How To Float A Hardwood Flooring Over Concrete

Clean the floor for glue down installation.

How to float a hardwood flooring over concrete.

If your floor is concrete use a concrete grinder for large open areas or a 4 inch or 8 inch angle grinder with a cup wheel attachment made for use on concrete. Experienced professionals pay close attention to managing moisture and minimizing wood floor expansion and contraction when preparing to install hardwood floors on concrete slabs. Learn how to install beautiful hardwood floors over a concrete slab. Get a comprehensive breakdown on which materials to use what to take into consideration and what steps to take for four subfloor systems.

Alternatively screw rows of treated 1x4s to the concrete 16 in. If the concrete has been painted you will need to remove it to guarantee adhesive will stick. Sweep and vacuum all dust and debris. Nailed floors you will need a moisture barrier that protects the subfloor as well as the flooring.

If the concrete slab is in very poor condition the best practice is to use a grinder or buffer with a concrete scraper over the entire surface before covering it with a layer of self leveling concrete. Most people can install this type of hardwood flooring as long as they are willing to do a little bit of work. Floating wood flooring can provide you with a simple installation and a beautiful floor at the same time. Using a glue down floor is an option in above grade installation only since installation below.

Lay 6 mil polyethylene sheeting over the concrete to minimize moisture migration from the concrete up into the wood flooring. Even if your home was built on a concrete slab you can still enjoy the beauty and charm of hardwood floors. Grinding and repairing a concrete floor can create concrete dust so be safe and wear a respirator a dust mask will not give you enough protection. Before you prepare the concrete for hardwood flooring it must be dry.

Most manufacturers advise against installing hardwood flooring over concrete for two reasons moisture levels in concrete and the difficulty of attaching directly to concrete. Here are the basics of how to install floating hardwood floors over concrete. You can rent a concrete grinder from a rental store. When it comes to installing a floating solid hardwood floor in your basement easiklip should be your first choice.

Installing a hardwood floor over a concrete slab. You usually determine this with a meter that compares the relative humidity of the slab with the ambient humidity. Treated plywood to the concrete with concrete screws spaced every 16 in. Floated subfloor alternate subfloor glue down sub floor and the nail down subfloor system.

If the slab is new don t even begin moisture testing until 30 days after pouring it it probably won t be ready to be covered until 60 days after.