Oak flooring is a very beautiful and an excellent choice to enhance the warmth of your house. This flooring is hygienic, non allergic, hard wearing, and easy to clean. It gives nice feel even under bare feet and offers fragrance just after the floor is polished and cleaned. Actually oak flooring is a type of wooden flooring which consists of layers of fiberboard or plywood. It includes natural oak flooring, white oak flooring, and natural dark oak flooring. Oak flooring is wear resistant and long-lasting if looked after properly. This flooring may be susceptible to dents and scratches. Hence it is not the best option for high traffic areas such as hallways without a rug.
How to protect oak flooring?
Using felt pads on furniture such as sofas and beds is a good way to protect oak flooring. This flooring should not be exposed to moisture. It should not be installed in bathrooms and kitchens where lots of moisture and water exists.
Where to install oak flooring?
Oak flooring is most suitable for the rooms with low traffic volume such as bedroom, dining room or living room. It is an ideal choice for bedroom and can add elegance to any room. Oak flooring is usually laid as a floating floor. It should be fitted properly both for functionality and durability.
Manufacturing of oak flooring
The core and top layer of oak flooring are manufactured by laying cross layers on one another. This method ensures that the flooring will not change into its shape by shortening, lengthening, warp due to moisture, humidity changes or exposure to radiant heat. This feature of oak flooring allows it to be installed in areas where traditional hard wood flooring is laid.
Installation of oak flooring
1. Laying base coat before installing oak flooring
Step 1: Compact the earth properly: Compact the earth properly by watering and ramming. Do sand piling to make sure proper compaction of the earth under floor.
Step 2: Ensure the base coat is fully compacted: Lay 100 mm thick fine sand on compacted earth. After laying fine sand, lay 100 mm thick cement concrete in ratio of 1:8:16 and ensure that the base coat laid is fully compacted by hand rammers or with surface vibrator.
2. Leveling concrete in proper slope
A layer of at least 25 mm thick leveling concrete should be laid. Cement concrete in of 1:2:4 ratios should be laid in proper slope and in level. It should fully be compacted and be cured for 7 days.
3. Store flooring material at room temperature
Store the floor material at room temperature at least 24 hours before starting installation. If sub floor is of concrete, hard panels should be fixed with nail or glue. Also place insulation layer over entire surface of sub floor to insulate it against moisture, heat and noise.
4. How to install oak flooring?
Step 1: Clean and level the surface: Keep the surface clean, dry and in proper level before laying oak flooring.
Step 2: Start laying oak flooring using wedges: Begin laying engineered oak flooring boards along longest straight wall in the room and use wedges to maintain 10 mm gap between boards and skirting board or wall.
Step 4: Ensure proper joints in rows of boards: Make sure that the joints or offsets do not coincide in the rows instead they are staggered. To obtain staggered joints, use full length of board in first row, start with 2/3 length of board in 2nd row and begin with 1/3rd length of board in the 3rd row. Repeat this pattern throughout the room.
Step 5: Do finishing and fit boards properly: Cut the ends of boards at walls allowing a gap of 10 mm. To fit boards around corners or odd shapes, draw a cardboard template and trace outline of the template on board and use jigsaw to cut out the shape. To fit engineered oak flooring under a doorframe, use handsaw to cut thin slice from the bottom of doorframe allowing boards to slide under it.
Step 6: Cover gaps with matching molding: Once you have fitted all boards, cover the gaps at walls with matching molding. Make certain that you fix molding with skirting board or wall; not with flooring so that floor can be easily dismantled.
Note down: After completing installation process, the surface should be cleaned and polished.
Tools required for installation of oak flooring
- Jigsaw with 2.5 mm wood blade
- Handsaw
- Mallet
- Measuring tape
- Bench
- Miter
- Pencil etc.
Benefits of oak flooring
- Beautiful, elegant and sophisticated
- Extremely durable since it lasts for long time
- Adds to the value of your home
- Complements to any design of your home.
- Available in a variety of colors and styles
- Be installed in living room, bathroom or bedroom, family room etc.
Drawbacks of oak flooring
- Very expensive and usually unaffordable.
- Requires a lot of maintenance and care
- Fades in the sunlight as susceptible to extreme temperatures
- May be damaged, get scratches or dent if any sharp objects are placed on it.