Installing floors is a difficult DIY job. There is no waiting time because the floors come pre-finished and there is no glue to dry. Think of all the trees you’ll save. Previously published by Hardwood Floors Magazine. This leads us to another significant consideration for laying hardwood flooring in basement over concrete. Make a list so you’ll know what to look for and what to avoid when floor shopping. Title: 24 impressionnant can you install hardwood floors on concrete slab Description: bruce flooring best where to hardwood flooring inspirational 0d grace place barnegat 11 unique stair Via: grvars.org. This helps us provide more great blog content. You’ll also want to have transition and wall moldings for a professional finished look. You have two basement wood flooring options, solid hardwood or engineered. If you’re careful while removing the baseboards, you should be able to reuse them. The floor is secured via the base molding around the edges. Use a damp cloth to clean off adhesive from surfaces. The misconception is that a concrete subfloor must be completely level to install hardwood. Gluing floor is not a job for an inexperienced DIYer. You may have to cut one utilizing a table saw to ensure straightness. Float – this is when the hardwood is clicked into each other (or glued at joints) but is not attached to the floor. As an Amazon Associate, Easiklip Floors earns from qualifying purchases. If your home is prone to dampness, or the foundation does not drain properly, water will come through the slab or the walls into your basement. For these purposes, the cutting of concrete is carried out with diamond wheels. These two ways are glue-down or floating. Acclimate the flooring by placing the boxes of Easiklip horizontally in the location they are going to be installed. In that case, a floor will be strong, steady and durable. Tap 1/4-inch shims in between the edges of the floor and the wall to leave room for expansion (Image 3). A floating hardwood floor underlayment acts as a slight cushion that reduces noise and provides some insulation. Before installing any wood floor over concrete, you’ll need a moisture barrier. The polyethylene film (1 х 1 m) or a square from the transparent plastic (30 х 30 cm) are hermetic pasted with an adhesive tape to its surface, and after 24-48 hours it can be checked for availability of condensate on the inner side or dark wet spots on concrete. What do you tell your customers who have a concrete subfloor and want to install hardwood? We also supply residential and commercial construction projects in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. Installing a Glue-Down Engineered Hardwood Floor. Fortunately, even if your home was built on a concrete slab, you can still choose to put in new hardwood flooring. The entire process is very easy and gives you easy steps to follow. Some give preference to more traditional method of a waterproofing by means of roofing material or polyethylene. There is no room for error. You’ll need to test to see how much moisture wicks through the slab and measure the humidity in your basement. Then a thin veneer of hardwood is glued to the surface to create that authentic hardwood look. You don’t have those concerns with a solid hardwood floor. The demonstrator gives some good pointers that might help you avoid any serious mistakes. Thank you for your support. The level will indicate the deviation and the clearance of the rail – in low areas. No nails, glue, screws or hammer drills. Today there is a lot of floor coverings, however, the hardwood, proven for centuries, didn’t lose the relevance and still enjoys wide popularity. Therefore, it’s crucial to install a moisture barrier. DIY hardwood installation with costs, timeline and list of materials, Hardwood Floor Medallions – What You Need to Know, How to Install Quarter Round Moldings with Nails or Caulk, Everything About Wood Floor Wax Removers and Stripping, How to Choose the Best Hardwood Flooring Nailers, How to Install Hardwood Floors on Concrete. Installing Hardwood Floors On Concrete. Your best option is to have the boards click together and “float”. How to Install Hardwood Over Concrete - 3 Methods. Prepare the Room. This high-quality, high-performance flooring solution offers improved stability compared with standard solid wood flooring, making it a great choice for the basement and other spaces that commonly feature concrete floors or high humidity environments. Please note: comments must be approved before they are published. Read: Best Vacuum for Concrete Floors. Each board is ¾ inch solid white oak.  With proper maintenance and refurbishment every 5 to 10 years, your floor should last at least 50-70 years. The only thing, it is necessary to observe technology of installing in a proper way and to perform work very carefully and accurately. Although Easiklip is the easiest hardwood floor to install over concrete, there are three things you must do before laying floating floor. How to Install a Floating Wood Plank Floor . Although it’s not made of solid hardwood, it doesn’t mean that engineered flooring does not provide all of the warmth, longevity, and elegance of a hardwood floor. A concrete floor is uninviting, cold, dingy, and looks like an unfinished warehouse. There are three ways to lay a floor over concrete. For a concrete subfloor, you should install the plank with the sight lines of the floor. You can even spruce them up by sanding any paint of… Homes built on concrete slabs are good candidates for solid wood