Installation Explained
Fitting: Types of fitting
METHODS
There are several methods to fit a wooden floor.
- Nail down method
- Glue down method
- Floating method
A. NAIL DOWN METHOD
The boards can be glued down onto existing floorboards, plywood or flooring grade chipboard or onto floor joists or batons. Suitable products:
Suitable products:
- All 20mm Engineered wood floors
- All 20mm Solid floors up to & including 160mm wide
Fitting instructions:
Once the room has been measured and an allowance made to cover wastage, the moisture content of the sub-floor and walls checked and the sub-floors confirmed as clean, dry and flat:
- We recommend that you should lay Sisalkraft, heavy-duty bitumen-backed building paper under all nail-down installations as a precaution against cupping due to damp ingress.
- Plank floors usually work best when laid down the longest wall length.
- Make sure that you inspect each board before you install it.
- The groove of the floor is laid against the wall.
- A gap must be left between the boards and the perimeter wall/skirting. This gap is called an expansion gap and must be a minimum of 10mm. Plastic spacers are available to create this gap on your starter row.
- Now lay your first row against the wall.
- Use a Primatech nailer with 38mm L nails for floorboards/board products and 50mm for joists. The Primatech nailer needs to be properly set up to fire the nail into the correct position and depth into the tongue.
- It is also important that the floorboard is not too tightly fixed to the subfloor. Again this is part of the Primatech nailer set-up.
- Nail every 250mm along with the board for floorboards/board products or into every joist/baton.
- The support from the grooves on the ends of each board means that they do not have to end on a floor joist/baton.
- Use the offcut from the last board to start the next row, making sure that the ends of the next row of boards are staggered at least 400mm from the previous row. A Parquet Clamp is useful for fitting these first few rows.
- Any damaged boards can be cut in half and also used to start new rows.
- Continue across the floor until you reach the last row.
- Cut the last row of boards to leave a 10mm gap and then use a Parquet
Clamp to edge the final row of boards into place.
- You can install skirting, scotia and L/T section or Reducer as required.
- Your floor should now be properly protected until it is ready for handover.
- For solid boards over 160mm wide, we recommend that you follow the instructions above with additional use of Unisil adhesive. If over concrete, flooring grade chipboard /ply needs to be installed.
B-GLUE DOWN METHOD
The boards can be glued down onto plywood or flooring grade chipboard – (with no under-floor heating) or onto concrete (with no under-floor heating)
Suitable products:
- All 12mm, 16mm and 20mm engineered wood floors
- All 20mm Solid floors up to & including160mm wide
- Wood Blocks and Hand made panels
For installation over concrete please additionally follow the preparation instructions as detailed below:
- For all installations, a minimum of one coat of good quality solid wood primer should be used.
- For sub-floors with a Moisture Content (MC) greater than 2%( and less than 5%), you will need to use two coats of good quality solid wood primer.
- For sub-floors with Moisture Content (MC) greater than 5% please call for our specific recommendations.
- If over concrete, flooring grade chipboard needs to be installed.
Fitting instructions
Once the room has been measured, an allowance is made to cover wastage, the moisture content of the sub-floor and walls checked and the sub-floors confirmed as clean, dry and flat:
- Plank floors usually work best when laid down the longest wall length.
- For wood blocks/panels you will need to work out where the central axis of the room runs. Laying strings from corner to corner will assist this.
- We advise that you glue several rows of planks at a time.
- Pre-cut these rows, making sure that the board lengths are staggered to ensure that the ends of different boards do not match up.
- Use the offcut from the last board to start the next row, making sure that the ends of the next row of boards are staggered at least 400mm from the previous row. A Parquet Clamp is useful for fitting these first few rows.
- Any damaged boards can be cut in half and also used to start new rows.
- A gap must be left between the boards and the perimeter wall/skirting. This gap is called an expansion gap and must be a minimum of 10mm. Plastic spacers are available to create this gap on your starter row. Make sure that this gap remains even at doorways.
- Once the first few rows of boards are ready it is time to spread the Unisil adhesive. The Unisil adhesive needs to be spread using a finely notched trowel-3mm.
- Work across the floor using this method of pre-cutting, glueing and then installing.
- Once the floor is completely cleaned off any adhesive residues before fully hardening.
- You can install skirting, scotia and L/T sections or Reducers as required.
- Your floor should now be properly protected until it is ready for handover.
- For solid boards over 160mm wide, we recommend that you follow the instructions above with additional nail fixings at 200mm centres.
C- FLOATING METHOD
We do not recommend floating any of our floors, as this is regarded as a cost-effective and more temporary fitting solution.