine that builders wait that long. The issue of the room being square should be easy enough as long as it's fairly square .Measure it all out stating from the middle and the skirting boards will cover the edges Hope this has given you something to think about. You couldn't get a Floorlayer to help at mates rates could you ? i.e He can sit back drink Beer and supervise

[Marc]

We had some heated arguments over this type of floor lying not long ago on this board, a search on this topic will be helpfull.

My opinion on the issue was expressed before. I don't think you or anyone else can do a good job of gluing floorboards onto concrete slab or particleboard as it where, if you are talking about tongue and groove ordinary 19mm floorboards.
To attempt such poor choice onto a new concrete slab is a recipe for disaster. The floorboards will cup so badly in the next 6 month that people will trip over the joints. But as with all things, some other people here have a different opinion and think it can be done. Still even the more optimist will have reservations if your slab is fresh.

As for the floating floors referred to in the previous post, they should be OK since they are not glued on the concrete but float on an underlay of special thin/high density foam.
Yet even for the above material, the worry about the new concrete slab remains. $7000 just for materials sounds a bit pricey, how may sq meters? and what sort of timber is it?
Must agree with arms . . . . .RUNNNNNNNNN as fast as the wind!!!!!!!!!!

[glock40sw]

G'day Steve.
Mate, Marc is right (to a certain extent). Do not lay any type of timber flooring over a green slab.
Go to www.timberqueensland.com.au and download their timber flooring data sheet. This will give you the basics needed to install a timber floor.
The only thing running through my head as I type this is...."I hope it is not My flooring that is being used for this job".
This sort of amature installation is what gives timber flooring a bad reputation. The punter does the job himself and whinges to all & sundry about poxy timber flooring when the job turns sour. So...he blames the material...Not his own incompetence.

If the job is to be done right....Get a professional flooring installer (not a builder) to do the job. It will be less costly in the long run.

Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor
Grafton

P.S. FYI...I manufacture Timber Flooring

[BigPop]

Steve,
My Brother in law up in Qld decided to do this too (with the help of his mates) excepting they put down a floating timber floor. (and after the skirting boards had been put in - the builder got a sample of the flooring and then put the skirting in leaving a gap for the flooring.) They now regret doing it themselves and all agree they should've paid a pro to do it. It is still unfinished (been like this for about 9 months now) and they can't get the last pieces under the skirting now and it looks sh**house to put it lightly. Flooring cost them an absolute bucketload too.

They either have to pull all the skirting off or attach some type of moulding to the skirting which will again look crap. The flooring itself looks pretty good but they have boards running in one direction in some rooms and another direction in other adjoining rooms which make it look terrible and then had to put aluminium joining strips between the 2 rooms. As I said although it is very nice flooring and pleasant to look at in the centre the edges an other stuff I have mentioned really detract from it.
It was going to cost them around the $7k mark to have it professionally done and now I think in hindsight he wishes he would've had it done that way.
Get your mate to think twice about it.
If ya mate does decide to go ahead - start in the centre and work to the sides as you do have to leave a gap near the walls for expansion, allow for out of square etc and then the skirting is supposed to cover the gap (when it is done the right way that is )

[namtrak]

I've done the odd floor in my time and I am not a big fan of floating floors. They do look good when done properly but each piece is sealed independently so it doesn't give the overall glassy look of a complete floor. Unless you go to the trouble of refinishing the job.

I would also go to the trouble of lifting the original skirting boards and running the floor underneath that rather than running some quad around the outside edge of the skirting - it's a little bit more work but looks a hundred percent.

Lastly, with the floating floors whatever happens, under no circumstances let the floor get WET - ever!! (this may effect where he lays it)

And for $7,000 he should be getting around 90 sqm of flooring, anything less he should be shopping around a bit.

As for the advice to run away!! Don't!!! Get into - do a bit of research, prepare the site properly and give it a whirl - you won't be too far off the mark. (besides it's not your joint )

Cheers

[Marc]

Now maglite, listen carefully, this is an historic moment. Trevor, who knows a bucket load about flooring since he actualy makes them, has agreed with me.

This is truly the worst of both worlds, this means the outlook is really reeally poor. )

If we are talking about tongue and groove, (something you did not make clear yet) this is what I suggest:
Before you do anything at all, walk into the nearest flooring place and ask for a quote, and get someone to have a look at the job. Once you are done, get another. This two opinions add to ours and draw your own conclusions.

I wish you all the best. (Have you asked for a quote for a nice carpet?