flooring, provided that the slab does not wick up too much moisture. The guarantee of floor durability is a competent and high-quality preparation of the basis before you lay hardwood floors on concrete. The patented aluminum clips make Easiklip quick and easy to install. It assumes the laying of boards directly on a screed. The only tools you’ll need are a tape measure, N IOSH-designated dust mask, some 1/2 in (15mm) wedges, a broom, a hand saw, and eye protection. Next Post →. Have you ever wondered why solid hardwood is a better choice for your basement wood flooring options? You get a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee so that you can shop with confidence. It is also recommended to execute the laying hardwood floors on concrete heat insulation and soundproofing. Another issue is improper installation. Check out our installation video. With Easiklip, “No Nails, No Glue, No Fuss.”. The installation of hardwood floors on concrete offers several types of applications. Jesse Bartuesek joins Bob for the installation of Brazilian Walnut floors Here’s a good rule of thumb. The underlayment is covered with the adhesive, which is used for floor material laying. Installing Hardwood Flooring Over Concrete. Your email address will not be published. Want to see how easy? Besides hardwood’s durability, low maintenance, and is easy to clean, there are three immediate benefits: Beauty – Concrete is ugly. Consider asking a specialist in basement waterproofing to solve that issue before installing any new floor. Even old slabs will continuously wick moisture up from the ground. Lay down a moisture barrier. It will extend up the wall for about 2 to 3 inches, creating a “bowl” where your wood floor stays dry and protected. Measure and mark the center of all four walls at floor level. This video shows you how to install a hardwood floor over concrete. With the Easiklip installation method, you can walk on the floor immediately. Most of the articles you’ll find online will recommend installing a floating floor made of engineered wood. hardwood flooring in basement over concrete, This video demonstrates a cost-effective method, underlayment on concrete floor in basement, Bob Villa watches some pros install solid hardwood to a concrete floor at grade, install 860 square feet of floor in only 10 hours, Underlayment on concrete floor in basement. To refresh a room with a concrete floor, we specifically recommend engineered hardwood flooring. Lay the straight board on the floor and place a level on top. Before you run out and order a hardwood floor, there are several items you need know. A subfloor is the floor surface directly under the hardwood floor. Other meters can measure relative humidity in the slab. Lay spacers along the walls to create the expansion gap specified in the manufacturer’s instructions. Make a final check with the level to be sure all the high spots are gone. You’ll find concrete floors in almost every home. When laying the boards, they must be the tight stitch in the longitudinal and transverse directions, and you can use coupling belts or wedges. There are three ways to lay a floor over concrete. Perhaps one of the most luxurious upgrades you can make to your home's climate control is underfloor heating. Old basement slabs can crack and buckle in places. Sign up for our newsletter and be the first to know about coupons and special promotions. This will likely involve also pulling the padding, nails, and tack strips. Concrete can be an interesting design statement for kitchen floors. Privacy Policy | Copyright © 2020 Houseunderconstruction.com. Don't waste your time browsing our site until you know if you can afford our wood first. You can see the kit and how it works in this video. The first things to consider if you want a wood floor on the concrete are flatness, and moisture incursion. You won't know how much it's going to cost until you ask! You’ll want to install an underlayment on concrete floor in basement. The ready screed is treated with a primer. This article will focus on basement installations. If you want a DIY hardwood floor, there are several install methods you can learn. Warmth: A hardwood floor adds warmth and a welcoming feeling to your home or basement. If the cement and sand layer is well dried, then use a single-component priming compound from polyurethane, and for new or under-dried layers – 2-component epoxy that is applied in several layers. Hardwood; Laminate; Engineered Flooring; Bamboo and Cork; Linoleum and Vinyl; Tile and Stone; Rugs and Carpet ; How to Install Vinyl Plank Flooring on Concrete – Step-By-Step Guide. Step 1: Set the Expansion Gap. How Much Moisture Is In Your Concrete Floor? Solid hardwood floors are just that, solid wood. Step By Step Guide To Install Hardwood Over Concrete Step 1 - Remove the Old Flooring. There is one company that allows for basement installation, and it won’t affect the warranty as long as you’ve installed it per their instructions. Because it raises the finished floor by an extra 1 1/2 inches -- and for other reasons -- the sleeper method has fallen into disuse. There are more sophisticated methods to measure the water content. We’ll talk about them shortly. The most straightforward method is not to attach it but float the floor on top. If you plan on attaching the floor directly to concrete (not recommended), you’ll need to drill holes through the wood and into the concrete. They can add up to two inches in a basement that may already have a low ceiling. It can be caused by the amount of adhesive used in the construction of the materials and gluing the veneer to the top. The vapor barrier will also prevent radon gas from penetrating the slab, an added benefit. Solid parquet hardwood flooring can be glued directly to a concrete slab on grade or above grade with the use of a manufacturer recommended vapor retarder. To install hardwood floor on the concrete slab is a quite available operation which each housemaster will be able to execute. The reason the contractor or seller will ask is that most hardwood floor manufacturers do not recommend installing their floors below grade.  