engineered wood / solid wood floors

joelk2 · 25 Feb 2020 at 12:30

going to sort out the floorng in one of my ground floor rooms within the next few months or so.

its a victorian house, with about a 3ft suspended ground floor with floorboards.

restoring the orginal floorboards would be lovely but honestly they've been lifted and cut up and look well dodgy. im also worried it would make the room too cold.

my plan was to fill the gaps between the boards with this runner stuff ive found jammed in there. and then underlay/fibreboard (to stop draughts) and then either engineered or solid wood floor over the top.

has anyone done this?

i seem to read conflicting reports as to the use of an underlay. some say you should and some say you shouldnt use it.

the other thing is some people to say just to play over the top.

anyone know the correct way of doing it? does it make a difference if using engineered vs real wood floor?

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 25 Feb 2020 at 12:44

I wouldn't underlay as such personally
You should though make sure you have a really solid level base.

If your base isnt flat you will find the floor (in both cases) will potentially buckle or you will end up with raised points that will wear, if the floor isnt solid you will get board to board movement = creaking

andicole0 · 25 Feb 2020 at 12:57

I laid an engineered oak floor on a concrete base to discourage damp and improve heat loss I used a thermal barrier which also acted as a leveller for small imperfections.
I wouldn't use a simple underlay but there are specialist materials that would suit the new floor and what it is being laid on.
Andi.

ants83 · 25 Feb 2020 at 17:03

andicole0 said:
I laid an engineered oak floor on a concrete base to discourage damp and improve heat loss I used a thermal barrier which also acted as a leveller for small imperfections.
I wouldn't use a simple underlay but there are specialist materials that would suit the new floor and what it is being laid on.
Andi.

This.

Dis86 · 25 Feb 2020 at 18:58

Yup. Another to echo what andi says.

eviled · 25 Feb 2020 at 23:04

Lift boards, insulate between joist, glue and screw 18-22mm chipboard in place of old boards, and nail new engineered or solid boards straight on

joelk2 · 26 Feb 2020 at 12:15

ive priced everything up and decided against it and will be going with carpet now to match the adjoining room. there was no cost saving going with the wood flood when you factor in the cost of everything such as ply, adhesive, skirting etc.