Installing Solid Wood Flooring On A Concrete Slab

Fortunately a variety of flooring materials are water resistant enough to function well over a concrete slab.

Installing solid wood flooring on a concrete slab.

The floor clamps come in really handy. Choose the best material. Subfloors the national wood flooring association recommends two choices in sub flooring systems for concrete installations. But it s considerably more difficult to install a 3 4 in.

When a concrete slab absorbs moisture it can retain it for a surprisingly long time. You can hire. Using a minimum 5 8 cdx 3 4 recommended plywood the material is installed over the same moisture barriers mastic excluded but attached by way of concrete fasteners. The way you do this is to take a 6 or 10 foot straight edge and place it in various areas on the subfloor.

You don t want to try and glue it down either. Lay a plastic moisture barrier and then screw 3 4 in. Add moisture barrier once the slab is dry cover it with a moisture barrier consisting of two layers of tar. If you love solid wood floors and your home rests on a concrete slab you re not out of luck.

Dry the slab before you prepare the concrete for hardwood flooring it must be dry. Watch this video to see how easy it is. We install a hardwood floor on concrete using the direct stick method. Installing the wrong kind of flooring over consistently damp concrete may encourage warping and wear over time.

Over the most recent thirty years the most popular method of installing solid 3 4 hardwood on concrete was a plywood subfloor attached to the slab illustration above. They make the job quick and easy. Installing hardwood on concrete is not a do it yourself project. It will extend up the wall for about 2 to 3 inches creating a bowl where your wood floor stays dry and protected.

Typically it is sheets of plastic laid on the slab and taped at the seams with waterproof tape. Wood planks to the plywood. Layers of asphalt felt with asphalt mastic or 6 mil polyethylene sheathing are some of the choices. Before installing any wood floor over concrete you ll need a moisture barrier.

Can i install hardwood floors on a slab. Of course if you want to install new flooring it s often best to remove any existing. The reason why is because there are many tricky things you ll need to consider. Plywood to the concrete.

With solid hardwood floors a proper vapor retarder must be installed on top of the slab to make sure normal slab moisture does not reach the finished floor. You usually determine this. Things you ll need step 1. Wood floor over concrete than over a wood subfloor.

Some of these reasons are.