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Advice for wooden subfloor adhesion.

  |  Advice for wooden subfloor adhesion.

HOW TO adhere to a wooden sub floor

Firstly, take into account the condition, potential movement, contamination, moisture and keeping in mind the final floor covering to be installed. There are many timber subfloor surfaces and it is most likely that a timber subfloor is going to move more than a solid base, even if has been adhered to a solid surface below. This could be as simple as the expansion and contraction of the timber caused by changes in temperature and humidity. It is probably best if we look at the different types of timber sub floor and provide the best advice that we can.

WORKING WITH WOOD.

Often times, it is possible to glue directly to a timber subfloor without too much of an issue. However, sometimes you will need to overcome site specific problems such as contamination, moisture, structural stability and noise reduction. In general terms, all timber sub floors should be assessed, processed and primed as necessary before direct adhesion with the relevant Wakol adhesive. Wakol MS 228 is generally recommended for engineered wooden floors and Wakol MS 260 is generally recommended for solid wooden floors up to 180mm in width. Please refer to data sheets for specifics or call is with any questions at this stage.

Additionally, we see many contractors needing to compensate for mild surface undulation in timber sub floors or to reduce sound . In this case, we recommend the use of Wakol TS102 sound suppression matting. This product is a 2mm Cork foam mat that comes in a 30 m roll. It is glued to the timber subfloor before the wooden floor covering is then subsequently glued to its surface.

The main benefits are the decibel reduction (17db) and the secure under foot feeling. The TS102 should always be glued with the same adhesive that will be used later for the final wooden floor covering. Therefore, it is important to keep that in mind before starting. As an example, if you were intending to install engineered plank with Wakol MS230, THEN THE SAME PRODUCT should be used to glue down the Wakol TS102 mat first.

 

Old Floor Boards (Pine on joist)

Ideally, the boards should first be replaced with more structurally sound products of the same thickness such as floor grade specification ply or chipboard. If this is not possible, then you should look at installing a floor grade product on top of the boards. This product should be screwed and glued to the boards below to make it as secure as possible. Ideally the boards below should be sanded back to remove any contaminates, vacuumed and then primed if necessary before applying the adhesive. We would recommend Wakol PU280 (1 layer) or Wakol D3055 as the primer coat. We would recommend Wakol MS260 as the adhesive to be used under the ply or chipboard.

 

Plywood

Please make sure that the ply is dry, secure and free from contaminates before starting the process. If you suspect any contaminates, please apply Wakol PU280 in 1 layer before using the relevant Wakol adhesive.

 

Chipboard

Some chipboards can contain adhesive inhibitors or surface contaminates. Usually a layer (I coat) of Wakol PU280 primer will seal out any issues but we cannot guarantee this and you may have to conduct your own tests to be absolutely sure. Once you are happy to proceed, we recommend the process above.

This is by no means and exhaustive list of timber surfaces but these are the most common we come across in the UK. If you need help and advice on something that is not covered, please contact us and we will try our best to answer your questions.