New floorig onto joists or overlay onto existing baltic pine?

[tamu]

Hi,

I am new to weatherboard houses on stumps, coming from brick and tile on concrete in Perth, and have found this forum really useful to increase my understanding. I am now getting conflicting advice on replacing our floor by nailing to joists or by overlaying what is there and would appreciate advice.

We have had to go through our exisiting baltic pine floor to restump, and have had a couple of quotes on patching up versus replacing the whole thing with a hardwood (eg a remilled messmate blend). In the long run I'd prefer a hardwood floor so we will probably do that. But one guy has said we should rip up the remaining floor and secret nail the new floor straight to joists, and that there is no need for any kind of insulation under the floor as it doesn't make much difference. Another has said we are better overlaying the new floor (still proper timber) as it makes it more stable and provides insulation. They would screw plywood to the baltic pine then glue the new timber.

To what extent do more layers on the floor improve insulation? Is it a noticeable difference? Are there problems with overlaying? (can the wood "breathe" properly? What if something happens to the timber underneath?) Does it make a difference if the new floor is a remilled or a new plantation timber?

Thanks for any advice.

[namtrak]

1. Baltic Pine? Not retrievable? It would make for a very nice floor, but it is a bit softer than most other floors.

2. Laying floor over existing floor plus a ply substrate would add another 30-40mm to your floor height, possibly throwing out your doors etc

3. If you have the chance to rip up the floor (keep as much as you can for other uses) as you can check out the condition of your joists, bearers and stumps and maybe do some maintenance work.

4. PM Studley on these forums for some more options for hardwood flooring, I did and am very happy with the result.

5. Putting insulation under floor when you have it lifted up, is relatively easy and cost effective.

cheers
and best of luck

[tamu]

Thanks for that, checking the joists is a good idea, we had to replace one bearer when we restumped. Just got one lot of quotes and patching up the baltic is not much cheaper than the overlay idea....bring on the next lot of quotes...

We don't need to worry about the height as we ripped up multiple layers of underlay-lino-underlay-carpet and the doors are at least 30mm off the boards!

Still not sure if the overlay option (he's told me 6ml timber glued to plywood that is screwed to the baltic pine) is dubious or long lasting.

I will get in touch with Studley as soon as I work out how to!!

Cheers!

[glock40sw]

G'day.
Have the existing floor level sanded.
Glue and secret nail a 12mm overlay solid hardwood T&G floor over the top at 90 deg to the run of the original floor.

And...Wallah.. new hardwood floor that is only 12mm higher than the original floor.

This is why we produce 12mm solid overlay flooring. Just for this type of installation.

Give Masterplus a call and have a yarn to them about the options. They have 10 stores all obver Melbourne. So there would be one close to you.

[Dobro]

Trevor, Pity your still "touting" Masterplus. My experience with them in Melbourne was that they are anything but masters when it comes to new floors.