New subfloor with engineered wood floor

eidolon · 27 May 2017 at 20:09

I've just bought a house which is a bit of a project. The last week has been spent ripping everything apart and during that process I've decided that the original floorboards have definitely seen better days so I would like to replace them before I fit my wood flooring.

I've never done this before so I'm just reading up now however I thought I'd ask the OCUK collective for their opinions.

Is the best solution something like 18mm WDP plywood? I will be fitting engineered wood flooring which is 14mm+3mm so I assume that this combo would be nice and strong? The last thing I want is flex and squeaks.

mattyg · 27 May 2017 at 20:23

I would pull the old Floorboards up and replace with 22mm Caberfloor. And don't forget the glue....We are mid renovation on an edwardian house. Floor levels all over the place once levelled it was much easier to fit Caberfloor (or similar) and now the floor feels like concrete.

eidolon · 27 May 2017 at 21:05

Thanks

I've never heard of Caberfloor, looks like solid stuff.

a1ex2001 · 27 May 2017 at 21:50

An old house should have some flex and squeak it's part of the character!

Buffman · 27 May 2017 at 22:07

Is there anything significantly wrong with the existing floor? Ie squeeking etc? /made of MDF?

Maccapacca · 27 May 2017 at 22:13

Ply squeaks.

Just use a chipboard glued.

mickyflinn · 27 May 2017 at 23:04

Maccapacca said:
Ply squeaks.

Big time.

rexehuk · 27 May 2017 at 23:13

mickyflinn said:
Big time.

Completely opposite to what I've heard... Chipboard is cheap and dirty. Ply is substantially more solid.

Installing 80sqm of it, so I suppose time will tell.

+ Op... Don't think you want soft wood.

You want the external plywood at 24 a sheet.

mattyg · 27 May 2017 at 23:21

rexehuk said:
Completely opposite to what I've heard... Chipboard is cheap and dirty. Ply is substantially more solid.

Installing 80sqm of it, so I suppose time will tell.

+ Op... Don't think you want soft wood.

You want the external plywood at 24 a sheet.

Having 22mm WBP ply in the bedroom and nearly 5000sq feet of caberfloor everywhere else. I wont be buying ply for the floor.

The bedroom squeaks like so bad I'm considering ripping it back up. But its going to be a guest bedroom so I keep asking myself am I really that bothered

a1ex2001 · 28 May 2017 at 07:47

We have chipboard in our loft conversion and while it's flat it makes more noise than the original floor boards everywhere else!

rexehuk · 28 May 2017 at 08:08

mattyg said:
Having 22mm WBP ply in the bedroom and nearly 5000sq feet of caberfloor everywhere else. I wont be buying ply for the floor.

The bedroom squeaks like so bad I'm considering ripping it back up. But its going to be a guest bedroom so I keep asking myself am I really that bothered

That's pretty interesting. Did you baton it etc?

I'm avoiding tg because if you need access under floor you're stuffed.

In my ideal world I'd tear the floors up and put traditional floorboards!

a1ex2001 · 28 May 2017 at 08:28

rexehuk said:
I'm avoiding tg because if you need access under floor you're stuffed.

No more than you are with giant sheets of ply or chipboard it's perfectly possible to pull up a single board from tongue and groove just fun a jig saw down peach side.

rexehuk · 28 May 2017 at 08:32

a1ex2001 said:
No more than you are with giant sheets of ply or chipboard it's perfectly possible to pull up a single board from tongue and groove just fun a jig saw down peach side.

If I had taken that advice on my current build... I'd have been dead or have a flooded house.

I've got pipes sitting literally 1mm below surface of chipboard right now as well as cabling!

I found a 3 meter breaker bar far more effective and fun! Jump on one end, floor explodes.

It's interesting seeing ways people do things though, I think I'm going to continue on path of straight edge ply, and we'll see in a few months if I'm swearing!

ANDARIAL · 28 May 2017 at 09:03

Weyroc or caberfloor and poyurethane glue(the stuff that foams)
and screws,lots of screws
glue tops of joists before laying the boards .Do the joints too

You will not have any sqeeking after doing this (BUT you not be able to take up any board without cutting it to pieces in the future

eidolon · 28 May 2017 at 09:09

The Craig said:
Is there anything significantly wrong with the existing floor? Ie squeeking etc? /made of MDF?

It's been patched all over the place (with MDF in parts). Has bits missing and is loose so rather than try to patch it some more I thought I'd just start from scratch and replace it all.

DXP55 · 28 May 2017 at 09:25

The idea is to use a circular saw and set depth to bottom of tongue - these days use a multi tool to go across T&G board -- A wrecking bar is OK if you want the lot up.

mattyg · 28 May 2017 at 13:30

rexehuk said:
That's pretty interesting. Did you baton it etc?

I'm avoiding tg because if you need access under floor you're stuffed.

In my ideal world I'd tear the floors up and put traditional floorboards!

Access is easy. unless you want proper access. But we've just ripped up the old floorboards and they were T&G

Access via
http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-s...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CMj9jsPLktQCFUZFGwodJAEKEw

and

http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-a...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CNT54dPLktQCFbET0wodmxIMpg

kinobestew123 · 28 May 2017 at 22:29

I replaced the upstairs floor in my house which was originally 40+year old chipboard with 18mm plywood from Wickes. The existing floor had all swelled from water/disgusting rotten carpet.

We didn't glue it or use any particularly fancy boards. We left spaces of a couple of mm between board joins and ensured that all joins were supported by a joist or a noggin. We put quite a few new noggins in to support it too.

Screw wise, we used these:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/spax-flooring-screws-4-5-x-60mm-300-pack/88716

They are absolutely fantastic. They have a screw thread, then a flat part, then more screw thread. This means that the board does not lift at all when you're screwing it in and also, it prevents squeaks because the board and joist are on separate threads. They use a torx bit too which is unbelievable. The bit never ever slips. I could have impact driven through the joist without it slipping if I wasn't careful. We used a LOT of these. Probably way overboard, like a screw every 8inch. But I didn't want any creaking.

We're now a couple of years in and it still feels absolutely solid with no creaks. We also took up one of the boards to give access to the central heating when installing a new bathroom recently (we wanted a towel rail). The board came up dead easy and went back down perfectly again. No damage to it what-so-ever.

Buffman · 28 May 2017 at 22:47

kinobestew123 said:
.

Did you replace with plywood as in tongue and groove plywood? Or flat sections?

What would you guys recommend for sections of floor that need replaced

eidolon · 29 May 2017 at 21:33

ANDARIAL said:
Weyroc or caberfloor and poyurethane glue(the stuff that foams)

Which brand of glue do you recommend? And how much of it is needed? (I will be replacing 200m2 of flooring)

New subfloor with engineered wood floor

Tea Drinker