Timber Floor Installation - what's involved?

Generally we recommend that, whatever type of timber floor you go for,
you have it professionally installed. Even the best timber floor in the world
will not look good if poorly laid.

Quick links

Installing a solid strip or parquetry timber floor
Installing an engineered or floating floor (includes Bamboo)
Installing a laminate floor
Maintenance & Restoration

Installing a solid strip timber or parquetry timber floor

Installation of solid timber and parquetry floors are the most difficult, and
require a highly skilled tradesman. It can be defined in four stages:

Acclimatisation

A parquetry or solid strip timber floor first needs to be acclimatized to the environment in which it is to be laid. This will prevent contraction and expansion of the timber after it is laid, which will result in the floor becoming distorted and uneven. Solid timber floors work best in environments of around 40-50% humidity.

In most cases the acclimatization process takes around 2 weeks, but in some (extreme) cases can take as long as 2 months.

In order to minimize movement of the floor, you must minimize the changes in climatic conditions that occur.

Laying the floor

Installing parquetry floor

A solid floor can only be laid on concrete subfloor or traditional bearers and joists. If laying on concrete, ensure the slab is clean and has a moisture content of 5% or below.

The floor on which the surface is to be laid needs to be completely level before the process begins. This may involve sanding a concrete underlay, for example. Once the underlay surface is completely flat, a moisture barrier then needs to go down to prevent the floor absorbing water from underneath, which will cause the timber to expand and distort.

Now the timber is ready to be laid. If the base layer is timber, a strip timber floor can be nailed direct to the base layer, otherwise it needs to be glued. Parquetry, due to its smaller size, can only be glued. For timber floors laid on the first floor or higher, an insulating layer (like Embelton ImpactaMat^TM) should be used as a base layer to isolate noise and prevent it travelling
down through the floor.

Parquetry, due to the smaller pieces of timber, takes slightly longer to lay.

Sanding the floor

Once the individual timber strips or parquetry have been laid, the timber needs to be sanded to ensure the surface is even, and so that the polish can be applied to finish the floor.

Polishing/Finishing the Floor

The final step! Polishing your floor gives your floor the finish you're after, as well as providing a strong resistant coating to ensure your floor lasts a lifetime. There are three different types of polishes; which are described below:

• Oil based finishes - these require more maintenance, but give less
  chance of edge bonding (splitting between boards), and will
  

  Solvent borne finish

  darken over time
• Solvent borne finishes - these are moisture cured polyurethanes and provide the hardest wearing and glossiest finish and will also darken with age.
• Water borne urethanes - these are more flexible meaning they are ideal for floors that are more prone to contraction and expansion through variable temperature conditions. These are not prone to edge bonding if applied over the manufacturers specific sealer, and have minimal odour. They cure quickly and do not darken with age, although very high gloss levels can not be achieved.

For further information about installing a solid timber or parquetry floor,
Master Builders provides a very good detailed specification.

Installing a pre-finished engineered floating floor

A major advantage of floating floors is that they can be installed over any existing flat surface - they just require a thin foam underlay to ensure a completely even level, and to prevent noise. A moisture barrier is also recommended. Many foam underlays these days double as a moisture barrier - ask your retailer for more information here.

When installing the floor, the timber planks will interlock with each other through a tongue and groove system. Alternatively, some engineered floors join through a click system (for example, Embelton Engineered Bamboo floors click together using the patented Unilin click system, requiring no glue).

Installation can be done in one of two ways. Both methods are fairly straightforward, but do require an experienced tradesman to do the job.

Secret nailing to the sub-floor

Secret nailing can only be done when the sub-floor is timber. Secret nailing is where the nails go through the "tongue" and are therefore not seen. This way holds the floor together a lot tighter. Secret nailing doesn't require glueing the two plans together, although some tradesmen will glue when they have secret nailed.

Floating on top of existing surface

This is the more common installation method and involves "floating" the floor - that is not fastening or gluing it to the sub-floor. This allows the floor to naturally expand and contract as one, reducing the likelihood of movement.

The planks are glued together in the tongue and groove and then floated on top of the existing the floor.

Care needs to be taken when doing edges, ensuring there are no gaps left between boards. There also needs to be a small "expansion gap" between the wall and board, which can easily be covered by mouldings.

For further detailed information about laying a floating floor, download our Laying instructions for Floating Floors, which can be found here.

For information on maintaining an engineered or floating floor, visit our maintenance/restoration page.

Installing a Laminate Floor

Installation is dead easy - you can even do it yourself. It uses the Unilin Clicking system, meaning it can be laid and walked upon straight away, and requires no further finishing.

If you have difficult edges, you may want to get an experienced tradesmen to undertake the job.