installing a wooden floor over a concrete myself...is it difficult?

astarte

the story is I have bought a small house...cleared me out financially, the living room/kitchenette is approx 18x 15 ft...(excluding kitchenette, where you couldn't swing half a cat, going to stick cork tiles down there-can I stick these directly to the concrete slab) it isn't a regular shape as a result, rectangular, but a long strip where the living room part connects with the stairs.

anyway there is manky carpet over a concrete slab, the house is old, so the slab is very unlikely to be insulated, someone suggested putting a wooden floor down to maximise warmth.

My understanding of what needs to be done is...

moisture barrier (any kind? or just a tough plastic sheet-previous tenants have left a roll of strong polyethylene-they used to grow dope I think!)

wooden battens, rough timber screwed into concrete (what distance should separate these)

solid insulation (kingspan K3, 30mm) between battens (is this thick enough, don;t want to loose too much height as the ceilings are not too high)

Floor boards...(maximum width? best place to buy? I assume i need to store them in the house for a while for moisture content to stablise..how long?)

so the question is, could a 40 year old woman, who is reasonably competent at DIY...(I made a bedframe recently..made it slowly, but it works!)... do this work?...

and if you can answer any of the above questions, I will be eternally grateful!!

TopTec

Phew. Where to start.

It seems like you are talking about doing a smallish area - your kitchenette?

As I see it you have two options.

Rather than buy all the materials you have listed in your post I personally would get the floor repoured. Not difficult to do, (I have replaced 3 of the floors in my old cottage). Then you can have it properly insulated and your choice of floor covering opens right up.

Digging out the old one can be labour intensive but you sound like someone who is capable of doing it. You have to be carefull to make sure you know where all the services are before starting and once they are located and isolated off you go with your choice of weapon!

Once you have it dug out then you can insulate, lay radon/vapour/Dpc, and get a quote for the concrete. I would then get a couple of lads to cart the stuff in and help level it.

This option keeps your current floor height.

You could go down the route you describe but it has drawbacks. You need more insulation than 30mm, which means you are lowering your head height by more. You can potentially cause issues with the height of the kitchen white goods and presses, sockets and lightfittings may also need to be moved and unless you choose a thick floor board and good sized battens the floor will flex and sound hollow.

You can stick cork to bare concrete but it will have little effect on the warmth of the floor and looks pretty rubbish too.

How old is you place anyway?

TT

jjf1974

Stay away from cork tiles.The floor has to completly level and smooth for them.they are expensive and need a special sealer/varnish.I layed them for a neighbour once and swore never again.They look terrible.

with the timber floor .
1. 1200 gauge polythene should do for a moisture barrier.
2. 44mmx32mm battens held with express nails, battens @ 400mm centres.
3. k3 30mm kingspan probaly isnt up to building regulation for this type of job but"its better than nothing"
4. Floor boards can be got in any builders merchants, dont forget to hire a portanailer to secret nail them. Allow a small gap around each wall for expansion.
5.Remember you will have a step of about 50mm.Also be aware that when drilling the floor they may be pipes underneath.

astarte

thanks (belatedly) for the replies...in the end I went for a fairly low tech route. I put down a good moisture barrier, some (horrible) 5mm thick sheets of green isulation board from BnQ and laid the laminate directly on that.


the place is toasty the floor looks fine,

for anyone who finds this post because you are asking the same questions. what I learned..

1.Self levelling compound is not scary, but a proper mixing attachment for a drill would really help...buy more compound than you think you will need....(you still won't have enough!)

2.Cheap laminate, is cheap for a reason, looks fine when down, but there will be blood sweat and tears to get the damn stuff down and all the gaps closed up.

3.There is no substitute for the little laminate fitting kits that you can buy (even if they aren't always good enough)

4.Your teenager will help, if you make them...and once you have sent them up into the attic to do the loft insulation, laminate is a much nicer task.

5.Do it all once you start, you will not want to start again if you stop...this is why my hallway is currently plywood..

6.Buy plenty of wood filler....plenty..!...and take off the skirting boards first...

7.there will be gaps around the edges that not even a mountain of filler wont exactly cover.....tolerate a buddhist worldview and accept them all..