"He ended up putting down a slate tile "

For a shop floor, tile isn't much better than concrete - or am I missing
something?


"efgh" wrote in message
news:LRdih.73640$YV4.68454@edtnps89...

wrote in message
ups.com...
I am interested in floating a solid hardwood plank floor (3/4" x 3").
Has anyone successfully done this? I am leary of glue down application
onto the above grade cement slab. Here in Hawaii we have alot of
moister in the air and I feel that allowing the the floor to shrink and
grow and generally allowed to roam is a better option than locking it
down which then could lead to buckling and other nasty things. Plus
wood floors are supposed to give and take underfoot and not fee like
contrete.

I have successful tried this in a small room in the house for testing
and all went well and it has been over a year with no issues to date. I
left 1/2" gap all round the room for expansion space. Now, I want to do
the main living room which is a lager space and higher traffic area.
What are your thoughts, ideas, recomendations, and concerns?

-Marc

Holmes on Homes had an episode where the homeowner had hardwod flooring
instaled over concrete. While I can't remember the specifics of the
issues, the reader's digest version is that it, the flooring and the
plywood subfloor, rotted out in a relatively short period of time. Mike
went through the trouble of making sure there were no other water leaks
that could have caused the problem. He even drilled into the concrete
slab that was poured 25 years ago only to discover that it was the proper
thickness, the styrofoam under the slab was fine and the dirt below that
was dry. I think he concluded that the moisture in the concrete was
causing the flooring/subfloor to rot. He ended up putting down a slate
tile with an electric heating pad underneath.