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Posted By: fish5133 real wood floor layer - 26th Jul 2017 8:43am
Any reccomendations on someone who can lay real wood flooring. If i wasnt married i would do it myself!!
Posted By: Habdab Re: real wood floor layer - 26th Jul 2017 12:18pm
07763 067557
Posted By: Excoriator Re: real wood floor layer - 27th Jul 2017 8:17am
Just being nosy, I'm curious as to why your marital status should define whether you do it yourself or not?

Do you mean the floorboards, or a thinner layer on top of the floorboards? Both are doable as a DIY job, the former obviously involving more disruption. I've done both, and in my opinion you need to remove and replace the skirting boards. Using that beading to cover the edges if you'reusing a thin layer makes it look as if you've used cheap laminate. A bit messy, to do, but it looks so much more professional. Good luck anyway.

Posted By: fish5133 Re: real wood floor layer - 27th Jul 2017 9:00am
Hi ex. She doesnt trust me to do a good job. Looking at the solid wood stuff that has a grooved lip not even the fiddly click laminate joints.only bit i would struggle with would be any longitudinal cuts . its not even glued down just floats on a underlay and dpm. Shes happy with beading round the edge to cover expansion gap..

Habdab ..will give that number a ring cheers
Posted By: diggingdeeper Re: real wood floor layer - 27th Jul 2017 10:35am
Its very hard work on your knees. Most circular saws have an edge guide which makes longitudinal cuts easy. Well worth making a nail guide to not only get the angle right but reduces the number of times you bash your thumb.

Its not a job I volunteer for readily.
Posted By: Excoriator Re: real wood floor layer - 27th Jul 2017 11:21am
Makes sense fish.

I doubt you'd have much difficulty with longitudinal cuts with a decent hand saw and a firm table with a couple of G-clamps, by the way. Circular hand saws frighten me, so I don't use them. I have seen the result of getting it wrong in a friend who lost two and a half fingers using one to do the same job. I do have a mitre saw which makes cross-cutting a lot quicker and easier however.

For floorboards, you need to beg, borrow, steal or (in extremis) hire a decent nail gun. Even a less powerful one makes pinning down the stuff you are using a lot easier, but you'll need a hammer and punch to drive it completely home.

I recently did my daughters flat with solid wood. It went down perfectly although being a new building the sub floor was perfectly flat. I took off the existing skirting boards and replaced them with new, ready painted ones which I glued in place to cover the expansion gap. I thought I'd have to pin them, too, but in fact that proved quite unnecessary. The walls were flat too. Sadly this is not often the case in my experience. Certainly not in my home which is over 100 years old!
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