Solid Wood Flooring
Solid wood flooring is made from one piece of hardwood timber. The width of the boards can range from 90mm - 210mm and the average thickness is 18mm. The main disadvantages of solid flooring with its installation. Solid wood will naturally expands and contracts after installation, it will also react to moisture problems in either the subfloor or the room it is installed in. With this in mind special care needs to be taken when installing and strict guidelines must be meet.
You have two choices when deciding to install, you can either fully glue or secret nail to the subfloor. Secret nailing is the preferred choice and this can be done directly onto battens or onto a plywood base. If you have a concrete subfloor and decided to fully glue the floor to this then you must first check the moisture content of the subfloor to ensure it is below 4%. If the reading is above then you will need to use a DPM. See installation guide for more details.
You will also need to ensure you use the correct adhesive when gluing the floor down. Failure to follow these guidelines will lead to problems later with the installation failing. The most common installation failure with a solid wood floor is using the incorrect adhesives and moisture problems relating to the subfloor. Both will result the timber cupping. |
