Traditional hardwood floor Kitchens, doors, rails, stud, tables, chairs, stair cases, garden furniture etc... Find answers and ask questions here!

[IanLancs]

I want to lay a traditional floor but don't want to loose to much height in the room,so for the frame under the floor I was thinking some 4"x1" with some 1" thick polysterene inbetween the lengths of wood,Would this be ok to make the floor less noisy to walk on and provide some insulation for the floor ?

[sweetorb]

hi ian

what r u laying the new floor onto? is it a screed? if so and its flat as possible id put a barrier of some sort down,then ply it (6mm/12mm),then just lay the flooring on top,ive done it before and its been fine.if it is a screed and its quite modern and done properly it wouldve already been insulated with celotex or something similar 1st anyway!
if its an existing timber joist type layout,like timber joists between the basement/ground/1st/2nd floor etc then its slightly different. in that case the only real height ul lose is the thickness of the boards,as long as theyre proper floorboards and the joists are at the appropriate centres.then u can insulate inbetween the joists with celotex!
if its the interlocking tounge and groove finished oak type flooring which is pre cut to short lenghts and layed staggered,and ur laying it on timber joists between floors,then ul need 2 overboard the joists with something quite substantial,i dont know wot the regs would be on this but if it was my house i wouldnt be happy with it unless it was overboarded with at least 18mm ply,and insulate between joists under ply.

dont know if this helps..?! one of those jobs u need 2 look at really i think....

[IanLancs]

Yeah thanks for that it's quite an old House so I will put some self leveling compound down on top of the existing concrete then some DPM with Ply on top I think.Would you screw the the ply to the floor then just tack or stick the floor boards to the ply,don't want tongue and groove just flat edge boards

[sweetorb]

hi ian

if i were u mate id get a carpenter/floorer in 2 look at job!

self levelling is only recommended to use up to about 4mm (ish). if the existing sub base is more than that out at any point then id rethink that 1st,maybe re-screeding it with concrete,cement etc 2 get it somewhere near,then think about levelling or latex.

another thing is,what do u mean by flat edged boards? theres a reason why tongue and groove is used in flooring,that is to hold it together! if u just lay a load of boards next to each other and hoping then your in for a nightmare m8,i wouldnt dream of doing that,theyll twist,warp,bow,lift,gap and be a general nitemare eventually however u try and fix them!

if youve already got some nice boards then any decent carpenter will be able to machine them up and either rebate them or router tounges and grooves on them,or even biscuit them maybe to fix them together,they dont necesarily have to be bevelled, so they will appear to be simply butt jointed.

once the sub-base is flat id just lay the ply down onto a few dabs of gripfill (other gripfill type stuff is available!!) then gripfill the boards at right angles to the way youve run the joints of the ply,never have 2 joints in the same place,easy!!

hope this helps

[IanLancs]

Yeah thanks for that think I'll just get the wallet out and pay for someone to do it,