Is there a breathable underlay for wood flooring?

[rog and gina]

We have sandstone flagstones in our living room, but they are in quite bad condition, lots of broken bits, pieces missing, aswell as some parts that have been replaced with terracotta tiles, cement or whatever else they could find!

Thankfully we dont have a problem with damp, (even when we bought the house, it had a two inch cement scread, hardboard and pretend parquet floor!)

We would like to put down a real wood floor on top of the flags, without damaging them, has anyone managed to do this? Is there a breathable underlay we could use?

Any ideas please?

Thanks

 

[Mark]

There are breathable underlays - the question would be how are you going to fix the wooden floor so that any moisture coming through doesnt cause a problem?

Lots of fitters recommend making a floating floor by gluing. but flex due to moisture changes could then cause splits / bumps.

Are you looking at an engineered floor or planks or parquet and how are you intending to fix it down ?

 

[Penners]

I agree with Mark. A breathing floor and breathing underlay are not going to be very friendly to your real wood floor. The boards are likely to get damp underneath, which could cause them to cup.

 

[Moo]

Unless you're intending to remove the two-inch cement screed, I can't see the point of worrying about breathability.
But then, as is my wont, I'm probably missing something terribly obvious.

 

[rog and gina]

Thanks for the replies, we've daubing again, so haven't had time to reply,

The screed has been removed,(at least three years ago)
we were hoping to use tongue and groove oak, the weight of the wood should hold it in place. We were hoping to be able to fit it similar to laminate floor(on underlay, expansion gaps, no glue etc.) would this work?
We can't really use the flags as a floor because of the condition of them, and we really need the room(we've lived in the house nine years and this will be the first time we can use the room!)

Has anyone tried filling holes in flagstone floors with lime? (the holes are about six inches square at most)

thanks again,

 

[Mark]

I dont think you can rely on the weight of the wood to hold it in place!

Laminate would either be glued or have the snap together type t&g. If you want to put oak down you would probably need to fasten battens to the floor and then nail the floorboard to the battens - but I am still not convinced about the moisture issue - ventilation would be minimal under the oak.

In terms or repairing the floor - can you either source small limestone - or get some cut? Or depending on the style/decor maybe use some encaustic tiles ?

 

[Me!]

You may think you don't have a problem with damp, but I doubt it will be dry enough to lay a wood floor onto the existing. Just try resting one plank of your chosen wood onto the existing flagstones, and leaving it for a couple of weeks to see what happens. I'd be very surprised if it doesn't cup noticeably.

 

[middi]

............If you leave it overnight you will see a damp pattern in the morning !!!.

 

[Penners]

I'm not confident that the experiment suggested by Me! will accurately reproduce the conditions that will apply if you cover the whole floor with oak boards. Just one board will leave plenty of opportunity for air to circulate underneath it, thereby reducing the damp atmosphere, whereas covering the entire floor won't.

It might still be worth trying the experiment, but bear in mind that - whatever the outcome - a full floor is likely to be worse.

 

[rog and gina]

thanks for the replies,

we've had scaffold planks with accrow's on for the last six years, they've recently been removed, with no probs, and thankfully no marks!

I think we'll try lying some planks over a larger area and see what happens.

we can't really batten the floor because of the flags, we'd have to drill into them to fix the battens, we aren't allowed to remove them(not that we would want to) and would probably need more permission to replace any!

thanks again,

think we'll have to go back to the drawing board!!! :?

 

[Penners]

we've had scaffold planks with accrow's on for the last six years, they've recently been removed, with no probs

I doubt whether scaffold boards have been kiln-dried to the extent that t&g oak boards will have been. Even if they originally were, they've probably taken up a lot of moisture over their life of outdoor use.

So they probably aren't a valid test. (Sorry I'm being so pessimistic! )

 

[rog and gina]

no, thinking about it you're probably right, we just wanted an easy fix!
(does anything ever come easy with an old house?!)

we might just have to sort out the flags, and put up with them for a while, buy a couple of thick rugs and warm slippers!

do you think lime mortar would do to fill the broken bits?

 

[Penners]

do you think lime mortar would do to fill the broken bits?

I don't really feel qualified to answer that question, but I'm sure Gervase or Middi or Biff... or others... will do so.

 

[Nemesis]

I reckon so. Why not? We have lime pointing for our flags ongoing. It may get a bit discoloured and not last as long as stone, but it's easy to repair.

Try it - it's cheap!

 

[rog and gina]

we've started a Blog, there are some pictures of the house so far,
we will be putting more on, and will try to get some of the floor too!

http://hucclecotecottage.blogspot.com/2006/10/our-renovation-project-1997-2006-so-far.html

 

[NT]

quote="rog and gina"

> we can't really batten the floor because of the flags, we'd have to drill into them to fix the battens, we aren't allowed to remove them(not that we would want to) and would probably need more permission to replace any!

why would you need to fix the battens to the existing floor? Just fix to the new one.

I'm not however implying that I'm confident you would not run into cupping, damp or rot problems.


NT

 

[Moo]

Are there any precendents for wood flooring straight on to soil?
I'd assumed that they were always suspended over a void.

 

[rog and gina]

surely you need to fix the battens to something to stop them moving around while you get the new floor done?

I think we're going to try and get the flags usable for this year, then see what happens after we've used the room for a while!


thanks again for all your help.

 

[Nemesis]

Try to fix, using lime and a reasonably sized aggregate. Rub it back while 'green' with a stainless scouring pad (try to not smear it all over the existing flags!)


Learn to live with it and I am sure you will love it! OK battered and wobbly so what?

 

[rog and gina]

we are going to spend the money on a nice big (natural) rug!
should be warm enough for the kids to play with their xmas prezzies, and stop us freezing our toes off!

just two bay windows to put back, porch to rebuild and ceiling to build then we'll have two more rooms done!!!

YIPPPEEE!!

thanks again