Base floor advice please. WW3 in our house!
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Base floor advice please. WW3 in our house!
Ok....basic situation: house refurb going on (slowly and for ages). Got a joiner in the week before Xmas to lay chipboard flooring in the kitchen, we had no floor or plasterboard on walls or ceiling at that point, so were greatful to anyone to come out at shortish notice to help.
Kitchen floor is pretty rough though. 18mm green chipboard floor 8'x2' sheets but joiner has cut them in such a way we have joins everywhere. I dont think there are any full lengths on the floor at all. I have no idea why he did this, I'm assuming it was for ease of handling. One join is right in front of the cooker and another is in front of the sink, 2 of the most used areas.
Some of the sheets have broken corners and there are large nail holes everywhere. His nail gun must have been on the most powerful setting as some of the nails are really sunk in leaving a broken edge around them. I usually walk about in bare feet and I'm positive I can feel movement (flexing) in some areas.
We had originally wanted to lay vinyl but we can't now as the floor isn't good enough. We then thought we'd lay tiles but dont know whether to pull up the floor and lay 25mm ply or whether to leave the crap floor underneath and put ply on top. I was going to get tile backer boards but I dont know if the floor is even ok for them?
We're all getting stressed now as this refurb is taking so long and the floor is causing so many arguments and it's holding everything up.
I dont know what to do for the best and my OH hates DIY with a vengeance and more or less tells me 'it's up to me', but he's made it clear he thinks it's a waste of money if I rip up the floor that we have paid to get laid down iyswim. He's right, it would be a waste, but the floor is crap.
I'm really fed up as we've shelled out almost £2.5k on labour costs alone for the joiner, plumber and electrician and my house still looks like a bomb site and their work has been not very good.
If I could get 1 good tradesman in to sort everything I would be such a happy bunny but good and tradesmen dont seem to go together around these parts.
What would be the best thing to do about the kitchen floor please? I know this is more an 'opinion' question than anything else but I just dont know what to do about it and I'm reaching the end of my tether now.
(Btw, please dont suggest getting the joiner back, he was a friend of a friend and for various personal reasons getting him to re-lay the floor isn't an option.)
Kitchen floor is pretty rough though. 18mm green chipboard floor 8'x2' sheets but joiner has cut them in such a way we have joins everywhere. I dont think there are any full lengths on the floor at all. I have no idea why he did this, I'm assuming it was for ease of handling. One join is right in front of the cooker and another is in front of the sink, 2 of the most used areas.
Some of the sheets have broken corners and there are large nail holes everywhere. His nail gun must have been on the most powerful setting as some of the nails are really sunk in leaving a broken edge around them. I usually walk about in bare feet and I'm positive I can feel movement (flexing) in some areas.
We had originally wanted to lay vinyl but we can't now as the floor isn't good enough. We then thought we'd lay tiles but dont know whether to pull up the floor and lay 25mm ply or whether to leave the crap floor underneath and put ply on top. I was going to get tile backer boards but I dont know if the floor is even ok for them?
We're all getting stressed now as this refurb is taking so long and the floor is causing so many arguments and it's holding everything up.
I dont know what to do for the best and my OH hates DIY with a vengeance and more or less tells me 'it's up to me', but he's made it clear he thinks it's a waste of money if I rip up the floor that we have paid to get laid down iyswim. He's right, it would be a waste, but the floor is crap.
I'm really fed up as we've shelled out almost £2.5k on labour costs alone for the joiner, plumber and electrician and my house still looks like a bomb site and their work has been not very good.
If I could get 1 good tradesman in to sort everything I would be such a happy bunny but good and tradesmen dont seem to go together around these parts.
What would be the best thing to do about the kitchen floor please? I know this is more an 'opinion' question than anything else but I just dont know what to do about it and I'm reaching the end of my tether now.
(Btw, please dont suggest getting the joiner back, he was a friend of a friend and for various personal reasons getting him to re-lay the floor isn't an option.)
- EJJ150847
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How big is the floor, are all the board ends supported if not you could have problems in the future.
If you're thinking about over boarding anyway, why not replace the boards instead with moisture proof flooring, needed in a kitchen. I always screw my flooring I'm sure you could do this if the OH can't.
John
If you're thinking about over boarding anyway, why not replace the boards instead with moisture proof flooring, needed in a kitchen. I always screw my flooring I'm sure you could do this if the OH can't.
