Installing Hardwood Flooring Over Concrete and Wood Sub Floors

Expansion & Contraction of Hardwood Flooring

"The flooring shop said to leave 10mm for solid wood floor expansion at the walls...now the boards are lifting off the floor." Ill informed advice like this often leads to floor problems. Many flooring sales people unfamiliar with solid wood flooring assume expansion is the same as laminate flooring. In reality that 10mm is not enough for solid wood flooring.

What Is An Expansion Area? Why Do We Need It?

Expansion areas are spaces left around the perimeter of rooms, against fixed objects such as columns, thresholds, hearths, skirting boards, and other stationary items built or secured into the framing structure of the home. Even though Hardwood flooring used is no longer living and breathing it still reacts to moisture changes in the environment. The cells in the solid wood will take on or absorb moisture when the relative humidity is high, or when exposed to water. Expansion takes place, and the hardwood grows, for lack of a clearer term, across the grain (width) of the plank (see below, not all will react this way). Conversely when air moisture levels decrease, moisture content evaporates, shrinking of the solid wood will occur.

When we say spaces, they are defined as installing the hardwood flooring up to and away from the fixed objects. For example; "we recommend at least 15mm small to medium area-18mm expansion on larger areas at the skirting board or wall if new skirting to be fitted."

Hardwood flooring can react to the presence of moisture. In the dry winter heating months, moisture can leave the wood flooring causing the floor to contract slightly in size, which can leave slight gaps between each floor board. In the summer months when the humidity is higher, the hardwood flooring will expand and the gaps will disappear. If there is too much moisture in the subfloor it will cause the wood planks to cup, or buckle. Nearly all problems related to hardwood flooring are due to improper installation and sub floor preparation. This is why it is important when installing hardwood flooring that you follow the correct recommended installation methods by the manufacturer.

Direct Glue Installations

A direct glue installation requires the use of a flooring adhesive applied directly onto the subfloor (never directly apply to the boards). This method can be used on concrete and wooden subfloors. When done correctly this is the most stable method for fitting solid wood flooring as the elastic flooring adhesive allows the floor to expand and contract with no problems.

If you are laying over a concrete subfloor you will first need checked the concrete moisture, if the floor has a moisture content of over 4% then either wait until the sub floor dries to meet this level or use an appropriate moisture barrier, we recommend Sika Mb Primer to ensure no damp rises up into your new floor.

Also note that new concrete slabs require a minimum of 60 days drying time before covering them with a wood floor.

All Concrete sub-floors must be dry, smooth, level and free of structural defects. If the concrete sub floor is uneven we recommend using sika latex self leveling compound to level the subfloor. The concrete must also be free of contaminants i.e. paint, oil, wax grease, dirt and curing compounds (the reason for this is that you need the self leveling compound to bond to the sub floor).These may be removed chemically or mechanically as your local hardware store and they will sell you the correct floor cleaner, but do not use solvent-based strippers under any circumstances. The use of residual solvents can create problems with the bonding of flooring adhesives. It is important to ensure a proper bond between the adhesives and concrete and wood panels.

If you have a wooden subfloor you will need to lay a plywood base over the existing floor boards (we recommend using 4mm -6mm exterior grade plywood and screw down every 15cm along the edges and at 20cm intervals throughout the rest of the board using the 1 inch deck screws) before installation, this will then give you a smooth and level surface for you to install you hardwood flooring onto.

You will need to leave a 15mm expansion gap around the perimeter of the room for large areas over 6 meters in length we recommend 18mm expansion gap. To maintain this gap during installation spacers are provided in the kits. After you have installed the hardwood floor you can cover this expansion gap with scotia or new skirting boards The 15mm expansion gap also needs to be left in doorways where the hardwood floor follows through from one room to another we sell on this website a full range of door profiles available to match your floor.

Nailed Down Installations

Nailed down installation is the traditional way to install hardwood floors and can be done either directly onto wooden subfloor or on a concrete subfloor with the use of battens. When fixing battens onto concrete you will need a power-actuated nailer to drive through the battens and fix directly into the concrete, firstly lay out polyethylene moisture sheet then plywood over the battens to create a new sub floor. We recommend 12mm exterior grade plywood and 2inch x 4inch battens. Lay battens around perimeter at ½ inch from the wall, leave ¼ inch gap at each end. Position the first batten so its centre is 16 inches from the outside edge of the perimeter batten. Lay out the remaining battens across the area 16 inch intervals. Always check you battens are level using a level gauge you may need to use cedar shims to level out dips in the concrete, slide the shims under the battens until level. (If in doubt we recommend consulting a professional fitter for this method).

Wooden Subfloor

Hardwood floors can be nailed into existing wooden subfloors such as floorboards or plywood but not into chipboard floors as these are not strong enough to hold the nails. The floorboards must be in good condition and level if not it is advisable to lay 6mm exterior grade plywood down first.

