How do I attach real wooden flooring on to concrete?

[mindi_007]

Hiya,
I was wondering if any of you can help me?!! I want to have floorboards throughout the bottom floor of my house only it's a concrete base. How is the best way of making this happen, to attach a frame to the concrete then nail my floorboards to the frame or give up and put laminate down (which is very tempting but I'd prefer the real floor). I have no problems with moving the architrave and skirting as I'm going to be changing that on the way so height of the floor is not too much of an issue. Anyone got any advice?

p.s. is the floor okay getting wet? do I need some sort of waterproof underlay and do I need to 'treat' the wooden frame that I attach my boards to? ta

[hexbaz]

... is the floor okay getting wet? do I need some sort of waterproof underlay and do I need to 'treat' the wooden frame that I attach my boards to? taYes you should use a waterproof underlay. I have a wooden floor over concrete, throughout the ground floor of my house.

Consists of strips of wood (NOT a 'frame' as such), Hilti'd to the concrete, on top of an underlay. The flooring is simply nailed to the strips (a bit like building a deck, except the floorboards are only 20mm or so above the concrete base).

Hope this helps... No doubt you will get a stack of other advice from these excellent fora.

[julianx]

I think this topic has been covered some time ago try doing a search.
If your going to do a "real timber floor" then it is possible to glue and mechanicaly fix say 75x50 mm joists to the slab then nail flooring to these.
If it was me I'd put down a floating timber floor, I think this is what you call laminate, I put on down for someone about 5 years ago and was quite suprised how good it looked.

[journeyman Mick]

You can also glue your flooring directly to the slab. The polyurethane adhesive also acts as a waterproof membrane. Tilling Timber make a prefinished 12mm thick flooring whilst Boral make a 19mm raw timber flooring, both of which are suitable for direct fixing to concrete.

Mick

[vsquizz]

You can also glue your flooring directly to the slab. The polyurethane adhesive also acts as a waterproof membrane. Tilling Timber make a prefinished 12mm thick flooring whilst Boral make a 19mm raw timber flooring, both of which are suitable for direct fixing to concrete.

MickYep, what Mick said. Don't put down a frame, your wasting your time and space. There are several types of solid timber parquetry available as well as the manufactured T&G "Click/Clack" floorings but the solid timber is a better look. Contact a timber flooring supplier and have a yarn with them.


Cheers

[bitingmidge]

...and Big River Timbers make a good quality ply flooring that looks like the real thing, but is much more stable in a stick-down situation.

Cheers,

P

[vsquizz]

Does Mountain Creek run into Big River??

[bitingmidge]

Nah.

Mountain Creek Runs into Mooloolah River! :D Neither are all that big.

I think "Big River" is the Clarence on the NSW North Coast but it could be the Tweed, Someone from down there will surely tell us!!

Cheers,

P :D

[E. maculata]

Nah Squizzy,
Close Midge, it runs through our fair city(big town) however we do have our fair share of mountin' men around the big river area..(so I'm told by others, who're in the know).

[bitingmidge]

I knew that!!!

...but had an idea that the Big River guys were actually at Murwillumbah??

P :D

[Marc]

http://jaw.iinet.net.au/projects/flooring.html
http://www.boral.com.au/Article/slimwood_Launch.asp?site=Boral&AUD=contractorBuilder
http://www.carmelaustralia.com.au/faq.html

Have a look at this links, they give you an idea of what you can do.

[glock40sw]

I'm staying out of this one.
You all Know my thoughts on Timber flooring over Concrete.
G'day Marc:D .
Hooroo
Regards, Trevor.
Grafton

[E. maculata]

Look at these 2 above, how dare they stay on topic & what's even more disgustin' agreeing on something :p
Midge, Big River timbers are just north of Grafton, 5 ks, in Junction hill, but the original mill was somewhere south of the river I think?. As far as I know they are the only large volume ply manufucturers who peel Euc's, all the other peelers do weeds.....sorry pinus species.
The one at M'bah you're thinking of is the Big B(Boral just about finished 60 trillion buck refit) used to be Standard Sawmilling where I started my working life at :(

Bruce C.
Yeah Yeah, I know too many useless bits of information floatin around the cranium.

[bitingmidge]

Yeah Yeah, I know too many useless bits of information floatin around the cranium.
No such thing as too many useless bits of information!!

Used to buy all my stuff from Standards when I was building humpys in the Tweed area in the '70's! They were just about the only source of kd timber in those days.

Crikey! You know you're getting old when you get nostalgic about your timber supplier from thirty years ago!

Cheers,

P :D :D

[vsquizz]

Mindi, I have 2 bedrooms done in tas oak...OK..Ok lets just accept that its kiln dried aussie hardwood what is laid direct onto the concrete with a Poly glue...and it looks like Tassie Oak. I have no "proper" building flooring/trade training unless you include building T&G shearing shed floors and putting roofs back on Hospitals in the Philipines.

I went to a supplier (the timber yard) and kicked the tyres. I went to his recommended prof floor layer and kicked his tyres (several times). The flooring installer's first question was is it an old house or is it new concrete. He had been laying timber floors onto concrete in WA for 9 years with absolutley no problems save putting down a hardwood floor on concrete that was less than six months laid. (too much moisture).

Cut to the chase, I have had it down for nearly 4 years and its as good as the day the laid it. BTW he laid it, came back a week later and sanded it (lightly) and then finished it (Polyurethane). We were not permitted to walk on it for two weeks in total but it was well worth it. I think this was being overcautious but hey, its a great job. I installed jarrah skirting boards later and we have been extremely happy with it. Cost was $90 sq/m laid. Most good carpets cost more than this.

I would say that I "could" do the job myself but I'd like to practice on somebody else's place first:D . Its not the type of job you can afford to bugger up.

NB Timber flooring is generally successful in central and southern WA because the humidity is generally low and does not fluctuate a lot by comparison to places like Sydney and Brisbane. WA does get some high humidity at times but it is not prolonged, only last for a few hours or a day at most. Worst part is keeping the sand off while the finish cures:D


Cheers

[mindi_007]

Hiya Guys!
Sorry it's been a while before I could reply as I've been working
all over the place.
Thankyouuuuu! : ) I've been reading around and checking out
ideas and I think I need to think about how humungous this job is gonna be
(and if I should attempt to tackle this on my own). hmmmm
I don't really mind how long it's going to take as it's my little eeer
hobby/project? so long as it looks good and doesn't take forever.
Thanks again....any other thoughts are welcome

[Marc]

Trevor, I stumbled across one of those home renovation shows ( by accident I swear) and they where laying a hardwood tongue and groove floor on a concrete slab. Yet what they did first was to lay what looked like 7mm or perhaps 10mm plywood, and the floor on top (diagonally to the wall)
What do you think of that? Have you seen it done? How can you nail to 10mm plywood?

[glock40sw]

G'day Marc.
I have seen many T&G floors laid to ply. Mostly 19mm ply.
I would not lay to 7 or 10mm ply. It is not thick enough to get a good hold for the Secret nails or staples.
Sheets of 19mm ply get fixed to the slab via ramsets.

Btw.. There is an add in the August Timbertrader Mag for Bostik ultraset.
It shows their concrete sealer/leveler and glue.
I love their stuff for direct stick to concrete for 12mm or 19mm T&G...It Rocks.
Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor
Grafton

[vsquizz]

Mindi, heres a bit of a guide that explains some of what Trevor is talking about.

http://www.hyne.com.au/downloads/pdf/fixing%20guides/flooringfg.pdf

Cheers