Laying Hardwood Over Slab

Installing a hardwood floor over a concrete slab even if your home was built on a concrete slab you can still enjoy the beauty and charm of hardwood floors.

Laying hardwood over slab.

Cost skill level start to finish 2 days. Installing hardwood flooring over concrete. Installing hardwood on concrete is not a do it yourself project. Deciding factors before installing hardwood flooring over concrete.

Installing hardwood floors over concrete slab before you make any decision on flooring the first thing you need to do is contact an experienced professional. Learn how to install beautiful hardwood floors over a concrete slab. Once you ve made up your mind about installing a hardwood floor over your concrete slab you need to put some thought into it. Water used within the mix of newly poured slabs can take up to 3 months or more to.

Alternatively screw rows of treated 1x4s to the concrete 16 in. Before you prepare the concrete for hardwood flooring it must be dry. Of course if you want to install new flooring it s often best to remove any existing flooring. Before you run out and order a hardwood floor there are several items you need know.

Treated plywood to the concrete with concrete screws spaced every 16 in. Experienced professionals pay close attention to managing moisture and minimizing wood floor expansion and contraction when preparing to install hardwood floors on concrete slabs. If the slab is new don t even begin moisture testing until 30 days after pouring it it probably won t be ready to be covered until 60 days after. Read manufacturer s directions before installation to maintain warranty coverage.

Floated subfloor alternate subfloor glue down sub floor and the nail down subfloor system. Get a comprehensive breakdown on which materials to use what to take into consideration and what steps to take for four subfloor systems. The concrete slab needs to be completely cured and moisture free before you can install hardwood on top. You usually determine this with a meter that compares the relative humidity of the slab with the ambient humidity.

Black felt hardwood flooring underlayment paper over the subfloor overlapping the seams 4 6 inches to help retard moisture transfer. Concrete slabs usually consist of a 4 6 thick 3 500 5 550 lb strength concrete pour. Hardwood floors are durable low maintenance and easy to clean. Lay 6 mil polyethylene sheeting over the concrete to minimize moisture migration from the concrete up into the wood flooring.

If there is anything already laid over the concrete you should remove it before you can start installing hardwood flooring that might mean pulling up a carpet or possibly removing paint from the concrete.