Installing Floating Flooring

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Installing Floating Flooring

Gurezaemon

~HONYAKKER!~
1355 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#317946 29-Nov-2024 13:23

We're looking at putting in some floating flooring for the kitchen, dining room, and hall. Options are an MDF type thing (around 10 mm thick) with a melamine upper surface, or a hybrid type (around 5 mm thick) backed thing with a 1-mm rubber backer. We plan to do the installation ourselves.

The room currently has elderly (but decent condition) vinyl, which I REALLY do not want to have to remove. There are concerns of asbestos, never mind likely days of work involved. Underneath all this is chipboard. Both the MDF and hybrid types seem OK over existing vinyl.

Things I'm interested in are:
-Resistance to sunlight - half of the dining room gets pretty intense Northland sun
-Amount of expansion and contraction - laterally and longitudinally
-Waterproofing - fine verses spills (MDF) or can handle being drenched (hybrid)

I'm sure the group mind has thoughts on different types - I'd love to hear input from people who aren't trying to sell me their particular line - personal experiences please!

Get your business seen overseas - Nexus Translations

aaristotle

145 posts

Master Geek

#3314197 29-Nov-2024 14:14

We recently had Aqualoc supplied by Sicco Floor Design installed in a rental by our builder/neighbour. Product is great, waterproof hybrid planks with attached 1.5mm backing underlay. Price was very good, and our neighbour has used it on his own house and rental.

I watched it being installed and there are a few tips and tricks for things that would probably catch out first time installers, for any of these floor products.

Measuring the width of rooms it is being installed in and calculate to make sure you don't end up with a very narrow last strip, ie make sure you end up with at least half a plank wide each side.

Lots of measuring/marking/double checking to cut out notches to fit around the doorway trims. A renovator tool works very well.

The floor does expand and shrink with temperature so either the skirting board has to be undercut to slide the planks under, or carefully pried off and reinstalled on top of the new planks. If pried off cut the pin nails off flush at the back of the skirting boards rather than trying to tap out, ends up with much less damage.

Planks interlock so need to be staggered on each row. Some places they will have to be glued down as there is just no way to click both the side connector and end connector in at the same time so the end connectors need to cut off and butt joined and glued.

Getting the first full length of planks in place, fitted around the doorways and perfectly straight, took as much time as it took to lay the rest of the width of a hallway. Tack the planks (where covered later by skirting) or pack behind to maintain straightness until at least 3 rows have been installed, as planks won't interlock properly later on if not straight at the start. Amazing how many walls are not perfectly straight!

wellygary

8338 posts

Uber Geek

#3314199 29-Nov-2024 14:26

Is there a significant price difference?

I would keep away from MDF in a Kitchen,

Sure its likely to be fine, BUT if you have a leak, particularly a slow leak under a sink or behind a dishwasher, you run the danger of ending up with a partially swollen floor that you'll likely need to replace...

Jase2985

13465 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3314214 29-Nov-2024 15:02

tech specs for a couple of different brands of Hybrid flooring and their sheets says Dimensional Stability ≤0.25%, which over 5m is 12.5mm or 2.5mm per meter.

Gurezaemon

~HONYAKKER!~
1355 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3314287 29-Nov-2024 20:37

aaristotle:

We recently had Aqualoc supplied by Sicco Floor Design installed in a rental by our builder/neighbour. Product is great, waterproof hybrid planks with attached 1.5mm backing underlay. Price was very good, and our neighbour has used it on his own house and rental.
<snip>

Thanks for the advice! All of that makes perfect sense. A chat with someone in the business today reinforced the importance of having enough in the way of room for these things to expand. I was told that the hybrid (=plastic) ones such as these tend to expand more than the MDF ones. The lack of concern about getting the Aqualoc wet is a big plus for us.

I'm also wondering about doorways, etc. Should I be using the multitool to dig out a narrow slot under all the door frame stuff to slot it in (to handle thermal expansion), or just trim them exactly to fit, and hope that it's not going to expand much (or at all) in those areas?

Also, the Whangarei Aqualoc dealer is a 10 minute walk away! - I'll wander down in the next few days and have a chat.

wellygary:

I would keep away from MDF in a Kitchen, sure its likely to be fine, BUT if you have a leak, particularly a slow leak under a sink or behind a dishwasher, you run the danger of ending up with a partially swollen floor that you'll likely need to replace...

I totally hear you. My house is 60-something years old, and... stuff happens, like pipes leaking. Not having to worry about the floor soaking up water in the same way that the crappy MDF vanity in the bathroom has around the bottom edges is a major advantage. MDF is horrible stuff.

