Engineered floor Underlayment R value & moisture barrier
Elizabeth Yannone
6 years ago
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Elizabeth Yannone
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Moisture Barrier over Concrete Slab
Comments (15)Well, its been almost 6 months since you posted about your Bamboo - how did it go and how is it holding up??? We installed 1000 feet of this exact product in Nov 2012 - we are currently in the process of pulling it all up,, YUCH... moisture issue???? not really sure what happened,,, installer is being real good and standing behind it all - the house is 1/2 up and the rest is coming out tomorrow.. going with eng Hickory in its place - also laying down a very expense moisture barrier (painted on) Only used Glue that was suppose to have a moisture barrier in it??? floor was 14 years old in Central CA - maybe 10" of rain a year and NO problems in the past... anyway,, moisture test is in progress at this moment - Wish you luck with your Bamboo - wife liked it but it does NOT like any moisture and does NOT like spoons dropped on it,, LOL - still a very pretty floor,,, oh well, live moves on...See MoreBest Underlayment for engineered wood floating floor
Comments (2)I have not used cork, so I can't speak about that. I have used many other underlayments including FloorMuffler. In my personal experience Sound Solutions underlayment is the best for what you are asking about. One person can't hardly lift and carry a 6ft wide roll of this. Three things you need to have to achieve a quiet and fairly solid feeling floating floor. The substrate has to flat,flat,flat. Use a premium underlayment. Pick a quality floor with excellent milling and a stout joinery system, and the thicker it is the better imo. I have installed this way before and it is very solid feeling underfoot. Most folks are surprised when they discover it's a floating floor....See MoreAcceptable to hear moisture barrier under flooring?
Comments (32)It depends on what the PAD is made of. Over wood you do NOT want a vapour barrier. Ever. Wood sweats. The droplets the wood releases will HIT the vapour barrier (or closed cell rubber, or whatever is used for vapour barrier) and then DRIP DOWN on to the hardwood. Then it sits...and rots. A breathable carpet pad that is fibre based (like felted mixed fibre pad from recycled blue jeans...etc) will work very well. Sometimes the OLD FINISH on the hardwood will chemically interfere with rubber or rubberized products. The finish on the wood can rub against a rubber carpet pad. But most squeaks come from wood rubbing on metal like nails. It happens. Especially with older homes (30+ year old homes that have dried out = dry wood shrank, the nail holes got bigger and now you have loose boards = squeaking)....See MoreUnderlayment for engineered hardwood XPS vs moisture barrier
Comments (3)So...you need a moisture barrier first and foremost. That means the industry standard is just fine: 6mil polyethylene sheeting = $0.06/sf at Home Depot. You will need moisture resistant tape such as "Red Duct Tape" = $9.95/roll = 75 linear feet of adhesion. If you wish an underpad, you can look at 3mm ($0.40/sf) or 6mm ($0.80/sf) cork that sits over top of this moisture barrier. No glue. No tape. Nothing. It just sits there like a beach blanket. Then you lay the floors over top. Done and done. The vapour barrier is not only "industry standard" it is also one of the lowest cost options we have on the market. Wow. Cheap and effective. Kinda cool. Which is why many installers use it day in and day out. Cork is awesome underneath floating hardwood because the cork "floats" as well. The one thing you MUST do....make the concrete FLAT. That's the hardest part of this whole exercise....See MoreElizabeth Yannone
6 years agoUser
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoSJ McCarthy
6 years agoTara H
4 years ago
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