Do any of you have experience installing Marmoleum over old fir flooring? I laid down Ardex feather finish a few months ago to level out the floor and noticed alot of surface hairline cracks. The cracks were along some of the 3 inch wide fir flooring strips were they shrunk over the summer.
My question is, if I install the Marmoleum over the floors am I going to have any issues???Cracking, seeing the old floors, etc. I plan on buffing out the floor and putting one more layer of thinset before I lay down the marmoleum.
Thanks!
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Does the manufacturer provide any specifications for the subfloor?
I figured the old fir flooring woud suffice for underlayment. The thinset was to fill in cracks and gashes in the floor and bring the floor level. I did not want to install 1/4 inch plywood if not necessecary because of a higher threshhold.
It sounds like I probobly should.
I did not install thinset. It was Ardex featherfinish. Sorry for the confusion.
If you don't install 1/4" plywood you may as well just take whatever money the Marmoleum costs and light a cigar with it.
One purpose of undrlayment is tpo provide a smooth finish without the complications of all the individual parts moving under the sheet material. You can lay the material over the fiir flooring if smooth, but expect it to telegraph the lines sooner than later
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If elevation is a major iusse. you remove the fir f;looring down to the subfloor and lay in a thicker underlay, say 1/2"
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I cannot imagine that thinset is the proper coating to apply and use for leveling over a wood floor.
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Is there a reason you can't sheath the floor with 1/4" plywood?
Marmoleum is some nice stuff and will last who knows how long with proper care. A product like that deserves proper installation.
Marmoleum or any other sheet flooring needs underlayment. I don't think there is a skim coating that will compensate for it's absence.
I may be wrong, but my understanding is that marmoleum is basically the same as the old world linoleum.
I recently tore out 1700 sqft of linoleum from a house that was laid down 75 years ago and it was definately wore out in some areas, but other areas still looked awesome. This was laid directly over a 3 1/4" t&g fir floor. If they did it then like that, why not now?
I wish I had pics of the old floors. Those various prints were like works of art.
I have done a job (prepped) for Marmoleum, and it was required by the floor installer to get underlayment. I wouldn't skimp on the underlayment. Marmoleum is a fantastic floor covering and very expensive. Do your prep to match.View Image
Was there any area of the flooring were the lines of the fir flooring did telegraph through? I really think the flooring as an underlayment may work. The key word is may.
The sub floor was 1X8 diag shiplap with the 1X4 t&g as the finish floor. I could not see any telegraphing though. Most of the seems were still joined.
Again, this floor was 75 yrs old. Stripping this stuff up was pretty tough in most places with an exception of where water damage was.
I installed a Marmolem in my kitchen. They have very specific underlayment reguirements layed out in there literature. They do have a Tech department that is available to answer questions if needed.
Their tech will say, sure, if you want, but don't expect it to last as long; for optimal appearance and longevity, go by the book and use underlayment
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