Easiklip is the only manufacturer who will still honor the warranty if properly installed below grade. Proper planning will save money, time and minimize mistakes. Apply glue on a concrete surface, thickness of a layer has to make no more than 3 mm. 1 Nail down – requires plywood sub-flloor (you can’t nail into concrete…last I checked) 2. Do you run a dehumidifier most of the time? Here are the basics of how to install floating hardwood floors over concrete. Fill them with the cork compensator. If you see signs of moisture or condensation on any of the plastic, you likely have a problem, but you can never be sure how big, or what it is, or exactly how much moisture there is.Â. How to Install Hardwood Floor on Concrete. Humidity sensors or moisture meters require drilling holes and inserting probes to measure the amount of water. Some meters measure results in pounds of water per 1,000 square feet of the floor during a 24-hour period. Easiklip flooring is the only hardwood flooring system that floats and uses clips to hold each board together. The best way for any DIYer to install a hardwood floor is to use clips. A dust mask will not give you enough protection. You save time and the expense of building a wood subfloor. First of all, you need to measure the room and cut the boards of necessary length. After polymerization of glue, other boards are installed. If the rooms are located below a floor and higher moisture content, it is better to lay insulation down in two layers, using bitumen mastic. You  do this in three to four areas around the slab. If a floor space is large, it is necessary to perform the expansion joints in the freshly poured screed. Further, on the surface covered with glue, the board is installed and pressed over the entire area. Glue down – engineered hardwoods can be glued (note: solid hardwood can not be glued (except for bamboo)) 3. Most of the time, concrete floors are hidden by carpeting, so you want to take the time to pull that carpet up. Installing a hardwood floor in a basement or over a concrete slab without a moisture barrier will destroy the floor, probably within a year. Why Choose Easiklip For Your Basement Hardwood Floor? For these reasons, you should avoid gluing, nailing or permanently attaching directly to the slab.To drive a nail or screws into concrete, you’ll need to use a hammer drill and masonry bit to pre-drill each hole. Most people can install this type of hardwood flooring as long as they are willing to do a little bit of work. However, you can still get the same look like solid wood by using engineered flooring. If you are going to glue your hardwood directly to the concrete, you need to know what you’re doing and work fast. You can do one or two rooms in a day and have a party on them that night. ← Previous Post We’ll tell you who it is in a moment. The type of subfloor can determine how you’ll install the floor. Suspended ceiling: having things well done, How to build a raft foundation and its features. Once you let the boards acclimate, put down the underlayment and moisture barrier, you’re ready to install the floor. You can attach it directly to the concrete or install a subfloor first and then attach the floor to that. Most manufacturers advise against installing hardwood flooring over concrete for two reasons, moisture levels in concrete and the difficulty of attaching directly to concrete. Engineered floors are made with lots of chemical adhesives where a base of wood chips or thin sheets are pressed together under heat to form a sheet of OSB or plywood. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. This article will focus on how to install hardwood floor on concrete. You may not need to build a plywood subfloor on top of the concrete slab, depending on the floor system you choose. Otherwise, you’ll need to level it. We recommend an engineered hardwood for several important reasons. You will need a plywood base. You have too much moisture in the area to install hardwood. Ask your flooring professional what he or she uses. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to ensure the compound cures enough to allow for hardwood floor installation. Installing quality hardwood flooring in basement over concrete will make that space look stunning and spectacular. You’ll need to fill the dips using a floor leveling compound like the one in the video above. Installing hardwood flooring over concrete how tos diy installing hardwood flooring over concrete how tos diy how to remove vinyl flooring from concrete easily the complete guide remove glue down wood flooring you how to install a hardwood floor tos diy remove glue down hardwood floors how time. For people that have concrete basements or subfloors, like slab houses, traditional solid hardwood will not work. Your flooring expert will ask you if the concrete slab is above, at or below grade. 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