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Floating a 3/4" Solid Hardwood Floor Over Above Grade Concrete?

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Floating a 3/4" Solid Hardwood Floor Over Above Grade Concrete? lefebvre 12-19-2006
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Posted by John Grossbohlin on December 20, 2006, 2:13 pm



> Thanks for the tips. It seems that many installation provisions
> recomended boil down to a nail down type installation, either over a
> plywood subfloor over concrete, or the use of screeds. However, what
> about my orignal idea of actually "floating" it?
>
> Here is what I did on my test room:
>
> 1) My house is over 5 years old and the concrete is dry as its ever
> gonna be. It tested well.
> 2) I laid out a poly/foam vapor barrier over the entire space, with 12"
> overlaps and is taped using 3m blue tape.
> 3) I glued each plank of the 3/4" solid wood flooring to its neighbor
> via the tung and groove.
> 4) left a 1/2" space around the entire perimeter of the room.
>
> Thats it. The floor is floating much like an engineered product would
> be installed, but is a solid 3/4" plank floor (3" wide). The room has
> been going good for over a year now. Has seen all the seasons.
>
> Is this a crazy idea?

If high and/or stable humidity is a year round thing in Hawaii floating
shouldn't be needed as things would tend to stay constant (wet) and thus
stay put. Letting the flooring acclimate in the house and then installing it
would suffice. It's the seasonal variations and/or not letting the flooring
acclimate that tend to cause problems.

What about termites though?

DRIcore subflooring would be an option. Termites may not like this stuff at
all due to all of the adhesives and plastics. It might be worth checking
that out. http://www.dricore.com/en/eindex.htm

Another option, again with the termites in mind, would be PT sleepers to
flatten and PT ply subfloor, vapor/squeak barrier and then nail down your
wood finish floor. If the concrete is relatively flat PT plywood glued down
may work just fine however you may need two layers to deal with the
nail/staple penetration.

I'd be concerned with the termites if untreated wood were basically in
contact with concrete. They'd likely find it sooner or later.

John



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Posted by Oren on December 20, 2006, 8:05 pm


On 19 Dec 2006 19:27:51 -0800, lefebvre@iwavesolutions.com wrote:

> However, what about my orignal idea of actually "floating" it?

Follow the manufacturer's instruction. If not, a warranty is
immediately voided. You pay premium in HI for products now.

Adhesives, as I understand now have moisture barrier quialities.

Prepare the floor, get a good adhesive and put the floor down.
Floating in your test room may not have the same end result in the new
room.

>Here is what I did on my test room:

--
Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens
constantly."

Posted by marc rosen on December 19, 2006, 5:03 pm


Hello Marc,
It's Marc from recdotwindsurfing (and the old King of The Cape days. I
miss going to the Brazilian Grill in Hyannis). How are you and
Iyesha? I've seen some of your windsurf posts on recdot recently.
Sorry I don't have any advice for your floor question. But now if you
want to know how much downhaul to put on your sail, well maybe.
Take care and Merry Christmas/Happy New Year.

T.O.M. (The Other Marc)

lefebvre@iwavesolutions.com wrote:
> I am interested in floating a solid hardwood plank floor (3/4" x 3").
> Has anyone successfully done this? I am leary of glue down application
> onto the above grade cement slab. Here in Hawaii we have alot of
> moister in the air and I feel that allowing the the floor to shrink and
> grow and generally allowed to roam is a better option than locking it
> down which then could lead to buckling and other nasty things. Plus
> wood floors are supposed to give and take underfoot and not fee like
> contrete.
>
> I have successful tried this in a small room in the house for testing
> and all went well and it has been over a year with no issues to date. I
> left 1/2" gap all round the room for expansion space. Now, I want to do
> the main living room which is a lager space and higher traffic area.
> What are your thoughts, ideas, recomendations, and concerns?
>
> -Marc


Posted by efgh on December 20, 2006, 11:50 am



>I am interested in floating a solid hardwood plank floor (3/4" x 3").
> Has anyone successfully done this? I am leary of glue down application
> onto the above grade cement slab. Here in Hawaii we have alot of
> moister in the air and I feel that allowing the the floor to shrink and
> grow and generally allowed to roam is a better option than locking it
> down which then could lead to buckling and other nasty things. Plus
> wood floors are supposed to give and take underfoot and not fee like
> contrete.
>
> I have successful tried this in a small room in the house for testing
> and all went well and it has been over a year with no issues to date. I
> left 1/2" gap all round the room for expansion space. Now, I want to do
> the main living room which is a lager space and higher traffic area.
> What are your thoughts, ideas, recomendations, and concerns?
>
> -Marc
>
Holmes on Homes had an episode where the homeowner had hardwod flooring
instaled over concrete. While I can't remember the specifics of the issues,
the reader's digest version is that it, the flooring and the plywood
subfloor, rotted out in a relatively short period of time. Mike went
through the trouble of making sure there were no other water leaks that
could have caused the problem. He even drilled into the concrete slab that
was poured 25 years ago only to discover that it was the proper thickness,
the styrofoam under the slab was fine and the dirt below that was dry. I
think he concluded that the moisture in the concrete was causing the
flooring/subfloor to rot. He ended up putting down a slate tile with an
electric heating pad underneath.



Posted by resrfglc on December 20, 2006, 1:30 pm


"He ended up putting down a slate tile "

For a shop floor, tile isn't much better than concrete - or am I missing
something?


>
>>I am interested in floating a solid hardwood plank floor (3/4" x 3").
>> Has anyone successfully done this? I am leary of glue down application
>> onto the above grade cement slab. Here in Hawaii we have alot of
>> moister in the air and I feel that allowing the the floor to shrink and
>> grow and generally allowed to roam is a better option than locking it
>> down which then could lead to buckling and other nasty things. Plus
>> wood floors are supposed to give and take underfoot and not fee like
>> contrete.
>>
>> I have successful tried this in a small room in the house for testing
>> and all went well and it has been over a year with no issues to date. I
>> left 1/2" gap all round the room for expansion space. Now, I want to do
>> the main living room which is a lager space and higher traffic area.
>> What are your thoughts, ideas, recomendations, and concerns?
>>
>> -Marc
>>
> Holmes on Homes had an episode where the homeowner had hardwod flooring
> instaled over concrete. While I can't remember the specifics of the
> issues, the reader's digest version is that it, the flooring and the
> plywood subfloor, rotted out in a relatively short period of time. Mike
> went through the trouble of making sure there were no other water leaks
> that could have caused the problem. He even drilled into the concrete
> slab that was poured 25 years ago only to discover that it was the proper
> thickness, the styrofoam under the slab was fine and the dirt below that
> was dry. I think he concluded that the moisture in the concrete was
> causing the flooring/subfloor to rot. He ended up putting down a slate
> tile with an electric heating pad underneath.
>
>



Page 4 of 4       << first < 1 2 3
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