Wide PLank Flooring

Hi All,

We have a small kitchen we're remodeling and its almost time to install the floor. Since its such a small space (about 120 sq ft) we're not looking to spend hundreds - $1k+ on flooring. Has anyone ever just used the wide pine planks you can get from Home Depot? Would there be any problems doing this?

Also, our floor is not level by any means. we live in an old home. Does the floor have to be leveled first? Why is this important (just curious for my own knowledge)? Can a floor be laid on an unlevel surface? what would the pitfalls be?

Thanks in advance!

 

solid planks of wood are very dimensionally unstable. the wider the planks, the worse it is. they expand & contract a lot. and bow & cup. try to lay those on an uneven subfloor, and you can add vertical movment (bouncing) and squeaking to that. then imagine what your joints will look like.

either spend some time leveling your subfloor, or go with sheet vinyl.

 

I don't know if it makes a difference, but the flooring is smooth, it just has a slight slope because of the age of the house (having settled).

To get into more detail, we currently have a sheet vinyl/linoleum down now. I wanted to remove that because the original hardwoods are underneath, but I had the vinyl/linoleum tested and it came back positive for asbestos. So rather than removing that, we want to just put hardwoods over the existing floor. I had several floor contractors in and no one has mentioned anything about leveling. At the same time, I don't want to pay $1k+ for flooring.

Any ideas? Should I remove the asbestos? How do you level a floor with just a slight slope? Again, this is a really small space, and I'm just tyring to understand the different angles of the job.

 

if the whole floor is smooth/flat but just all slopes in one direction, you're fine. to find dips, take a 6 foot level & check it. it can't have dips more than 1/8" in 6 feet. if it does, you use leveling compound, or shims of felt to fill in the low spots & get it flat.

i know floating laminate floors can be laid over sheet vinyl that's in good shape, but i'm not sure about real wood floors.

maybe one of the Pro's can comment on that.

 

You can install hardwood over vinyl if you have 3/4" plywood or OSB beneath to hold the flooring cleats. As indicated, the wider the boards the less dimensionally stable. Some wood, species, too are less dimensionally stable. Most pine species tend to be soft and are more prone to dings and dents. Shop around and look at the different species and grades of hardwood flooring. If looking for a lower price point, there are more rustic grades of hardwood flooring available.

 

Your going to need to acclimate that pine for awhile to get the moisture content out of it!!!

Pine is milled at 15-18% moisture content. Chances are the ambient interior conditions of your home, are going to dictate that the wood be around 7-10% depending on temp & humidity.

If you don't have a pin type moisture meter, now is the time to purchase one, or your going to have a floor with ¼" or greater gaps on every row.