John
Growing old is compulsory, growing up is not!
The floor is 6m x 3.2 m roughly. As far as I know, is is supported ok, it's just a mess.
It is moisture resistant chipboard that was used btw.
I usually do all our DIY anyway, but was unable to do much before Xmas, which is why we got someone in to help. I am perfectly capable of laying the floor myself and doing a better job of it, but unfortunately I am a slow worker which obviously is no use when you're trying to run a house/family as well.
With regard to laying ply or hardboard, I was told by someone that the joins will eventually show through the vinyl (even good quality stuff) as they are butted and not T&G?
It is moisture resistant chipboard that was used btw.
I usually do all our DIY anyway, but was unable to do much before Xmas, which is why we got someone in to help. I am perfectly capable of laying the floor myself and doing a better job of it, but unfortunately I am a slow worker which obviously is no use when you're trying to run a house/family as well.
With regard to laying ply or hardboard, I was told by someone that the joins will eventually show through the vinyl (even good quality stuff) as they are butted and not T&G?
Ok after a huge barney, we're lifting the floor! A lot of the nails are all the way through anyway so it shouldn't be too difficult to prise up.
Next question....can I re-lay it like this.......
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I know you should stagger the joins but rows 3 & 4 are where the sink will be and if I do the joins like above, then they will be under the sink and also the units at the other side, so no joins at all on the walking area or anywhere in front of the plinth.
Rows 5 & 6 are full length sheets with no joins at all.
Would it matter all that much if 2 rows had joins at the same place?
Next question....can I re-lay it like this.......
-----------------------------/----------
----------/-----------------------------
-----/----------------------------/-----
-----/----------------------------/-----
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
I know you should stagger the joins but rows 3 & 4 are where the sink will be and if I do the joins like above, then they will be under the sink and also the units at the other side, so no joins at all on the walking area or anywhere in front of the plinth.
Rows 5 & 6 are full length sheets with no joins at all.
Would it matter all that much if 2 rows had joins at the same place?
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- Hoovie
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Ali, you may want to have a look at these SPAX screws?
There is a posting that discussed them here and I bought some after reading some comments to secure some floorboards - they were really good and tightened the boards down great
There is a posting that discussed them here and I bought some after reading some comments to secure some floorboards - they were really good and tightened the boards down great
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?"
She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
Cheers Hoovie. I might be ordering a new drill from screwfix (burning smell and smoke in the kitchen an hour ago turned out to be coming from the drill battery & charger. It got unplugged just in time I think, before the thing burst into flames!)
Anyway, I'll add some of those onto the order as well.
Anyway, I'll add some of those onto the order as well.
- Wood Magnet
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i really think you are wasting your time lifting the floor to replace with the same stuff. if you are tiling, then rip up and replace with ply, not chipboard. and if you want vinyl, then just lay hardboard or thin mdf on top of the chipboard. as long as it is properly done and the joints taped as mentioned above it will be fine.
don't make unnecessary work for yourself!
don't make unnecessary work for yourself!
owen, part of me agrees with you. It does seem an incredible waste of time and money to rip up a new floor. Especially if it is fixable. The other part of me thinks it's wrong to leave a bad job and it should be removed, not covered over. My OH didn't agree and I fully see his (and your) point.owen wrote:i really think you are wasting your time lifting the floor to replace with the same stuff. if you are tiling, then rip up and replace with ply, not chipboard. and if you want vinyl, then just lay hardboard or thin mdf on top of the chipboard. as long as it is properly done and the joints taped as mentioned above it will be fine.
don't make unnecessary work for yourself!
However, since we've emptied the kitchen this afternoon, taken out the old temporary units we've been using and taken off a couple of bits of plasterboard, we've found a few areas that haven't been supported properly and the floor sags a little if you stand there. (Obviously didn't stand there before as there was a unit over that area.)
The floor wasn't pushed up to the walls in all areas either, there was around a 20mm gap along one wall that we hadn't seen but that would explain where the draught was coming from. I saw the dwangs that were in place before the floor was laid and I know that the 20mm gap will mean that the ends of the boards are just a hair's breadth away from the edge of the dwangs.
So I now feel that we are doing the right thing in ripping up the floor. I will take your advice about what to replace it with ...ply for tiles for example. We are to make a firm decision tomorrow about what covering we will opt for and will take it from there.
Thanks for your help everyone.