You usually determine this with a meter that compares the relative humidity of the slab with the ambient humidity.
How to lay solid wood flooring on concrete.
The first consideration you will need to make is how you are going to attach your planks to the floor.
Before you prepare the concrete for hardwood flooring it must be dry.
There s something inherently strange about laying wood floors over concrete.
Most manufacturers advise against installing hardwood flooring over concrete for two reasons moisture levels in concrete and the difficulty of attaching directly to concrete.
How to install a hardwood floor get step by step instruction on how to install hardwood floors in any room.
Installing solid wood flooring onto concrete.
When it comes to installing a floating solid hardwood floor in your basement easiklip should be your first choice.
Then nail the flooring planks with a standard flooring nailer see photo for details.
First and foremost they have to learn how to handle moisture.
Experienced professionals pay close attention to managing moisture and minimizing wood floor expansion and contraction when preparing to install hardwood floors on concrete slabs.
If the slab is new don t even begin moisture testing until 30 days after pouring it it probably won t be ready to be covered until 60 days after.
We don t recommend installing over chipboard and instead would suggest a floating floor such as engineered wood flooring or laminate flooring.
After all water and wood don t mix and one of concrete s talents is absorbing and holding water.
But the catch is that the solid wood flooring we have that can be glued over concrete and warranted is 5 16 and 7 16 solid hardwood not 3 4 solid hardwood and can be only on on grade and suspended concrete.
Laying a solid hardwood strip floor is easier and faster if you choose a prefinished product to avoid the extra work of sanding staining and finishing.
For contractors in many geographic areas though that s what they re faced with everyday on almost every job.
Gluing down solid wood flooring to concretethis is a question that i have started to receive more and more.
Solid wood flooring is made from one single piece of wood and can be highly sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity as this can cause the wood to expand and contract.
Lay the 1x4s perpendicular to the direction you intend to install the floor planks.
My answer to that is yes and it is still warranted.
Even if your home was built on a concrete slab you can still enjoy the beauty and charm of hardwood floors.
Installing a hardwood floor over a concrete slab.
How to lay solid wood flooring over a concrete subfloor.
As i wrote in the post you can go with other options such as engineered or click lock real wood flooring.
Alternatively screw rows of treated 1x4s to the concrete 16 in.
Solid wood can be installed onto 2 sub floor types.
Anytime you are installing real wood over concrete regardless of what thickness or material it is you will need to do some preemptive steps to ensure.