Wooden Flooring

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Niel

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#1156230 16-Oct-2014 17:01

isis: We've just put down some glued on flooring from Carpet Court in our new home. Main reason was that it didn't have that hollow sound when walking over like you do with floating floors.
The glued on sounded a lot more solid. We went with an edge pattern around the house and looks quite cool!

We've got Torlys floating floor with their upgrade sound absorbing underlay on a concrete rib-raft floor, and we have absolutely no hollow sound. It actually feels a bit too solid for me, expected some warmer acoustics (I'm a part time sound engineer). The #1 reason for a floating floor is so that you can easily replace a board when it is damaged, and Torlys (and a couple others) you can pull the floor apart in the middle of the floor instead of lifting everything from one side.

I might do the edging later, it does look cool. Our builders just put in normal stuff and then Torlys undercut it to slide the boards in.

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Qmeister

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#1159251 21-Oct-2014 14:28

I started our flooring about a year ago, and chose bamboo. No regrets on the choice. I used it to replace carpets throughout our house after our daughter was diagnosed allergic to dust mites.

I don't like Laminate, it just seems too cheap and I'm not keen on a floor that's effectively just a photo layered over MDF (there's probably more to it, the Triton looked better than most, but I wanted more).
Hardwood was too expensive, and I found bamboo was harder anyway. Engineered flooring (which is laminate with a layer of real wood on top), was also a serious consideration, but it was expensive too.

Laying the boards is relatively easy. Preparing the sub-floor beforehand, and making necessary repairs, is important - and difficult.

It's October now and I'm not finished.

In December we finally decided on Bamboo (Plantation brand), and ordered it in January, with underlay which was essentially memory foam, really good stuff.
I let the bamboo air for a couple of weeks (actually longer, since it wasn't all installed at once).

Our sub-floor was a mess, lots of squeaks everywhere. I punched nails down wherever I could find them, and put a screw in beside them. Some areas still squeaked, had a pro builder check it out, but then the squeak came back. I ended up screwing and gluing wood under the floor between joists to stop them moving. I later discovered the process had a name: sistering the joists.

The worst thing was that a floating floor needs to be laid on a flat subfloor. Out partical-board floor had swollen 2-3mm at the seams. I sanded these down flat but injured my shoulder rotator cuff in the doing... one of the reasons the job is still not completed. I probably should have ripped up the subfloor and installed new Ecoply instead. Sounds hard but on hindsight it might have been easier and would have saved my shoulder.

Other major tasks included repairing four steps down to our garage. A builder had fixed the squeak in them by stopping them bowing when walked on. But when I lifted the carpet off them, I found they were still slightly bowed, no good for hardwood floating floor. To repair it, I layered pine boards over the top and fronts to get a nice flat step, and finally glued the bamboo floor boards over that, effectively laminating everything together for what I hope is a strong finish. The steps certainly seem solid now, and look great.

I bought tools such as Table saw (cheapie Ryobi, did the job but wish I'd got better). Hitachi drill/driver combo (how did I ever survive without them), Makita multi-tool for undercutting door frames. Mitre Saw (Toolshed trade banded one, awesome dual bevel 305mm). Plunge router for getting rid of jagged floor edge in doorway, Ryobi band sander, And Karcher workshop vac for the dust. And glue and screws.

Bought Bestwood skirtings via Carters. These are MDF but I'm putting two coats primer, two top coats on. Looks good. Wish I'd bough pre-primed though, the finish was a bit rough and I needed to sand them to get a smooth finish.

When I first ordered the bamboo, I didn't realize all the extra tools and bits would cost so much. Including the skirtings and paint (for the skitings), the extras have added up over the year to around $4000.

It's hard doing a DIY when you have a young family needing your time. It's disruptive too. But I suspect I've saved thousands in labour costs, and still have some cool tools for my next projects.

I'm on the home run now, I just have to finish sanding and painting the skirtings for three more rooms, devise some ramps where the boards sit above the kitchen lino, then I'm done.

Not bad for an I.T. geek, I suppose.

RUKI

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#1164799 30-Oct-2014 08:48

Qmeister: I started our flooring about a year ago, and chose bamboo. ...... I sanded these down flat but injured my shoulder rotator cuff in the doing... one of the reasons the job is still not completed. I probably should have ripped up the subfloor and installed new Ecoply instead. Sounds hard but on hindsight it might have been easier and would have saved my shoulder.
...

Re: rotator cuff - that could be serious, and turned into frozen shoulder. Do not listen to GP if they suggest injection with steroids but ask for the ACC case #. Look for acupuncturist with excellent references who has ACC accreditation. That would be covered by ACC.

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Delphinus

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#1164856 30-Oct-2014 10:12

I'm also looking at putting bamboo flooring down over a concrete slab. Anyone else used bamboo? What is it like after a couple of years?

RUKI

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#1165545 31-Oct-2014 09:43

Delphinus: I'm also looking at putting bamboo flooring down over a concrete slab. Anyone else used bamboo? What is it like after a couple of years?

I am interested as well in bamboo over concrete. Main concern I have is that bamboo if of poor quality can turn into black here and there and also can buldge making connections between planks rasor sharp sticking out. Anyone had observed anything like that?

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Qmeister

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#1166020 31-Oct-2014 16:35

We've had ours in for a year now, with delay before purchasing and installing new skirtings. No sign of any swelling or similar issues.
But I would suggest you get some serious underlay insulation between the concrete and the flooring, whatever you use. Laminate, engineered, hardwood and bamboo can all be damaged by dampness. You can get vinyl boards too, which would be better suited for the kitchen and bathroom areas. Or stay with lino like we did, but keep in mind the drop from the 14-16mm bamboo to the 4mm lino, it's very noticeable without some kind of small ramp down. (In the future I'm thinking about using some kind of Cemix leveller to help raise the floor level a bit in the kitchen, and install tiles or the vinyl boards I mentioned.

For your research, check out Youtube examples too, they explain what should be done for proper preparation. It's good learning, even if you get someone else to install it for you.

As for my rotator cuff injury, it's almost completely healed now. It took a long time and many trips to the physio but I barely notice any pain now, and by Christmas it should be gone (hopefully). No acupuncture needed: I'm not sure I like the idea, but thanks for the advice.

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