Get your business seen overseas - Nexus Translations

Handle9

11404 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3314302 29-Nov-2024 20:59

I'd strongly recommend SPC over the older style engineered timber floors. I've used both and SPC is a much much better product. It's thermally stable so doesn't expand and contract like the chipboard back alternatives and is water resistant. It's just a much better product. I've had SPC in my current house in Dubai for two and a half years and it's great. It was an inexpensive product as well.

Ours is laid tight to existing tile skirting with a bead of silicon and has been very stable over the temperature ranges we get here.

If you overlay the existing floors it'll come down to how level the floors are. If they are true all good, if not you'll have squeaks and hollow bits. The pros will grind the high points and fill the low points with leveling compound to get a true surface.

They also have a small circular saw for undercutting the skirting perfectly which works extremely well. If you are overlaying existing floors you'll have to trim any doors that are there so they will fit.

Handle9

11404 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3314303 29-Nov-2024 21:02

This is the type of tool the pros use:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roberts-Rotating-Trimming-Cutting-Skirting/dp/B07NLBS9XX

aaristotle

145 posts

Master Geek

#3314346 30-Nov-2024 10:15

Gurezaemon:

I'm also wondering about doorways, etc. Should I be using the multitool to dig out a narrow slot under all the door frame stuff to slot it in (to handle thermal expansion), or just trim them exactly to fit, and hope that it's not going to expand much (or at all) in those areas?

Also, the Whangarei Aqualoc dealer is a 10 minute walk away! - I'll wander down in the next few days and have a chat.

On our install the builder undercut the door trims a few mm with a multitool and chipped out with a small chisel. Even a hallway will have 0.5mm shrinkage/expansion which will leave a tiny crack when cold, which I know I would notice. The other option, as Handle9 mentioned, is to find a matching brown silicon and have a suitable small expansion gap around the edge filled with silicon. We didn't need to cut the doors for the Aqualoc but did for rooms having carpet installed for the first time.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

mdf

3518 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3314482 30-Nov-2024 20:29

I have installed a Torly's product (I did the Evertile but the Everwood laminate is the same thing, just with a different look and size). Laminate top with a cork and rubber backing. Super impressed with the product; lovely and warm to walk on. These are also apparently slightly forgiving of a less than perfectly flat floor so was happy with just a poly underlay, didn't need the underlay with a few mm of give.

Installation was pretty easy following the instructions: https://torlys.co.nz/installation-videos/. Just go slow and take your time. As others have said, first few are critical. Measure carefully to both the wall and (if you can) the diagonals to make sure everything is as square and flush as it can be.

Personally I don't especially like the look of undercut skirting so pulled the old stuff off and replaced (easy decision because the old stuff was also in bad nick). Laid the tiles to less than 10 mm of the wall then (because its a bathroom) siliconed around the outside before new skirting back on top.

Planning ahead is a super worthwhile investment. I was doing a bathroom and didn't want little slivers around the shower or toilet, so figuring our the spacing and direction took some trial and error. Which is a cheap mistake using CAD/paper and could have been a disaster IRL.

If you're doing laminate lengths, have you got access to a good ripsaw? Either a table saw or track saw, since odds are you will need to rip down at least a few boards.

Gurezaemon

~HONYAKKER!~
1355 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3314596 1-Dec-2024 12:43

I've noticed a couple of major uneven sections. Under a 2-m straight edge, there is a hollow that is 2 cm (!) deep. That looks to be way to deep for a bit of leveling compound.

Given the amount of (asbestos-containing) vinyl that I absolutely do not want to remove in order to remove and fix huge chunks of chipboard, I'm thinking building it up with some screwed down ply, and then finishing with the leveling compound - does that sound like it would work?

I've watched a fair few tutorials over the last couple of days, but this one seems to be the most comprehensive and noob friendly.

Get your business seen overseas - Nexus Translations

cshwone

1070 posts

Uber Geek

#3314603 1-Dec-2024 13:57

I would be wondering what has caused a 2cm hollow before going any further!!!!

Gurezaemon

~HONYAKKER!~
1355 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3314665 1-Dec-2024 14:17

cshwone:

I would be wondering what has caused a 2cm hollow before going any further!!!!

A badly warped joist, according to a builder friend. It's in between two floors, so I'm not really keen on demolishing a chunk of ceiling and floor to get at it. Also, it hasn't moved in 20 years, so I'm pretty confident it has moved as much as it is going to.

Get your business seen overseas - Nexus Translations