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Housing - Renovation: Relaying floorboards

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    • CommentAuthorPaul_B
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    Having lifted the old floor and added some more electrical points and improved sound insulation I need a new sub-floor. What is a good material to use for a "floorboard"? Previously before the work was started it was chipboard but I believe this off-gases? What about stirling board? Should I go for large sheets of T&G?

    TIA

    Paul
    • CommentAuthorjoe.e
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    T+G chipboard is obviously the normal material to use, and very convenient and practical; I hadn't heard about the gassing problem. I think you can buy birch ply with a T+G edging for flooring, and that would be nice, if expensive - good enough for a topfloor, really, with the odd rug on top. I don't think I'd want OSB for flooring - it sags and gives in the long term if subjected to continuous loads, in my experience, although thicker sheets might be better in that respect. What's going to go on top?
    • CommentAuthorPaul_B
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    Finished surface will probably be bamboo, hard-wood or marmoleum
    • CommentAuthorjoe.e
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2008 edited
     
    If you were going to go with a hardwood floor - 9x70 T+G oak for example - you could use reclaimed floorboards as a subfloor, then lay the oak running across the boards. That would be an environmentally friendly way of doing it, and would give a good result if the reclaimed boards were carefully thicknessed by the supplier. I'd go with chipboard but I'm a bit of a cheapskate. The chipboard goes down very fast too.
    If you're laying a solid floor over the subfloor you could use plywood if you cut the sheets so that the joins running one way fell in the middle of a joist. The topfloor boards could run across unsupported seams.
    Bamboo is not as stable as is sometimes claimed, by the way - it needs quite long acclimatisation. If you can find a click-together bamboo board I'd recommend it, so that shrinkage doesn't open up gaps.
    • CommentAuthorTheDoctor
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2008
     
    more environmentally friendly would be to use a hardwood reclaimed floor without the sub-floor.....
    We are laying a reclaimed Burmese Teak. Has spent a few decades already as the floor of a University Science Lab complex.


    as for bamboo - i just installed 40mm thick bamboo worktops in the kitchen. Fantastic stuff with a few coats of Danish Oil.

    Hard as b*ggery, though. my circular saw was suffering, and needs a holiday.
    • CommentAuthorPaul_B
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2008
     
    With reference to chipboard and off-gassing I looked it up to check I wasn't imagining things. The Greenspec website states the following weaknesses of chipboard:

    - Toxic resin risks formaldehyde off-gassing
    - Large quantities of VOCs released as part of the manufacturing process

    http://www.greenspec.co.uk/html/materials/boards.html

    The suggestion is to use Medium Board or Chipboard that is FSC and doesn't use formaldehyde. However, I can't find suppliers anywhere online.
  7.  
    Over here in Canada chipboard is unknown for flooring. Exterior grade plywood, T&G plywood or OSB is normally used. When we build the new house we used 3/4" T&G plywood and installed reclaimed wood flooring on top (the wood was reclaimed from the old house we demolished).

    All that said, plywood also off-gases as does wood in general. Formaldehyde is just as natural a chemical as the acetic acid in vinegar. Both of which are bad in high concentrations.

    Paul in Montreal.
    • CommentAuthorPaul_B
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2008
     
    As I see it then the options are chipboard or plywood if FSC and low formaldehyde off-gassing products exist. Or real wood (either new FSC or reclaimed) which is likely to be pine or oak? Is this my choice?

    The plywood or chipboard would be faster to lay and probably thinner at 18mm whereas planks are more likely to be 22mm. Is the use of T&G a consideration?
    • CommentAuthorTimber
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2008
     
    OSB grade 4? that doesn't use horrid glues etc!

    a 15 - 18 mm T&G osb deck should be fairly cheep and robust.

    How have you impoved sound insulation? If you want more improvement you can purchase T&G chipboard with a special foam rubber stuck to the bottom that sits directly onto the floor joists. This will greatly improved impact sound transmission (and to a lesser extent the airborne noise) which can be a big problem with hard floor finishes (espically if you had carpet before).
    • CommentAuthorPaul_B
    • CommentTimeAug 19th 2008
     
    I have found a product call SmartPly. It is a OSB board that is aimed at jobs that would normally use ply. One of these being laying of T&G paneled floors. The marketing blurbs claims no added formaldehyde and a >90% FSC composition. Has anyone come across or used this product?

    Paul

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