Oak floorboard help required

[joel.riley1]

Hi all,

Im looking for some help with my house, currently in renovation/restoration of our grade II listed cottage.

The downstairs ceiling has visible beams showing, with the floorboards above sitting on top, then the previous owner had chipboard flooring above that, carpet on top.

Id like to take the chipboard up, repair the floorboards that need it, then install floor insulation panels on top. Wet UFH in the insulation layer, with oak floorboards on top.

I'll make the floorboards myself from solid oak (I have the machinery) as I can make them up of differing widths, as they would have been years ago.

My question is how to attach the oak floating floorboards down- is there a way to do this through the insulation, without potentially damaging the UHF pipes, without building a frame first that would add weight to the floor, and hinder noise insulation abilities of the insulation?

Id likely be making a groove on each floorboard, and making a floating tongue to keep them together.

 

[Cabinetman]

I do know that in America where they have a much wider variance of humidity they don’t fasten them down at all they just glue them all together as a floating floor. Doesn’t seem right to me though.
I have done some floors in my house with varying width random length oak from my local yard, prices are pretty good, will PM you. Ian

 

[joel.riley1]

Thanks Ian, thats useful, prices look good.

I have a local tree surgeon with a fair bit of planked oak, Im hoping to buy from him but havent talked prices yet.

That is interesting with the floating idea, I have pondered that but was worried about bowing etc, I would like all character boards so really unsure whether that may make more of an issue?

If anyone has experience of a truly floating floor in oak that would be really useful, in the UK. Id hate to try it and have issues, although if its works it would be great, and the lowest effort option.

 

[Blackswanwood]

UFH with solid wood flooring is going to be problematic - it is more usual to use engineered flooring.

 

[porker]

Not quite the same proposition as you but...

I had a solid oak floating floor throughout the downstairs of my old house but onto concrete and these were very uniform boards with a tongue and groove all glued together. Although the house was centrally heated they moved a fair bit and the guy who installed it put it in too tight which made it buckle up in the warmer months. I had to remove skirting to ease the boards and luckily it went down OK after that. Also adjust around CH pipes that came up from the floor. Just take the expansion into account across the grain and you should be OK.

For a floor I'm about to put down (80m2) I've gone for an engineered oak floor which will also be floating. Just as expensive as solid but I wanted to minimise the movement.

 

[Cabinetman]

Yes, and American flooring is designed for the job the planks are only 2or 3 inch wide and the t and g's are designed to be glued together, on some boards that you can buy, the lower section on the grooved edge is sometimes setback a millimetre or so which isn’t good if you’re trying to glue them together.
Thinking about it I think you’re going to have to put some battons down with the wet bits in between and use Tongue-Tite screws at an angle through the tongue. Ian