If you love solid wood floors and your home rests on a concrete slab you re not out of luck.
Installing solid wood flooring on a concrete slab.
It will extend up the wall for about 2 to 3 inches creating a bowl where your wood floor stays dry and protected.
The reason why is because there are many tricky things you ll need to consider.
Installing hardwood on concrete is not a do it yourself project.
Hardwood type there is no way to install standard 3 4 hardwood on concrete.
Wood floor over concrete than over a wood subfloor.
Add moisture barrier once the slab is dry cover it with a moisture barrier consisting of two layers of tar.
Plywood to the concrete.
If you are planning on installing any type of glue down hardwood floor product you must see the entire concrete surface and make sure that it is flat within 3 16 in a 10 foot radius or 1 8 within a 6 foot radius.
Fortunately a variety of flooring materials are water resistant enough to function well over a concrete slab.
We install a hardwood floor on concrete using the direct stick method.
But it s considerably more difficult to install a 3 4 in.
You can hire.
Choose the best material.
When a concrete slab absorbs moisture it can retain it for a surprisingly long time.
Wood planks to the plywood.
Of course if you want to install new flooring it s often best to remove any existing.
Lay a plastic moisture barrier and then screw 3 4 in.
With solid hardwood floors a proper vapor retarder must be installed on top of the slab to make sure normal slab moisture does not reach the finished floor.
The way you do this is to take a 6 or 10 foot straight edge and place it in various areas on the subfloor.
Before installing any wood floor over concrete you ll need a moisture barrier.
Some of these reasons are.
Layers of asphalt felt with asphalt mastic or 6 mil polyethylene sheathing are some of the choices.
Installing the wrong kind of flooring over consistently damp concrete may encourage warping and wear over time.
It s essential to choose the best option from the available types of floors for your hardwood.
Subfloors the national wood flooring association recommends two choices in sub flooring systems for concrete installations.
You usually determine this.
You don t want to try and glue it down either.
Can i install hardwood floors on a slab.
They make the job quick and easy.
Dry the slab before you prepare the concrete for hardwood flooring it must be dry.
Watch this video to see how easy it is.
Typically it is sheets of plastic laid on the slab and taped at the seams with waterproof tape.
The floor clamps come in really handy.