Installing wood flooring on an existing floor | Salis Parquet
It might be evident for many people, however as a matter of fact not everyone knows that not only wood flooring can be installed on top of an old floor, but an existing floor is even one of the best performing surfaces for this use.
Let’s see why.
Today almost all flooring types can be installed on top of existing ones: wood, ceramic tiles, laminate, marble. All these covering materials are developed for an overlapping installation, as long as the following features belong to the subfloor:
1) Flatness. Possible depressions must be filled with special levelling compounds, there’s plenty of these in the market.
2) In case of an old floor with tiles not firmly fastened to the substrate, it is necessary to remove these tiles and to fill the consequent gap, once again with special fillers. If the involved areas are extended, it is better to intervene with self-levelling mortars.
3) Before gluing the new surface on top of the old one, make sure that the latter is clean and that no waxy substance are present on the surface, as these could prevent optimal adhesion between the two materials.
4) Cut the doors and French windows at the thickness of the new floor.
This operation is simple and generally today all installers are equipped with suitable machinery for cutting these elements on site.
These are the main rules to follow if you want to overlap a new floor over the old one.
Talking specifically about wood flooring, in some cases it is even possible to opt for a dry installation: it is an application without adhesives, involving instead a suitable sound-absorbing mattress placed in between the two surfaces.
It is clear that for this installation type, many of the above mentioned steps become unnecessary.
FLOATING WOOD FLOORS DON’T REQUIRE TO BE GLUED DOWN, BEING INSTEAD INSTALLED “DRY”.
_Wood flooring is very flexible, so even in case of hollows it is able to perfectly adapt to the substrate, avoiding areas potentially exposed to breaking if not well levelled (as it is likely to happen with a ceramic tile or stoneware). In this kind of situation it is therefore possible to choose a “floating” type installation, the most used technique for decades in Northern Europe.
_There is no need to check if the old tiles are well fastened, cracked or if they “sound empty”: no matter what, wood will easily lay on top as it only needs an approximately flat support.
_There is no need to carry out treatments on the old flooring in order to ensure a better adhesion of the glue: the floating installation avoids any type of additional processing whatsoever.
_The sound-absorbing mat limits the transmission of noise between the floors, for the good peace of the neighbourhood.
In Italy the majority of wood flooring is still installed with glue, in many cases there is no real custom on this system.
The suggestion is to also consider this installation technique when facing a renovation, because it can represent a remarkable saving solution both in terms of time and costs.
Which Salis collection can also be installed floating?
Discover here: