Customer wants wood strip flooring installed in sunroom. Room is enclosed and heated and existing floor is cement slab on grade currently covered with carpet. I always had a sub floor to install on. What is the proper technique for the installation? Install 2x sleepers then sub floor? Do I need a vapor/moisture barrier between sleepers and slab? Room is dry and ceiling height is well over 8’. All responses very much appreciated.
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Try talking them into a floating wood floor instead. Looks exactly the same and designed for your needs.
Gabe
Skim coat concrete with a trowel of Coldbond tar adhesive. Roll in 6 mil plastic.
Coldbond 1/4 x 1/4 x 1/4 notch trowel over plastic. Drop 3/4 CDX plywood into glue and nail with 1 1/2 concrete nails 10" on center. Check for loose/hollow areas the next day and renail those areas before the installation of 15 lb. felt and the floor. Score any sheets of plywood that are not square three of the plys one down the middle of the length and two across the width at 32" and one at 64". Makes for an easier install. GW
Gary I purchased some 3332 salvaged maple gym floor and have done quite a lot of research on installing over my concrete slab. There's a book by Taunton press thats pretty good on the whole install subject.
In a nutshell, yes you need to put down a 6 mil vapor barrier followed by 34" plywood subfloor then nail the strip flooring to that. In addition if the concrede is old ( hard ), I recommend using concrete screws for the subfloor install and the only tool that will drill the holes in your lifetime is a rotary hammer , not a hammer drill.
In addition, NOFMA,, natl oak floor mfg ass etc.. recommends that you be sure there is good drainage around the house and that you do your installation only after the HVAC is running. I'm not sure how much of this is really a problem, I spent a lot of sweaty afternoons in a non airconditioned gym with wood floor and the floor looked fine.
Chris in Austin