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Post by technoish on Jan 11, 2023 20:25:57 GMT
If you are redoing the floor you should also take oppo to insulate under the floor.
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Post by technoish on Jan 11, 2023 20:27:42 GMT
I am slowly doing more and more DIY stuff as I just can't get people in that are all of responsive, available, not taking piss on cost, and trustworthy.
I've even started doing my own bicycle maintenance. Changed my first ever chain, and have ordered new brake and gear cables!
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Post by khanivor on Jan 12, 2023 4:06:37 GMT
Quality engineered boards are solid wood all the way to the tongue, you can refinish them as many times as you can solid boards. You don’t want to be sanding 1/3 the thickness off either I’ve not come across engineered wood like that. In my experience it’s a pretty thin veneer that you may get a sand or two out of, with a constant worry of going too far and exposing the layer underneath. I’d also say attaching directly to the joists is the last thing I’d recommend. The thought of having butt joints floating over a void along with boards only being attached once every 16” or so makes me jibber a bit. As would having nothing but fancy plywood as the entirety of my flooring surface. If that is standard practice in the UK that’s absolutely fucking shocking. Barely slightly better than attaching roofing shingles directly to the rafters |
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Post by khanivor on Jan 12, 2023 4:22:12 GMT
Ok I'm not surgically cutting out the existing floorboards (the subfloor) to then replace with a plywood subfloor (if the roof is any guide, our 1950s floor joists are most assuredly not consistently levelled), or planing joists level to fit replacement prettier engineered boards which satisfy building regs for strength. Appreciate the effort  Will look at some other ideas. What exactly are your floorboards? Are they big old planks of wood? A picture if available would help a lot |
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Post by elstoof on Jan 12, 2023 6:58:58 GMT
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Post by elstoof on Jan 12, 2023 8:52:53 GMT
I threw together a bench in the workshop and topped it off with leftover floorboards, couldn’t be arsed finishing the edges  |
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Post by damagedinc on Jan 12, 2023 8:58:36 GMT
We ended up going high end LVT in our bedrooms.not a direction I saw us going at all but the more we thought about it the more sense it made.
We got quoted 12k for three bedrooms in solid wood which is mental but just the way it is. Engineered would have been a tad more than the LVT but with two kids/pets etc and seeing how wrecked my friends engineered floors are, we went down the LVT route.
You can sand and treat the good engineered floor but the reality is that we would probably never do it once all the furniture is in lol.
Now that it's in it looks great and very impressed.
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Post by mikew1985 on Jan 12, 2023 9:43:26 GMT
We got LVT in our downstairs renovation. Very happy with it.
Also given we have a large kitchen/living area it's not likely to scuff in the work areas and get water damaged like laminate or Engineered flooring would.
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Post by Dougs on Jan 12, 2023 9:46:30 GMT
12k for 3 bedrooms. Fuck a duck. Everything is so expensive these days.
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Post by khanivor on Jan 12, 2023 15:55:26 GMT
We did lots of construction things for hundreds of years that wouldn’t be remotely acceptable now. Of the homes I’ve done floors for, I’d say around one hundred years ago was the dividing line between constructions where the wood might be installed directly on to joists and when a subfloor of some sort was used. Even then, it was jankier, cheaper houses where this was sone at all. Also, floor boards put down in the past were much larger. There was no tongue and groove selection of various lengths of boards to get an aesthetically pleasing pattern. No boards from 10” to 4’, most boards would be 16’ or above. And the entire floor was installed, before walls were built up. This compensated for the weight distribution and created a solid floor due to the unbroken runs. Having a butt joint hanging over a void is lunacy. Engineered wood is laminated. Regardless, even solid hardwood should, in this day and age, be laid over a solid subfloor. There are multiple reasons why. Installing floors without any moisture barrier is pretty much guaranteeing future issues, for one. Floors are going to start squeaking, even with a screw ‘holding’ the boards down. It’s just a terrible way to do things. |
