FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS 
1. What are the advantages of Tongue and Grooved (T/G) flooring as opposed to square edged boarding?
Choose T/G |
Choose Square Edge |
| T/G can be "secretly" nailed through the tongue of the board so that the fixing cannot be seen. This is only satisfactory up to a maximum width of 140mm. If the boards are wider, then two or more fixings are required at regular interval (eg. joists/battens), so at least one would have to be through the top face. |
Square Edged boards can be used where services run under the floor and access is required without causing major damage to the floor |
| Can help with reduction of draughts where there is a ventilated space under the floor. |
Can look more appropriate in old buildings, especially if edges are rounded/softened. |
| Can help reduce sound transmission between floors. In flats, t/g is sometimes required by fire regulations to minimise smoke transission between floors in case of fire. |
|
The main priority here is to avoid moisture penetration into the
floor from the concrete below. If this is an old concrete floor you need to
satisfy yourself that it is dry enough. More modern concrete slab floors (eg
last 40 years) usually have a damp proof membrane built into the floor to prevent
rising damp. Tell tale signs when taking up carpets are mould or black spots
on the underside of the carpet. Ideally you should test the slab with a moisure
meter. Alternatively, a more rough and ready way of assessing whether there
is likely to be a problem is to do a series of tests as follows: place a ring
of putty (or blue tack etc) on the concrete floor of a few inches diameter.
Then press a piece of clear glass or plastic over the putty and leave overnight.
If in the morning the underside of the glass has water droplets on it, you probably
need to take futher action.
Depending on the moisture content of the concrete you can apply different types
of moisture barrier to the top of the concrete before applying your wooden floor.
To see which type of floor may be suitable see the table on our fitting
page. If the concrete is only mildly damp (not wet!, just slightly damp)
you could consider using a roll of wide plastic sheeting across the floor without
joints, and taken right up to the edges of the walls. Such sheeting is available
from good builders merchants -ask their advice.
If the concrete is relatively new (days old) this can be tackled
by apply a suitable liquid damp-proofing membrane. Chauncey's can supply a Sika
product to do this for use in combination with their solid wood flooring adhesive.
For more advise give us a call 
0117 - 9713131.
However you do need to be careful. Airborne moisture which is likely to penetrate
the wood can come from a variety of sources (eg new brick or stone walling,
new render/plaster, cast concrete lintols etc), so a damp proof membrane on
the floor may not be the only issue to be addressed. Varnishing/lacquring the
boards topand bottom will not sort this out . If in doubt, talk with your builder
or surveyor (they may have a moisture meter!).
There is no reason why you cannot have a timber floor in a conservatory provided
that you take adequate precautions and use suitable types of timber flooring.
Firstly address the sub floor: If there is a likelihood of damp, see sections
2 & 3 above.
How will you use it? If the conservatory is to be used for tropical plants and
kept very humid, with the plants in pots directly on the floor for watering,
timber may not be a wise option. If however, the room is an extension to you
home (but just with more windows), and the air is dry and shared with the main
centrally heated house, then you have a wider choice of timbers.
Sunlight: Are there large south facing windows? Do they have blinds to reduce
the effects of the midday sun? Timber floors are likely to be adversely affected
if the effects of the sun are regularly too extreme.
Types of timber: Unless your conservatory is part of your house and very dry,
laminates and overlays are not advised. You also would be well advised to keep
the widths of your boards to a minimum. Narrow boards are less likely to expand/contract/distort.
Timbers with high natural oil contents work well, such as Teak, Iroko or Jatoba.
These are darker woods. Lighter alternatives in new timbers are oak, and maple.
In reclaimed, teak, oak and Pitch Pine are all possibles.
We do not supply kitchens. However we do supply timber to lots
of joiners who do, so if you want one made we can put you in touch with someone
who can help.
There lots of different categories/qualities of oak around and different suppliers may call one grade by differing names according to where it falls within their grading system.
Basically we have two grades:
STANDARD: This is our standard flooring grade which falls somewhere between
a good "character" grade and Prime oak. We allow occasional small
to medium sound knots. Boards will be free of splits, heart shakes or sapwood.
Some minor filling of small knots may be required before sanding unfinished
boards. Many of the boards will actually be prime grade in this category.
PRIME: As standard but with only minimum 'pencil' knots.
Most of our oak boards are machined here in our works, so if you want particular
features in your boards, give us a call and we will try to accommodate your
requirements!
Here are some of the common ones:
T/G: Tongue and Groove: Boards have a tongue on one side of the board and a
groove on the other side. See question one above for advantages.
EM: This means that the ends of the boards are jointed with T/G. This tends
to be on shorter boards to avoid the need to cut back the board so that the
end joint is on a joist/batten.
MB: Micro-bevelled. These boards have a small 45ochamfer (1 or 2mm),
along the top two long edges creating a tiny "v" joint between the
boards when fitted. This look is popular on the Continent and becoming more
popular here - hence the name for our Continental range of boards. Has the advantage
that it reduces the need for finish sanding prior to applying finishes.
KD: Kiln Dried. ALL our new boarding is kiln dried (even the pine). Most are
dried to a level of 9-11% mc. This is the optimum level for most centrally heated
houses in the UK, to minimise shrinkage or expansion after laying. In certain
circumstances (eg underfloor heating) lower moisture levels may be required
- we would be pleased to offer advice if required.
You can lay solid timber boarding over underfloor heating, but certain timbers are more suitable than others. Boards should be T/G and should not be very wide (max 4" or 100mm). The timber should be thoroughly acclimatised in the room with the underfloor heating being turned on and very gently brought up to its normal operating temperature before the boards are secured. We would be happy to talk through possible options for fitting, but check with the underfloor heating suppliers re any requirements/restrictions that they may have.
If you have not got time for the above acclimatisation process and would prefer wider boards, you may like to consider our Tectonic structural engineered boarding. Clink link here for more details.
