DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

We have a wooden floor in our hall which we sanded 10 years ago and want to replace with something nicer. We have already had a bad experience this year with a builder putting down a self levelling cement layer and then putting tiling on top which was done badly and had to be taken up. Others who came in afterwards said this wasn't a good idea in the first place and however good the builder / tiler was putting self levelling down on wooden floor boards was always going to lead to problems.

We now have sufficient reclaimed tongue and groove floor boards to put down and someone said we could do this by putting self levelling cement down and then putting the boards over the top and a friend who is very good at DIY has offered to do this. However to me, given the experience with the tiling, this whole procedure of putting self levelling down on top of existing floor boards just to put more floorboards on top of the cement doesn't ring true. Ultimately I think it would be better to take up the existing floor boards and put these other ones down but we may not have the budget for that.

Can I ask if anyone sees a big flaw with the self levelling on existing boards and then more on top of the self levelling scenario? Its not a big area. Just a standard terraced hall.

No you never lay self level compound on a wooden floor.
Lay 6mm ply on the existing floor and screw it down.Then glue and nail the new floorboards on top.You can hire a angled floor nailer ideal for the job from your local diy centre

welsh brickie wrote:No you never lay self level compound on a wooden floor.
Lay 6mm ply on the existing floor and screw it down.Then glue and nail the new floorboards on top.You can hire a angled floor nailer ideal for the job from your local diy centre

Great thanks. So the actual idea of laying new floorboards on old isn't totally wrong? I guess the alternative would be taking up the old floor boards but seeing as they go under the stairs that would be maybe more than we can afford. The reclaimed tongue and groove floorboards are 2cm thick. Personally I would not want to raise the level of the floor and so replaced the existing but, again, the disruption and cost may be prohibitive.

why not lay laminate flooring instead, its quite cheap, comes in various colours and is only 7mm thick.No real disruption and can be laid very quickly.

welsh brickie wrote:why not lay laminate flooring instead, its quite cheap, comes in various colours and is only 7mm thick.No real disruption and can be laid very quickly.

Thanks but I have been suggesting that to my significant half for years but she has never wanted to do that. If it was up to me I would have done that years ago.

The carpenter we have in at the moment (working on the loft) suggested replacing the floorboards in the manner mentioned before. I think he called it 'furring'.