We plan to remodel our bathrooms this year and really want to have wood plank flooring in the bathrooms. The rest of the house has knotty pine plank, all threshholds are solid beech. We want to have the same look and have the advantages of the wood in the bathrooms, too (warm on your feet!!!).
Now here comes our question: how would you prepare the concrete subfloor to avoid problems in case water would seep through cracks between the wood planks. Also, should we treat the wood on both sides to avoid warping? What are your opinions on installation: glueing directly on the concrete versus installing over a frame.
Trying to talk us out of installing the wood planks will not work 😉
Thanks for Your help
Bernhard List
Replies
Trying to talk us out of installing the wood planks will not work
That saves me a lot of time.
Attach the wood planks directly to the conc slab, but use chewing gum (Wrigley's works fine), so that you can get the planks up when you have to clean up a spill.
Sorry, could not resist that one.
Big first question...........will kids, and or pets be using the bathroom?.....if so, good luck. If not, have you considered a laminate flooring (like pergo). You will get a little more water resistance than std wood (at least in the middle of the floor). Personally, wood would be fine over a standard joist floor, but having the slab below it is what concerns me (glueing the floor will create problems with different rates of expansion between the wood and the conc, and adding furring strips creates voids for water retention. Any water getting under the floor can't get out. Personally I would not do the wood floor over conc.
1. Thoroughly clean the concrete.
2. Float the floor with a self leveling compound.
3. Seal the leveled floor with concrete sealer.
4. 2 coat prime an adequate amount of 5/8 5 ply exterior plywood to cover the entire surface using a high quality oil based primer, (both sides).
5. Install the plywood over the concrete covering the entire surface to create a solid subfloor. Use Liquid Nails to secure the plywood to the concrete.
6. Install your solid wood flooring product over the plywood. Compressed wood flooring products should not be used.
During a recent bathroom remodel, I replaced a wood floor in this manner. The original wood floor only lasted 10 years and was glued directly to the concrete. I expect the new installation to last at least 15 years after which replacement of the plywood may be necessary but the flooring should be salvageable.
I would have preferred to have put the subfloor on top of vented sleepers but the new floor height would have created difficulties with cabinets, doors and transistions. The owner was not willing to pay for the additional expenses and I couldn't guarantee that the floor would actually last any longer.
What could go wrong?
You need to plan to seal every pore of every cell in the wood or this is a glimpse of your future DIY project
Excellence is its own reward!
What was that underlayment? masonite hardboard?Character? I never had any problem with character. Why, people've been telling me I was one every since I was a kid.
That toilet had a history of use. Like an old soldier three years away from retirement, it was serving past it's time, as was the floor.
Original was diagonal 1x10 diagonal subfloor covered by 1x6 T&G pine plank as described by original request. Then a lift kit for maple strip flooring over the old. of course nobody wanted to take care of wood floors anymore by the late sixties or the 1970s so to prepare for vinyl, the owners put down OSB ( I'll finish my tale as soon as you guys quit laughing) right over top of the maple. They didn't bother to lift the stool. They just cut around it and didn't even caulk the edge!
When the owners had me in to look at it, the lady said, "It seems to have a peculiar odor in here, don't you think?"
"Um- Hum"
So you see several layuers of wood gone to powder.
.
Excellence is its own reward!
Unfortunately I've been there.
Always enjoy seeing the hidden trademark in your pics.
Character? I never had any problem with character. Why, people've been telling me I was one every since I was a kid.
Edited 1/10/2003 7:56:39 PM ET by rez
You've got me there?
What is the hidden trademark?
Oh Yeah! It's hidden!.
Excellence is its own reward!
The wonder bar and hammer.Character? I never had any problem with character. Why, people've been telling me I was one every since I was a kid.
Ah-ha!
I've got three flat bars and a couple little ones - not suprised!
One of them I was using to remove toeboards from a steep roof. (I guess it must have been shortly after taking that fall because I had it nailed pretty good) I bent that Stanley almost straight at the crook elbow. Then I put it in a vice and tried to re-bend her. Only got half back.
You always need two at least for remodel demo. The third is for just in case.
Ever break one?.
Excellence is its own reward!
Ya, like twice in one week. Couldn't figure it out. One was my prize old one. Old oak was the villian. But today I got over on it. Made a special trip to Sears and made sure it said Craftsman on it. If it breaks now I'll still be in business.
Roar!Character? I never had any problem with character. Why, people've been telling me I was one every since I was a kid.
Good evening piffin, questions for you,, did you bring in a fresh air supply while gutting that floor? Does the mold factor bother you at all? An old question, ie 3/8copper gas line, do you use gas drip legs? Be safe out there, Jim J.
My old craftsman flat bar looks like H E double toothpicks, but has never bent. I hope they are still as good. It's been resharpened and pounded on a lot, but still as good as new.
Yup looks just like the one I had to replace. Pretty common I guess. Only time will tell if my method is any better than the original. Now that I'm done with the job I'm thinking maybe a clear epoxy based sealer over the flooring wood might have been a worthwhile added measure of protection. The floor in my situation was pre-finished cherry.
Here in NYC all of the wood floors in high rises are over concrete floors. For subfloor nailing material, we either install 3/4" cdx plywood using a powder actuated nailer and PL Premium or install 1x3 sleepers in the same manner. I prefer the ply method. Sleepers tend to lend a hollow sound when walking over them.
If you have a flood in a tiled bathroom or a wood floor bathroom you will have the same problem with leaking below. If it'll leak w/ wood, it'll leak w/ tile. No special prep w/ tile so no spec prep w/ wood.
The biggest b-tch is going to be sanding such a small area. Maybe this is a job for those new multidisk sanders. Cool!
After installing and sanding, apply sealer/ stain and 3 coats of oil poly. (Even if the strip joints (Har,Har) are not tight, the T&G feature will catch enough poly to create a seal) As long as you don't allow the suface poly to wear through, the surface will remain sealed - unless you have extreme fluctuations in temp. The weak link of a poly'd wood floor is along the edges. Silicone caulk all the edges along the walls, toilet(s) and at any other cutouts.
Do not use prefinished flooring, even Pergo-like flooring, as the water from a small flood will get underneath more easily and ruin the flooring from below.
I think poly'ing the underside of the flooring prior to installation would be more trouble than it's worth. It may cause the flooring to twist or bow prior to installing and prevent tight joints when installing.
Install over the entire bathroom floor, not just around the vanity.
Be sure you have a good plumber who does everything and properly. If valves will need replacing in 3 yrs, replace them now.
First of all, thanks to you all for all the responses. The posted picture looks like it could have been our house. Parts of our house are 150+ years old. We have replaced and redone more than we ever dreamed we could do - including building a competely new staircase from scratch (tearing down the old one, leaving a huge gap from the second floor down to the basement). Basically every project is taking 3 times the time anticipated.....
Frankie, you did answer everything the way we were hoping for. DH and I had endless discussions wether to finish the underside of the flooring material or not. We will be using unfinished wood planks just as the rest of the house was done. I would like to finish the floor with a product called "Hartwachsöl" (try to pronounce that, hehe) which is basically a natural product containing all kinds of waxes and oils that dry to a very hard, durable, satin finish (made by OSMO). The big advantage being that you can redo small blemishes without having to sand down the whole floor. Since we are going to redo all the amenities we are doing the flooring in the whole room. I sure hope the area will be "large" enough for a regular sander or else DH has a great excuse for buying yet another tool. BTW, he will also be the plumber in charge, and since he is Mister 200% I don't think we will have any problems there.
"Basically every project is taking 3 times the time anticipated....."
Sounds like you're ahead of schedule.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.