Hi
My other half wants to install Floorboards in our living room. At the moment
we have a Concrete Floor.

Can you install floorboards on top of Concrete, by using battens ? If so
what are the suggested Batton sizes ?

Thanks

Adrian Rees MW1LCR wrote:
Hi
My other half wants to install Floorboards in our living room. At the
moment we have a Concrete Floor.

Can you install floorboards on top of Concrete, by using battens ? If
so what are the suggested Batton sizes ?

Thanks

If you use battens, they will need to be at least 2X1, slate battens or
similar, laid flat so that you are resting the flooorboards across the 2
inch part, the only drawback here is that the floorboars themselves will be
18mm thick, coupled with the 25mm of batten, so you will have a 43mm step up
into the living room, almost 2 inches, which will also make your skirting
boards partially disappear and your doors too tall.

Hi Phil
Err.... Slate Battens ?

Not too worried about the rise in Floor height. If we do it, we'll do the
dining room as well. The house is a Welsh 1850's Farmhouse, and has odd
sized doors that you have to stoop to go through anyway.

The idea of wood is to "enhance" the massive Inglenook Fireplace we have.

Thanks
"Phil L" wrote in message
. uk...
Adrian Rees MW1LCR wrote:
Hi
My other half wants to install Floorboards in our living room. At the
moment we have a Concrete Floor.

Can you install floorboards on top of Concrete, by using battens ? If
so what are the suggested Batton sizes ?

Thanks

If you use battens, they will need to be at least 2X1, slate battens or
similar, laid flat so that you are resting the flooorboards across the 2
inch part, the only drawback here is that the floorboars themselves will
be
18mm thick, coupled with the 25mm of batten, so you will have a 43mm step
up
into the living room, almost 2 inches, which will also make your skirting
boards partially disappear and your doors too tall.

Adrian Rees MW1LCR wrote:
Hi Phil
Err.... Slate Battens ?

Not too worried about the rise in Floor height. If we do it, we'll do the
dining room as well. The house is a Welsh 1850's Farmhouse, and has odd
sized doors that you have to stoop to go through anyway.

The idea of wood is to "enhance" the massive Inglenook Fireplace we have.

Thanks

he means wooden battens. the timber would rot if it was laid directly
on the concrete as it needs air circulation around it and under it.
Use good quality battens and treat them as they are the first to
succumb to dampness or fungus etc.
looks like you will be stooping a lot more if you do this job. A good
reason perhaps not to do it. Before you start take up the skirting and
replace it in the finish leaving a small air gap all round from the new
flooring to the wall.

Adrian Rees MW1LCR wrote:
Hi Phil
Err.... Slate Battens ?


Roofing battens, commonly called slate battens, around here at least!

Not too worried about the rise in Floor height. If we do it, we'll do
the dining room as well. The house is a Welsh 1850's Farmhouse, and
has odd sized doors that you have to stoop to go through anyway.

The idea of wood is to "enhance" the massive Inglenook Fireplace we
have.

I see.

wrote:
Adrian Rees MW1LCR wrote:
Hi Phil
Err.... Slate Battens ?

Not too worried about the rise in Floor height. If we do it, we'll
do the dining room as well. The house is a Welsh 1850's Farmhouse,
and has odd sized doors that you have to stoop to go through anyway.

The idea of wood is to "enhance" the massive Inglenook Fireplace we
have.

Thanks

he means wooden battens. the timber would rot if it was laid directly
on the concrete as it needs air circulation around it and under it.

Strips of the underfloor 'padding' that is used for laminate flooring would
suffice, the air will circulate OK because T&G has grooves for this purpose

Use good quality battens and treat them as they are the first to
succumb to dampness or fungus etc.

Roof battens are tannalised, hence my suggestion, although a few coats of
something else would be a good idea, Ronseal do a good all purpose timber
treatment, which protects against wet and dry rot and also insect (woodworm)
infestation, it requires 3 coats and costs around £25 per gallon, but it
spreads for miles, being very thin.


looks like you will be stooping a lot more if you do this job. A good
reason perhaps not to do it. Before you start take up the skirting and
replace it in the finish leaving a small air gap all round from the
new flooring to the wall.

