Glue Down Engineered Oak

[Grosey]

Just requested a delivery date for my oak flooring so I now need to start to pull together my plan for getting it down. I have several questions but I’ll start with this one -

 

Which adhesive is recommended and also where to buy from?

 

It’s being laid on to a 1st floor liquid screed. My supplier has recommended this on a BOGOF deal - https://www.woodandbeyond.com/products/recoll-silanblock-adhesive-15-kg-ac162.html

 

 

[Grosey]

My second query is a general approach or tips for installing the stuff? I need to cover the lounge/diner area, as well as the hallway and WC. I’ll be laying lengths front to back from balcony doors to read bifolds. My worry is regarding starting to sqew away from Square, however I guess if Use packers along the back wall and then T&G each board tight this should be impossible?

 

I could also do with advice on transitioning oak to tile?

 

Also any tips for laying the oak around the stairwell? (Plan is to lay the oak then install the stairs - is this correct?)

1st Floor Plan A1.pdf

[nod]

25 minutes ago, Grosey said:

Just requested a delivery date for my oak flooring so I now need to start to pull together my plan for getting it down. I have several questions but I’ll start with this one -

 

Which adhesive is recommended and also where to buy from?

 

It’s being laid on to a 1st floor liquid screed. My supplier has recommended this on a BOGOF deal - https://www.woodandbeyond.com/products/recoll-silanblock-adhesive-15-kg-ac162.html

 

 

I've not heard of the adhesive that you have highlighted though the price is very cheap

Ive used Sika polymer adhesive

absolutely bomb proof 

Would work a treat on a liquid screed

I even used it on ashault 

Only drawback is like all Sika products Not cheep 

I think the last time I purchased some it was around £100 for a 5 ltr tub

Oh make sure your floor is totally dry

and leave the flooring were it is going to be laid for about a week

Also a good idea is to purchase a humidity pack for about £10

just leave were the floor is being laid 

  Hope this helps

 

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

45 minutes ago, Grosey said:

It’s being laid on to a 1st floor liquid screed. My supplier has recommended this on a BOGOF deal - https://www.woodandbeyond.com/products/recoll-silanblock-adhesive-15-kg-ac162.html

 

Quote :-

 

Anhydride substrates

After sanding and dustaspiration, apply PRIMER PU/ POLY ECO, PS39/ 3W, etc.. quartzide while is still wet and the next day after the complete curing, remove excess unbound crystal, then proceed bonding.

 

 

Do the prep properly or lay the floor twice  ( or three times if your my current client  ). 

[Grosey]

Yeah I read that but wasnt particularly sure what it was saying, seems like it written in gibberish English to me?! 

[Nickfromwales]

Basically it's saying don't just slap the glue onto a fresh liquid screed and expect it to stick . 

The post-cure surface laitence needs to be mechanically removed, grinder etc, and then the surface needs to be primed over a couple of sessions to provide a key for the surface to be ready to accept this adhesive. 

[PeterW]

I've used this and also "accidentally" bonded a piece of ply to a concrete floor with it - it brought the floor up before it gave way !

 

Can find it cheaper online if you search https://www.bambooflooringcompany.com/ever-build-lumberjack-650-14kg-flexible-wood-flooring-adhesive.html

[Grosey]

Sikabond AT80 doesn’t seem to have the same prep requirements, similar costs if coverage claims are to be believed, and is a very well known brand which I’ve seen many here recommended. So is currently in the lead. 

 

@PeterW I’ll check out your link also. 

[Jeremy Harris]

I used the Sikaflex stuff to bond our bamboo flooring down.  Easy to use, bonds very well indeed, with the only drawback being the high cost.  Given the labour involved in laying the flooring, I didn't begrudge the high cost of the adhesive, as the last thing I wanted was to have to pull it all up and do it again, because a cheaper adhesive failed.

[Barney12]

+1 to what Jeremy has said. Your back wont thank you doing it twice!!

Plus if your budget will stretch to it then buy the adhesive in the sausages and get a gun, it makes application SO much easier.

[Grosey]

1 minute ago, Barney12 said:

+1 to what Jeremy has said. Your back wont thank you doing it twice!!

Plus if your budget will stretch to it then buy the adhesive in the sausages and get a gun, it makes application SO much easier.

 

Oh really? I have 260mm wide boards so figured troweling on would be the best approach to cover a large surface area quickly. 

[Mr Punter]

I have used Ever Build Lumberjack 650 14kg Flexible Wood Flooring Adhesive at £59 per tub.

