Fitting Guidelines
General
In order for your Engineered Flooring product to perform to standard expectations the following conditions must be in place: It is recommended that the engineered plank flooring should be installed by means of direct gluing to the subfloor. This product can be laid as a floating floor but this can result in some spring within the floor, reduce efficiency of under- floor heating performance and lead to the requirement of very large expansion gaps if the floor area is larger than 5 metres in width. Therefore it is expected that this flooring will be glued down when installed on under floor heating.
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Environmental Conditions
All major building work including plastering, decorating and kitchen fitting must be completed prior to fitting the new flooring. The bundles of flooring should be stored in a protected dry place on site where the flooring is to be laid. The bundles should ideally be allowed to
acclimatise to the room environment for at least 48 hours prior to installation. Each board should be carefully checked prior to installation, never install any damaged boards.
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During installation the temperature of the subfloor should be at least 15°C
During installation the ambient temperature of the room should be around 20°C
During installation the relative humidity of the room should be between 45-65%, ideal is 55%.
The subfloor should be clean, dry, absolutely flat and free from any cracks or movement. Irregularities on the subfloor should not exceed 3mm over 1 metre in any direction.
Subfloors should not exceed the following humidity levels:
Cement no more than 2%
Wooden no more than 10%
Anhydrite no more 0.5%
If the moisture reading is high on a cement based subfloor then you must apply a liquid DPM If you are using the floating method you must install a vapour barrier of at least 0.2mm thickness and to tape the joints.
In order for your product to perform adequately for years to come it is important that the relative humidity and temperature parameters detailed above are consistent within the property at all times. On some occasions properties with poor ventilation or very high levels of heating and insulation can have very low relative humidity levels, particularly during colder months. In this situation there is a risk of shrinkage and possibly even structural deficiencies within the product, therefore a re-humidifier would be recommended.
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If you are laying the planks onto an existing floorboard subfloor then you must ensure that each of the existing floorboards are independently fixed securely to the joist below with no independent movement. If the floorboards have an uneven surface then correct levelling needs to be done prior to installation either by levelling the joists or for minor unevenness using a sheet material could be sufficient. If the engineered flooring is to be laid in the same orientation of the existing floorboards then sheet material must be fixed down first. Sheet material must be screwed down every 15cm in both directions.
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An allowance of approximately 15mm around the perimeter of the room should be provided to accommodate any expansion, including under door frames, central heating pipes and connection with tiles. Bigger rooms will need bigger expansion gaps, please allow a further 2mm expansion gap for every 1 metre of floor width greater than 5 metres.
For direct glue down installation flexible flooring adhesive must be used and the manufacturer’s recommendations must be followed, never use a rigid or water based glue . A minimum of 30cm distance between one header joint and the other of the next row shall be applied when arranging the installation.
Any contractor fitting this engineered flooring should adhere to these guidelines, if there are any queries or concerns relating to these guidelines then please do not hesitate to contact us.