Can You Float A Hardwood Floor Over Concrete

Step 1 prepare the room.

Can you float a hardwood floor over concrete.

Before you start installing you are going to want to prepare the room. Most people can install this type of hardwood flooring as long as they are willing to do a little bit of work. You can choose any type of flooring solid or engineered and any type of method but i would suggest nailing since it s the most secure. Although it is not impossible to float a solid wood floor successfully generally speaking floating a hardwood floor is not a great idea.

Here are the basics of how to install floating hardwood floors over concrete. Floating wood flooring can provide you with a simple installation and a beautiful floor at the same time. The reason for this is that solid wood flooring is much more susceptible to movement than engineered flooring due to fluctuating moisture and humidity levels. In new england a 3 4 hardwood floor installed directly over concrete will absorb moisture from the concrete slab and the boards will swell and cup.

So if you have a plywood sub floor the world is your oyster. Both laminate and engineered hardwood floors can be floated. Moisture can pose problems for solid hardwood floors below ground level so engineered wood floors made of layers of wood glued together are the best choice there. When we talk about a floating floor it means that the hardwood floor is not permanently attached to the subfloor.

It rests or floats on top held in place by the weight of the floor itself. You ll want to install an underlayment on concrete floor in basement. I suggest laying out felt paper over the concrete sealing the joints with an asphalt adhesive and then laying the wood floor over as though you were installing a floating floor.