Floating Hardwood Floors: Simple Lock & Fold System

When you install hard wood strips on a cushioned underlay and not directly on a sub floor, it is referred to as floating hardwood floors. The benefit of having floating wood floors is that they are more comfortable on the feet than hard cold floors such as stone, marble, granite or ceramic tiles.

Before the latest trends in hard wood flooring, the tongue & groove wood floor panels were glued together with woodworker’s glue, whereby glue was applied into the grooves and the tongue was fixed into the groove and allowed to set. After the glue application and the fixing of the hard wood, they were then tapped into place with a hammer and a tapping block.

Now, with today's flooring installations, there is the lock and fold system where no glue is required. The wood panels are fitted (or slotted) onto a cushioned underlay, with the strips being connected one at a time with the adjoining panels actually folding over to create a secured connection or fit.

Installing floating hard wood flooring is fairly straight forward as long as the right preparations has been done. Preparing the sub floor before installation of the wood strips is the key to a perfect floor finish.

• The floor must be clean and free of specks and dirt.
• Floor must be even and level before the installation process commences.
• Warped wood planks will make utter nonsense of the final wood floor finish.

Most hardwood flooring materials are engineered wood products, because hardwood expands and contracts easily because of moisture changes in the atmosphere. So because of this, stair treads for example, are made with about two or sometimes three pieces glued and clamped together, so when they expand or contract as a whole it is barely noticeable.

The stair treads have only eleven inches of expansion properties across the width or depth and this allows that changes become problem free. The traditional tongue & groove system leaves potential voids everywhere.

But if you create one big block of wood from many strips glued together, it will eventually 'explode' under diverse atmospheric conditions. So it’s advisable never to 'net fit' a wood floor to a fixed object. Doing so will cause tenting or buckling of the floor. Always allow for expansion room as much as is possible.

Some manufacturers produce floating wood floors with a clip system where boards are milled with channels on the backside. Metal clips are now used to connect each board from the back.

Floating wood flooring can be installed over existing ceramic tiled floors, or on sub floors such a particle boards, plywood, etc. that are not recommended for nailing and gluing. However, not all engineered wood products can be floated successfully. The manufacturer’s instructions and specifications will help out if ever in doubt.

If you feel a bit funny about that hollow feel you get underfoot with hardwood floors, thicker strips of the hardwood will reduce that unpleasant hollow sound effect.

And if a higher grade underlay is used, combined with the thicker engineered wood flooring materials, it will eliminate that hollow sound, and the feel under your feet will be much like walking on a solid floor, or like floating hardwood floors that's installed onto a sub floor.

See Also:

• Bamboo Wood Floors - Dark & Light Durable Ecofriendly Bamboo Wood Flooring
• Luxury Dream Home Designs & House Plans
• Natural Flooring Benefits: Sustainable & Eco Friendly Flooring Materials

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