 

Lay 3 or four widths of floor dry and do any required cuts.  Mark with a pencil the edge of the last boards.  Take up the planks and stack them behind.you.   The tub contains 2 bags of adhesive.  Just cut the corner of the bag and carefully squeeze out and then spread over the area with a notched trowel.  Do not go over the line you have marked.  Spread with great care to make any mess.  You will get used to squeezing out just the right amount which will make spreading easier.  Our chippie does this without gloves and does not have any adhesive on his hands or on the face of the flooring by the end of the day.

 

Do not pour the adhesive into the tub as it will set around it.  The bags prevent any waste.  When I have used tubs in the past, I end up with over a kilo of adhesive setting round the edge and in the bottom, as well as stringy bits and lumps which make spreading more tricky.

[Crofter]

I'm also using the Lumberjack stuff- as @Mr Punter says once you get your eye in and know how much to put down, it makes spreading it easier. I'm gradually getting bolder in how big an area I can do, but I have the fear of trying to do too much and then not managing to close up all the T&G gaps properly.

I've not tried to lift any boards (yet- there's still time for a cockup!) but a couple of times I have put offcuts in place for hammering, and have had to prise them off the floor with a fair bit of force- so it seems to be good stuff.

I got my tubs from a surplus guy on eBay, they appeared to be unopened (tab intact) but there was a pretty thick skin on top, and no sign of a plastic bag. The first tub I chucked away the skinned over bit, which was a mistake, because a new skin formed which was just more waste. So on the second tub I've kept the skin and put it back on top when I'm done.

I'll have to buy another tub, might pay full price next time, getting it in a bag sounds much handier.

[Grosey]

What sort of M2 are people fitting in an hour? I’m reading between the lines here that this may well be a much slower more painful job than I am perhaps anticipating?

 

[ragg987]

I used Sikabond 54 over a liquid screed floor.

 

We removed the laitance by scraping it off with a blade. I spoke to Sika technical and they advised that I need not apply anything on the dry floor provided we had removed the laitance and were on clean and dry screed.

 

www.flooringvillage.co.uk  gave me a great price based on the quantity I needed (250m2 worth).

 

Transition oak to tile: we used a simple steel at the transition. Works beautifully, very clean and elegant. I cannot find the name, but is an inverted T with floor tile on one side and wooden on the other, all you see is a thin steel line at the transition.

[joe90]

after reading the threads on building stress etc i would not set yourself a target, just concentrate on getting it right first time, ten times harder to put it right afterwards. go with the flow, enjoy the moment.

[Crofter]

5 minutes ago, Grosey said:

What sort of M2 are people fitting in an hour? I’m reading between the lines here that this may well be a much slower more painful job than I am perhaps anticipating?

 

It depends on what shape you are covering- the squarer it is, the faster you can work. Long thin strips of a single plank are tedious though.

Working on my own I'm probably averaging one to two m2 per hour. I have no idea how that compares to other people, though.

[Jeremy Harris]

I think it took me around three weeks to do half the ground floor and almost all the first floor of our build. 

 

Knee pads were essential, as were copious supplies of Voltarol...............

[Grosey]

Hmmmmm so my weekend set aside to do 65m2 May be a little optimistic? 

 

I'm guessing everyone whose commented is going to favour glue down over floating?

[Grosey]

2 hours ago, ragg987 said:

I used Sikabond 54 over a liquid screed floor.

 

We removed the laitance by scraping it off with a blade. I spoke to Sika technical and they advised that I need not apply anything on the dry floor provided we had removed the laitance and were on clean and dry screed.

 

 

What sort of blade?

[Mr Punter]

3 hours ago, Grosey said:

Hmmmmm so my weekend set aside to do 65m2 May be a little optimistic? 

 

I'm guessing everyone whose commented is going to favour glue down over floating?

I think eight to ten days.  If you do floating click system you could do it in 2 or 3, but I prefer stick down.

[Stones]

My joiners (2 of them) took just over 4 days to do 105 m2.  It was the smaller areas that took the time. 

[Simplysimon]

20 hours ago, Grosey said:

 

Also any tips for laying the oak around the stairwell? (Plan is to lay the oak then install the stairs - is this correct?)

has there been an allowance made for the thickness of the floor in the manufacture of the stairs? the bottle or top nosing should be level with ffl

[ragg987]

6 hours ago, Grosey said:

What sort of blade?

My builder had these in his toolkit. It was a steel plate scraper about 8 or 10" wide on a long handle. Bit like a broom. And used just like a broom, push out to scrape the laitance off.

 

Our screed company told me to scrape off within a week or two both to aid drying as well as to make it easier. They said it would be harder to scrape off of left on.