Hardwood floors on a concrete slab?
I’m getting mixed signals on whether to proceed with a hardwood floor over a concrete slab. I have a tri-level home and the family room is on a concrete slab. The room floor is below grade, but the ceiling is above grade. (I have a below grade basement on the other side of the house.)
This particular room is on a concrete slab and I’m wondering if I could install a maple hardwood floor. I’ve read several articles that leds me to believe with proper vapor barriers and furring strips that I could pull this off. I spoke to a finish carpenter and he indicated his preference was to stay away from hardwood because of swelling and buckeling and work with a laminate product.
What’s the real scoop on this topic? Reading articles off the Internet have only added to the confusion????
Regards,
Replies
Bostic has a product called "Bostic's Best" that works well in this application. They also have another product called "MVP4" which serves as a vapor barrier applied prior to Bostick's Best.
Still, a lot of installers shy away from harwood over concrete, but that is a product that is supposed to work.
we went with wood on our slab last year.
we chose the owens flooring 5" plankfloor in white oak. its an engineered product better suited for slabs.
the installers, after floating the bad spots of the 60 year old slab, put down a 2 part epoxy that serves as a moisture barrier, and a nice clean surface to glue the floor down to. not sure of the product's name, but when it dried, and it had a blue hue to it.
one the exoxy dried, i believe they used the adhesive mentioned earlier in the thread to lay down the 5" planks.
its only been a year, and 1 rainy season, but so far so good.
this is the stuff we went with..
http://www.owensflooring.com/plankfloor/index.html
Plankfloor
The Plankfloor¯ Advantage
Plankfloor Overview
Not many floors compare to Plankfloor¯. As an engineered hardwood floor, it looks and feels exactly like solid wood. However, you won’t have to deal with the inherent problems often associated with solid wood flooring. Plankfloor is also easy to install and maintain.
How do we produce such reliable floors? We start with fine hardwood lumber. The lumber is sawn into a 3/16" wear surface comparable to solid 3/4” wood flooring. Multiple plys of hardwood veneer are then laminated to the surface. The result is Plankfloor¯, an incredibly beautiful and stable wood floor that you’ll enjoy for a lifetime.
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