Special
Subfloors : part I
SUBFLOORS FOR FLOOR COVERINGS A RAPID TOUR OF THE ENTIRE SPECTRUM
Photo – Bona
A subfloor along with substrate preparation, is one element in wooden floor fitting which disappears from sight once a floor is complete. Whether we talk about moisture resistance, levelling, acoustic refinement, or a combination of all those goals, a subfloor still directly affects the quality of the final floor. In other words, it is absolutely vital. Two developments stand out. Firstly, there is the emergence of universal subfloors and, secondly, subfloors designed for a specific case. This time we give a rapid summary snapshot, but in future editions we’ll zoom in.
Clients deserve an explanation! There are certainly more jobs in the construction industry where the final assignment is preceded by a lot of preparation. Take painting, for instance. Painters are often occupied for several days with all sorts of repair jobs before they can put a stroke of paint on the wall. It’s exactly the same with fitting parquet. Preparing a substrate and fitting a mezzanine floor sometimes take up as much time as the final floor fitting itself. Both work and materials show up on the bill. Clients deserve an explanation for those extra costs. Floor fitters should explain why those preliminary operations are so necessary.
Photo – Bona
The substrate Before we present the various sorts of subfloors, it would seem helpful to outline the elementary conditions which the substrate has to meet. Lots of parquet producers put these conditions forward as a guarantee condition.
Dry The fact that the screed and the floorboards have to be checked for their moisture content in advance is absolutely basic. You could call it a basic condition. Floor fitters have at their disposal various measuring instruments for this purpose.
Flat The subfloor onto which a wooden floor is fitted has to be flat. There is sometimes a certain lack of clarity about the term ‘flatness’. It is certainly important to realise that not even a new screed necessarily meets the flatness requirements for fitting parquet.
Solid It might seem obvious that the substrate has to be solid, but this is often taken with a pinch of salt. A grain illustrates perfectly what
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Floor Forum International 111
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