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Post by elstoof on Jan 12, 2023 16:06:04 GMT
I only really know how Victorian houses go together, but if you’ve got damp problems in your crawl space to justify a moisture barrier, you have bigger problems to fix than the flooring
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Post by khanivor on Jan 12, 2023 16:15:42 GMT
We got quoted 12k for three bedrooms in solid wood which is mental but just the way it is 12k? Fucking hell. Reminds me that if I’d been able to, I’d have moved back to the UK and done flooring. From what I’ve seen not only is the workmanship poor quality but the prices charged fucking ludicrous. How many square meters were those bedrooms? I can only hope that 12k included the wood |
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Post by khanivor on Jan 12, 2023 16:22:20 GMT
I only really know how Victorian houses go together, but if you’ve got damp problems in your crawl space to justify a moisture barrier, you have bigger problems to fix than the flooring It’s a proactive protective measure that protects the floors. Many aspects of modern construction follow this idea. You can decline to put a barrier in your floor. Then your first indication that you’ve developed a moisture problem in your crawl space is a warped floor that you get to replace. The paper also makes it a hell of a lot easier to install a floor after racking it out. Helps the planks to glide and ensures a tighter fit. I can’t think of a good reason to not use a subfloor, only reason why you would. |
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Post by dfunked on Jan 12, 2023 16:26:30 GMT
Just took a totally blocked guttering downpipe off and cleaned what looked like a decade's worth of mud out of it. The sudden gloop of mud shooting out followed by a gush of water was quite pleasing.
Just a shame the drain itself wasn't so easy to clear. Will have to buy an auger and hope for the best.
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Post by elstoof on Jan 12, 2023 16:36:36 GMT
Whereas when you put a barrier under a Victorian floor, your first indication of a damp problem in your crawl space will be the floor collapsing under your feet once the joists have rotted through
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Post by damagedinc on Jan 12, 2023 16:41:20 GMT
We got quoted 12k for three bedrooms in solid wood which is mental but just the way it is 12k? Fucking hell. Reminds me that if I’d been able to, I’d have moved back to the UK and done flooring. From what I’ve seen not only is the workmanship poor quality but the prices charged fucking ludicrous. How many square meters were those bedrooms? I can only hope that 12k included the wood 40m2 so a decent amount of space but still crazy prices. It did include the wood. Was coming in around 4k for engineered wood and the high end LVT wasn't far off that at around £3600 I considered doing it myself but we didn't want to fuck about with the floor and got someone who actually knows what they're doing. |
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Post by khanivor on Jan 12, 2023 16:54:00 GMT
Well that comes out to about 400sf.
For a pre finished install I’d charge you $1200 for that. Not including wood. Wood would cost about 2k
Yeah, I really should move back to the UK and do hardwood flooring again
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Post by Dougs on Jan 12, 2023 17:14:15 GMT
Whereas when you put a barrier under a Victorian floor, your first indication of a damp problem in your crawl space will be the floor collapsing under your feet once the joists have rotted through Ventilation absolutely key, I agree. |
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Post by damagedinc on Jan 12, 2023 17:18:12 GMT
Well that comes out to about 400sf. For a pre finished install I’d charge you $1200 for that. Not including wood. Wood would cost about 2k Yeah, I really should move back to the UK and do hardwood flooring again Might be cheaper for me to fly you over haha |
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Post by khanivor on Jan 12, 2023 17:19:50 GMT
Be cheaper to fly me over, put me up in a fancy hotel, buy all new tools and pay me four times my going rate
All I need is a quick two hundred deposit to get both my passports renewed
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Post by technoish on Jan 12, 2023 18:50:58 GMT
On engineered I'm really not sure what you have been saying is correct. You say that even to have a floor last a decade you need solid wood.
Even the lowest grade engineered wood with 3mm top layer is going to take at least one (and maybe two standings. Given you should sand about every decade, that gives you at least 20 years, maybe 30.
The thicker 6mm stuff isn't that far off the 8mm or so of a solid floor to the tongue and groove. And will give you maybe 5 sandings, so that's 60 years.