Have you thought about laying a floating floor on some nominal 20mm or so, insulation? An engineered timber floor such as Kahrs Oak would look great. Simple locking mechanism to the planks which can be up to 2.4m long and quick to install.

tOn Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:58:10 +0100, wrote:

On 29 Aug,
"Adrian Rees MW1LCR" wrote:

Hi Phil
Err.... Slate Battens ?


AKA tanalised tile laths. 2x1 approx pre treated timber.

They're what I used to buy from Jno E Nelson, roofing contractor, in
Holm(e)side, for my model railway baseboard framework.

.... some 45 years ago :-)

--
Frank Erskine
Sunderland

Adrian Rees MW1LCR wrote:
Hi
My other half wants to install Floorboards in our living room. At the moment
we have a Concrete Floor.

Can you install floorboards on top of Concrete, by using battens ? If so
what are the suggested Batton sizes ?

Thanks

I am part way through doing the same job at the moment but I hit a
snag. I was going to take up the screed floor above the concrete slab
then put battens down. That would have maintained the floor level.
Unfortunately the dickhead who buit the extention never put a damp
proof membrane in so I finished up digging up the concrete slab ( I use
the term concrete losely) and put joists in.
You could take up just the screed but you might not like what you find.

Kevin

Kev wrote:
Adrian Rees MW1LCR wrote:
Hi
My other half wants to install Floorboards in our living room. At
the moment we have a Concrete Floor.

Can you install floorboards on top of Concrete, by using battens ?
If so what are the suggested Batton sizes ?

Thanks

I am part way through doing the same job at the moment but I hit a
snag. I was going to take up the screed floor above the concrete slab
then put battens down. That would have maintained the floor level.
Unfortunately the dickhead who buit the extention never put a damp
proof membrane in so I finished up digging up the concrete slab ( I
use the term concrete losely) and put joists in.
You could take up just the screed but you might not like what you
find.

Kevin

The DPM goes under the concrete slab, not the screed

Phil L wrote:
Kev wrote:
Adrian Rees MW1LCR wrote:
Hi
My other half wants to install Floorboards in our living room. At
the moment we have a Concrete Floor.

Can you install floorboards on top of Concrete, by using battens ?
If so what are the suggested Batton sizes ?

Thanks
I am part way through doing the same job at the moment but I hit a
snag. I was going to take up the screed floor above the concrete slab
then put battens down. That would have maintained the floor level.
Unfortunately the dickhead who buit the extention never put a damp
proof membrane in so I finished up digging up the concrete slab ( I
use the term concrete losely) and put joists in.
You could take up just the screed but you might not like what you
find.

Kevin

The DPM goes under the concrete slab, not the screed


No, it doesn't. Not necesasarily.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Phil L wrote:
Kev wrote:
Adrian Rees MW1LCR wrote:
Hi
My other half wants to install Floorboards in our living room. At
the moment we have a Concrete Floor.

Can you install floorboards on top of Concrete, by using battens ?
If so what are the suggested Batton sizes ?

Thanks
I am part way through doing the same job at the moment but I hit a
snag. I was going to take up the screed floor above the concrete
slab then put battens down. That would have maintained the floor
level. Unfortunately the dickhead who buit the extention never put
a damp proof membrane in so I finished up digging up the concrete
slab ( I use the term concrete losely) and put joists in.
You could take up just the screed but you might not like what you
find.

Kevin

The DPM goes under the concrete slab, not the screed


No, it doesn't. Not necesasarily.

Excuse me? - the floor itself is a concrete slab, the screed is very often
optional - most plans stipulate a 'screed or non-dusting finish' whether you
choose asphalt, sand/cement screed or whatever else is immaterial, the DPM
is underneath the concrete floor (or if the BCO insists, underneath the
jablite, which is under the concrete), the screed can be as little as 40mm,
this would be useless on top of plastic as it would just fall apart....
YMMV.

Phil L wrote:


The DPM goes under the concrete slab, not the screed

Yes I know that, there was no dpm under the slab, the fact that there
was no membrane showing above the top of the slab was a give away. Not
a lot of point in having a dpm otherwise.
The builder who did my porch did the same. Put the dpm in but didn't
run it up the sides. What was that point of that. No wonder the there
was always evidense of damp on the porch floor when ever there was
heavy rain.

Kevin