Firstly we should point out that if you have solid oak flooring, we highly recommend that you glue or secret nail the planks down (glue is suitable for planks up to a width of 140mm, wider than this would be best to nail). This is due to solid oak being more prone to movement from humidity and temperature change.
If you have engineered oak flooring, you have more choice of how to fit. Keep reading for a description of each method:
Glue Down
Glued down flooring is the most popular way to fit. It ensures the boards won’t shift underfoot and gives a very firm feel. A benefit of this, is that glue can be used on any type of subfloor and is much more suitable for uneven subfloors. The only disadvantage of glue down is that it is slightly more time consuming to fit than floating, and if you ever needed to get a board up due to a leak, it would be more of a process.
Here at Oak Warehouse, we use an adhesive called Tovcol MS Start. This is a trowel-applied, silicone-based adhesive that is designed for fixing wooden floors onto most common types of subfloor. Suitable for all types and sizes of engineered wood flooring and for solid wood flooring with planks up to 140mm wide. Solvent and water-free, this adhesive won’t cause your wood to warp. It is also suitable for underfloor heating. Every tub also comes with a free trowel included! So you’ll have everything you need to get started. This adhesive is also easy to clean from pre-finished flooring and from hands and is odour-free without any hazard symbols.
Underlay (Floating)
Floating your flooring on underlay means that you only glue together the tongue and groove of each plank. Underlay keeps the planks very warm and cushions the sound of walking across it. As opposed to above, if you did need to lift a board out, this can be done fairly easily but cutting around the plank, removing and replacing.
We recommend a fantastic underlay – Duralay Timbermate Excel
Timbermate Excel reduces in-room noise by up to 30% and contains Vapourstop barrier to help prevent moisture.
- Independently tested to produce a sound reduction rating of 56 SONE*
- 3.60 mm gauge high density resilient rubber underlay
- Vapourstop barrier that helps prevent moisture
- Prevents the overstraining of wood and laminate boards
- Provides an excellent sub-floor masking minor surface imperfections
- Simple, quick and easy to install
- Available as a 10m2 roll
We also have a thicker Gold version of this which is 5mm thickness – suitable for use generally upstairs.