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Post by damagedinc on Jan 12, 2023 19:02:06 GMT
On engineered I'm really not sure what you have been saying is correct. You say that even to have a floor last a decade you need solid wood. Even the lowest grade engineered wood with 3mm top layer is going to take at least one (and maybe two standings. Given you should sand about every decade, that gives you at least 20 years, maybe 30. The thicker 6mm stuff isn't that far off the 8mm or so of a solid floor to the tongue and groove. And will give you maybe 5 sandings, so that's 60 years. Every person and showroom we spoke to they said that everyone buys intending to do multiple sandings but never do. The reality is you will either not bother. Or just do one. So engineered would be fine. Unless you have a dog or some rabid children it would probably never need one. We went LVT so wouldn't ever have to worry about it. Saving the money for renovating the parquet downstairs. |
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Post by elstoof on Jan 12, 2023 19:03:03 GMT
Wood prices here are insane at the minute, 15mm birch ply is £44 a sheet at my local merchants. You’d be lucky to floor 40msq with £2K of materials
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Post by damagedinc on Jan 12, 2023 19:06:17 GMT
Wood prices here are insane at the minute, 15mm birch ply is £44 a sheet at my local merchants. You’d be lucky to floor 40msq with £2K of materials We had a small fence put up. Which we had no real choice about and it was ridiculous how much we had to pay. Our plasterer said that materials are starting to come down a bit but I'm not sure. Bad time for a renovation haha |
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Post by khanivor on Jan 12, 2023 19:23:14 GMT
On engineered I'm really not sure what you have been saying is correct. You say that even to have a floor last a decade you need solid wood. Even the lowest grade engineered wood with 3mm top layer is going to take at least one (and maybe two standings. Given you should sand about every decade, that gives you at least 20 years, maybe 30. The thicker 6mm stuff isn't that far off the 8mm or so of a solid floor to the tongue and groove. And will give you maybe 5 sandings, so that's 60 years. I wouldn’t want a lab engineered floor that has a thin veneer on it. One that’s real wood right down to the base of the tongue? Sure, probably going to outlast home fashions. But one with a thin top layer? Even prefinished, I’d be worried about its longevity with a single sand. A professional shouldn’t have any problems but a home gamer is likely to go through the veneer. Especially as the fashion tends towards boards with a micro bevel. You need to sand that completely out when refinishing the floor as there’s no way to get a consistent sanding level to a degree that the differences wouldn’t be glaringly obvious I’ve sanded hundreds of floors. The most puckering jobs are those where you know there’s not much wood left. Any raised area, you sand through the top of the tongue and everything is kind of fucked |
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Post by khanivor on Jan 12, 2023 19:28:18 GMT
Finish comes off a wood floor over time, even without a pack of children and dogs. Site finish comes off a bit quicker as it’s not baked in to the wood like prefinished. But after a decade or so the finish is going to look tattered. The wood will also be looking pretty tired. Scratches and gouges are inevitable. And unless the finish has already come off those are in the wood, not the finish (the latter being harder than the wood itself).
Recommendation for real wood is to get a buff and coat down every five years or so, depending on wear. Protect the wood as best you can.
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Blue_Mike
Full Member
Meet Hanako At Embers
Posts: 5,381
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Post by Blue_Mike on Jan 13, 2023 20:02:48 GMT
My girlfriends' new house needs a ridiculous amount of work doing, nowhere more than in the bathroom. I need to steer her more towards this sort of thing and away from this type of thing though. |
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nexus6
Junior Member
Posts: 2,527
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Post by nexus6 on Jan 13, 2023 21:10:35 GMT
Yeah, that timber thing is gash tbf
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mrpon
Junior Member
Posts: 3,744
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Post by mrpon on Jan 14, 2023 13:22:02 GMT
Good God that's terrifying! Something from Changing Rooms!
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Post by jeepers on Jan 19, 2023 11:44:46 GMT
Shower hoses are driving me slightly mental.
My shower hose is leaking so I need to replace it. Everything I read tells me that 1/2” thread is universal in the UK.
When I measure the internal thread on mine, I get 19mm or 3/4”.
Am I mis-measuring? Misunderstanding? Fucking stupid?
If not, is it better to track down a 3/4” hose or buy a 3/4” to 1/2” adaptor?
When I’m King of the World, legally enforced standardisation of EVERYTHING will be mandated on pain of death.
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Will look at some other ideas.
