Our Brazilian cherry flooring is being stickered and drying now. We have had the wettest summer ever, here in the Western Rockies, and at a time when the relative humidity is usually 10-15% it has been 45+.
So we turned on the heat in the floor this weekend in hopes of drying the wood some more. It has actually risen in water content in the 6 weeks it has been up there.
The installer just informed me he intended to glue as well as nail it down. It is going over OSB sleepers over subfloor, and gypcrete around the Hydronic tubes.
He thinks it will squeak, otherwise. I am afraid it won’t be able to move enough to allow for seasonal moisture changes.
Any one have any ideas about this, especially Mongo, who has such a floor in his house?
Thanks
Stef
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Replies
Anyone have thoughts on this mater?
Stef
We don't get the humidity swings in Wyoming or Idaho that you apparently do, but a house that we built a few years ago did have gypcrete with sleepers under the hardwood floor.
The problem with gypcrete, as you are surely aware, is the shrinkage, so the sleepers end up above the level of the gypcrete. If nothing is done to fill the space between the gypcrete and the bottom of the hardwood, then the hardwood is being relied on to span the distance between the sleepers unsupported. Brazilian cherry is a strong, dense wood so perhaps there won't be a problem with squeaks, but that's one heck of a gamble and I'd bet in favor of the squeaks. Besides, what would be the chances that the flooring guy would be able to break all the boards over the sleepers and still have it look decent? I wouldn't think that construction adhesive would stick very well to the gypcrete so movement of the wood wouldn't actually be impeded. Depending on how high your sleepers are, that could be a lot of construction adhesive.
Our hardwood flooring guy wouldn't put the floor over the sleepers and suggested that we sheet over the mess. Three other finish carps and myself thought that either a filler/leveler needed to be used to bring the gypcrete and sleepers to the same plane, or it should be decked with our normal thickness flooring ply to span between the sleepers. We were outvoted by the boss and 7/16" ply was added, which satisfied the flooring guy but not the finish crew. The floor squeaked in many spots and felt spongy in many others. If hardwood flooring won't span 12" of open space, then it won't span 12"oc sleepers unsupported.
Having said all that, I'd simply have the floor skimmed with a leveling compound, which would go down very quickly if your sleepers are smooth and level.
Best of luck, that's beautiful wood.
Don