Got about 1400ft sq of the stuff installed in 2.5 days …
Love the stuff!
It’s a thin layer of real hardwood laminated to thin ply of some sort …
T & G “boards” are 6.25 wide by 4′ long … exact. And I mean exact … this stuff is milled to near perfection …. very nice stuff to work with ….
HO got the manufacturers OK to install it floating over his concrete basement floor …
ran 8 mil poly first … and some of the best underlayment I’ve ever seen …
Gotta check the name of that stuff tomorrow … stuff’s more like a rubber carpet pad than a cheap floating floor underlayment/VB/foam pad deal ….
Mostly I was impressed with the flooring itself.
The glue the flooring store sent with is Wilsonart ….. even that’s much better than the Pergo and Bruce glues I worked with before …
As the T & G’s were glued .. to make for the float … 90% of the boards went together nearly perfect with minimal pressure … very little blue tape needed …
Still strapped everything tight as we went and strapped the hack outta the whole thing each nite … but only as a precaution … not out of necessity.
Pricey … but very nice stuff to work with … didn’t put up much of a fight at all.
Take a look …… www.br111.com
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Replies
Keep me informed, i've got an "at grade" concrete floor that screems hardwood.........well, the new homowner is screaming hardwood, wide plank..........
thanks.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
check the site ...
I'll also make sure I get that underlayment name ...
real spendy ... but seems worlds above any other I've worked with.
HO said it cost him about $1/per sq ft.
1600 ft sq basement .... that'll add up!
The manufacturer gave him the go ahead ... said they have wrapped up their testing and were due to make it public ..... he just wanted to have the install done before they printed anything new up ....
Used 8 mil poly first .... lapped and taped seams .. then the bullet proof rubber underlay .... seams butted and taped ... then edge glued the T and G engineered BR-111 with Wilsonart laminate glue ..... walks and feels great.
No hollow ... no bounce .... very little flex. You still know it's a floater ... but not by much.
His floor is a dry .... radiant heated slab ... that's fully insulated below ...
The floor heat is secondary ... has gas forced hot air furnace to actually do the heating ... but basement and first floor have radiant heat to "keep the chill" off ... they'll never be set higher than low 60's ..... house hold the heat great too ... very efficient monster.
U want I send ya some wood?
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
That would be very generous of you jeff, and I'm sure it would help with the picture. Could you put a pc of the underlay in there too? And a couple iron city's and maybe.........
thanks Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
you said "spendy" but was it really? if it was fault free...went in fast, turned out well... and didn't kick your ####...
as we all know use'n junk always costs more...
man i always like to justify use'n a great product on the front end...
if you use junk... it's always junk... no matter how you dress it up...
pony
paying a bit more than half of what I paid for my house ...
for a basement finish floor ...
is a bit "spendy" ... no matter how ya cut it!
Never said not to do it ...
Just be prepared.
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Cal ..
the underlayment is from Wilsonart.
can't find the label I dug outta the trash can right now ...
lost it somewhere between here and there ... it'll turn up.
Just tried to check their site to find it ... all I could find was the regular cheap foam stuff ... this stuff's more like a fabric covered rubber ....
Took some quick pics of a dirty job site/work in progress...
will download later tonight.
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Hi Jeff:
Been awhile. Floating a 5/16" product? I've never considered it but as long as the manufacturer says so, by all means. I get so many folks these days asking if they can float this and that. Considering the popularity of floating floors many assume anything can be floated. I would guess BR111 says it's okay for wider material but not 3" or so?
Those floaters may seem like gravy, but they wear me out quicker than a staple or glue down installation. Must have something to do with being on your hands and knees most of the time. I'd like to see the pics too!
Regards,
Ken Fisher
Hardwood Installer.Com
I'll have to give my 2 cents on the floating floor since I've just finished redoing our kitchen , dining ,living room , & bath . We're on a slab , & the floating floor seemed to be the best option. We found a 1/2" material with 1/8" red oak laminated to 3/8" tounge & groove plywood .The T&G ply was engineered so that it snapped & locked together not needing glue . The planks are 7" x 86" with two rows of 3 1/4" prefinished red oak random lengths . The installation & finished product are great . You can tell it's not solid though by the hollow sound from hard shoes , & we used the better grade of underlayment . I don't recommend in areas subject to water leaks as I've already descovered around the toilet & under the refridgerator . It doesn't hold up . We found the material from HuskeyCoat at Lumberliquidators . Bennie
Hey Ken,
How ya been?
From reading all the info I could get my hands on .. and from talking to the wholesalers rep ... I get the impression this stuff is more often than not floated as opposed to a full glue down.
The customer was in direct contact with the folks at BR also .... guess when you're gonna buy a boat load of one of their most expensive products ... the phone lines open up ... actually had a coupla Q's answered by their R&D staff.
They gave him advanced copy of the guarantee they're currently working on ... that it's OK for a below grade basement and on top of radiant heat.
I got 2 younger sets of knees in there for this one ... my new helper .. and his brother ... who's laid a coupla pergo's and "wants to be a floor guy" .....
I got to do lotsa standing and handing ... cuting and fitting the tricky pieces ... as the kids tried to run ... or would that be kneel ... circles around me and knock out the big areas ....
Usually it's the forearms that hurt me more ... after squeezing those damn glue bottles... but the Wilsonart lam glue supplied flowed much better the the Pergo and Bruce I've used before ...
I'll save the good pics till after we wipe all the sponge smears ...
But here's a teaser ...
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
The last of the new floor pics ...
shows the work station after we got the glued floater wrapped up except for the kitchen area ...
and now have to start Mon ... poly and underlay down ... to start click-locking the floater in the "exercise room" ...
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Thanks jeff, the future customer is peppering me with flooring questions. I think one way, and then we change direction. Now we would like to have electric mat under the wood. The slab is at or just above grade. Cold as concrete can be. I noted the lesser response time with wood and the need to isolate perhaps the slab from the heat so as not to have it rob what we want going up. Never considered radiant under hardwood tho it has been done with success. You have any input on that aspect? Wait till he hears Toledo Edison has one of the highest KW prices in the continental US.
I will like this job. I've known his family for half my life, his brother is one of my closest friends. He's moving back to Ohio after a long stand in L.A. The place they bought started as a river weekend cottage, well actually the house was built in pcs around the old block garage in the 40's. There's a steep quick winder to the upstairs, the garage ceiling joists are undersized for the span (a makeshift stiff back tied to the rafters every so often). In short, a "whadya doing this saturday" form of construction. The view from 2 sides is great, from another- pretty nice and the last side sure doesn't add to the value of the property. And as usual, this timely project wants to slide into a pretty full spring. But dig this-the family is nice, the project challenging, and the visuals are stimulating. The same feelings I had when I started. Like deja vu all over again.
you want a beer?
and hey to cory and cathy.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Cal ...
Here's a few pics of the materials ...
I gave Ditch a call before we started this whole thing ...
ran the idea of hardwood past him ....
said the radiant .. in his opinion .. would actually help maintain a constant environment .... and given it's a daylight basement ... he'd OK a hardwood over sleepers install ... but not warrenty it ....
Told the customer what the Pro's said ... he decided to go back to plan A .... and float it.
Not sure how that'd work if you went with the electric mesh type heat ... I've done a coupla tile installs over it ... never wood.
I'd be tempted to give Ditch another call and see if he's run into it up there in the middle of west Pa ....
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Which thickness did you lay?