To avoid creaking, check over the subfloor and securely fasten any loose floorboards. For added soundproofing it is also advisable to use a standard foam underlay.

When you nail down a solid wood floor you use a Porta Nailer to drive a nail at a 30 degree angle through the tongue and into the subfloor. Porta Nailers can be hired from any good hire shop but are expensive to buy.

Again you will need to leave a 15mm expansion gap around the perimeter of the room. To maintain this gap during installation spacers are provided in the installation kits.

After you have installed the floor you can cover this expansion gap with scotia or new skirting boards.The 15mm expansion gap also needs to be left in doorways where the floor follows through from one room to another; we sell full range of door profiles available to match your floor on this website.

WASTAGE

When ordering your new floor we recommend you allow for some wastage due to cuts a professional fitter would add on an extra 2%-5% of flooring needed to finish a job. We recommend non professional fitter should add on 5%-10%.
for futher information visit our website where you can also buy the wood flooring online at http://www.ukflooring4less.co.uk/

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Installing Granite Steps

Granite steps can really dress up the front of a home. Their natural look along with their ruggedness and low maintenance makes them an excellent alternative to other doorstep choices.

A few years back I decided to replace the prefab concrete staircase that graced my home's entrance way with granite steps.

Installing granite steps is not a home improvement project that do-it-yourself homeowners can normally do themselves. This said, there are some aspects of the project you can do yourself.

To begin the process of installing granite steps, start by finding a granite stone supplier that can come to your home and assess your project. They will listen to your ideas, make some measurements, and determine the number of steps you will need for the project. They will also state, as they did in my case, that the pre-fabricated concrete steps will need to be removed and that a solid footing/foundation slab will need to be constructed to lay the granite steps on.

Removing the Prefabricated Concrete Steps

After meeting with the granite stone supplier, I went to task on removing the prefabricated concrete steps. With a pair of safety glasses, work gloves and a sledge hammer I began the process of breaking up the prefabricated concrete steps. After a couple of hours of work I reduced the steps to small fist size stones. I removed the material from the site; however I kept them relatively close at hand for the next stage of the project, building the concrete footing/foundation slab.

Building the Concrete Footing/Foundation Slab

During the process of demolishing the prefabricated concrete steps, I observed that they had rested on a few concrete bricks, which laid flat on the fill material around the foundation.

Using a shovel and pick ax, I removed about 1.5 feet of fill material from around the foundation entrance way and replaced it with some of the broken up concrete prefabricated stones. While adding the stones, I also mixed in some of the original fill material.

Next, I drilled several 2 inch deep holes into the side of the concrete home foundation wall and slid rebar rods into them. The rebar rods, laid flat on top of the stone/file material.

I then attached several rebar rods perpendicular the other rebar rods I just installed into the concrete and tied them together with stainless steel wire.

With the fill and rebar in place, I built a wooden frame using 2"x8"s that sat on top of the fill/stone base. The frame was open along the back wall (next to the foundation).

I hammered in wooden stakes into the ground on the outside of the frame and attached them to the frame using screws. While screwing them in I made sure the frame was level, by running a 2"x4" on top of the frame, with a level placed on top of it. I checked the back side, the front side, and from corner to corner.

I then placed into the frame additional stones from the demolition of the prefabricated concrete stone steps and back filled along the outside of the frame with fill.

Pouring the Concrete Slab

Though you can buy bags of Portland cement and mix up your own concrete, I found it better to order concrete from a local concrete mixing company. It's a heck of a lot less effort and the cost for a yard of concrete is relatively inexpensive compared to buying small 80 pound bags of Portland cement and mixing them up by hand.

After the concrete was poured I used a 2x4 as a strike board to level off (screeding) the concrete. Basically this process involves laying the 2x4 on end across the concrete frame and working from back to front moving the board in a sawing motion side to side. This process floats the concrete and creates a smooth finished surface.

I then let the slab set up for a couple of days before removing the frame and backfilling with soil. After the slab had set up for about a week it was ready for the granite steps.

Installing the Granite Steps

This was the easy part (at least from the homeowners perspective), as it involved only watching the granite stone supplier lifting and installing the granite steps in place. In our case they actually had a crane on the truck that lifted the stones and moved them into place.

Installing Railings

If railings are required, you can pre-drill holes into the granite steps and install railings if required or desired.

Installing granite steps involves some significant upfront work; however the finished look is well worth the investment. Surprisingly, the cost of installing granite steps is cheaper than one may originally think, so before you decide to forgo the idea of granite steps contact a granite supplier and get a quote. Also, if you are not up to the site preparation the granite supplier may be able to do the work or at least offer you contractor names that can do the work for you.

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