Flooring - Subfloor levelling and final finish

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted User 298457
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Deleted User 298457

Deleted User 298457

Hi folks,

I am nearing completion of my ~50sqm of subfloor insulation. Thank god. I am now being advised it looks like a warehouse floor, especially given Wickes seemingly spend an extra quid or two on black ink writing and stickers all over the boards.

The floors are fairly level - although there is a distinct difference between the remaining 1930s boards and the new 22mm chipboard.

I am thinking a screed is probably unavoidable. Would I also need to overboard in ply?

For final floor I have a lead on 88sqm of Amtico (£2k) which, even with 10% extra on what I need, is almost double. However I do want the herringbone pattern - so I assume I will probably waste significantly more?

Are any of the "big box retailers" worth checking out?
Is it worth paying someone?

Pics for your time:
mjr43uM.jpg
 
:confused: why screed on top of weyroc?,it should be flat enough
re herring bone pattern it takes more wastage than straight but you `might`save the ofcut to use on the opposite side of floor.....maybe depending on size
 
ANDARIAL said:
:confused: why screed on top of weyroc?,it should be flat enough
re herring bone pattern it takes more wastage than straight but you `might`save the ofcut to use on the opposite side of floor.....maybe depending on size
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What's weyroc?

It seems flat but like I said, I have some 'joins' onto the old 1930s t&g. I also don't know if it's 'flat enough' for something like amtico.

Also if I ever take the floor up, will if not destroy the chipboard?
 
You've seen my thread on leveling up a wooden floor.

I personally don't like the idea of screed over wood. Wood moves so won't screed deteriorate over time, and wood floor has gaps so how do you contain the very liquid screed? Plus if you need to ever get under there it would be a nightmare.

Get a 6ft level over it in different places and see how flat it is.

Depending on the height difference between the new chipboard and original floor boards you could make that up with ply sheets.
 
Agree put a 6ft level over it and see how FLAT (Not level) that it is. If it is flat then you'll be OK.

Where there is "humps" to adjoining rooms without the same flooring eg 1+mm gaps you will need to screed/"feather finish" both sides to flatten out the differential.
 
I've whacked the 6ft level over a 3 way join in the dining room and there is a definite wobble. Can you run a plane/sander over this to remove any high spots?

Share a similar opinion @danlightbulb w.r.t to screeding over wood.
 
I used a power plane to take off some high edges when connecting old to new boards with slight height differences. Was much quicker than sanding.

It was getting 18mm underlay and a thick carpet, so perfection wasn't quite so nessecary.
 
To be honest it's not far off perfect. Maybe I just need to book some time removing high spots 'manually'. 1mm or so over 6ft must be within tolerance? :D
 
Buffman said:
I hope the above pic is before you have used d4 chipboard glue to the floor (and joints) and screwed it all in by the way
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I never bothered glueing to joists because it's silver taped anyway. It's screwed with proper spax floorboard screws 3 times per joist though. The boards are d4'ed to each other.
 
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dlockers said:
Can you run a plane/sander over this to remove any high spots?
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Yes I did this in my case. If you look back at my thread and the pictures you can see I planed off a section of boards near the window where I had a high spot. I couldn't get rid of it all but it helped I think. I only used a manual plane.
 
Should ply over the chipboard. I don't know how feasible it is using SLC over chipboard then laying, sounds a bit off.

As to the level/flatness the tolerances will obviously vary between products but 1mm is nothing.
 
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gingergundog said:
Should ply over the chipboard. I don't know how feasible it is using SLC over chipboard then laying, sounds a bit off.

As to the level/flatness the tolerances will obviously vary between products but 1mm is nothing.
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Latex self levelling is the thing to use from what I can tell.
 
danlightbulb said:
As a side note @dlockers , don't you just hate how skimpy these old houses are on joist work? I can see from your photo youre on maybe 2x3" floor joists there? So much for he over-engineering that older houses are often rumoured to be.
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They look more 4"x2" to me and this type of floor rests on several sleeper walls (and sometimes ends in walls) they are usually way more supported than upstairs joists and hence don't need to be as big. For example when I replaced the floors on a similar home each downstairs joist had 4 points of contact compared to just the two ends of upstairs and sizes were 4"x2" downstairs, 8" x 2" upstairs.
 
I've had solid oak t&g glued down in my living room for the last 15yrs or so, just glued straight onto the chipboard with no problem. Any small difference in height will probably be taken up with the adhesive.
Over plying is only for tiles, as the thermal expansion and contraction of the chipboard will crack the tiles(as I found out)
 
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