How To Lay Solid Hardwood Flooring On Concrete

The fact that your home is built on a concrete slabs does not preclude installing hardwood floors but several considerations apply not least of which is subfloor preparation.

How to lay solid hardwood flooring on concrete.

There are many types of hardwood flooring available ranging from prefinished laminated also called engineered strips and planks. Anytime you are installing real wood over concrete regardless of what thickness or material it is you will need to do some preemptive steps to ensure. This will result in buckling. Moisture can pose problems for solid hardwood floors below ground level so engineered wood floors made of layers of wood glued together are the best.

Your best option is engineered hardwood flooring. We had a topic earlier on the community regarding the do s and don ts of installing solid hardwood floors over concrete. Most manufacturers advise against installing hardwood flooring over concrete for two reasons moisture levels in concrete and the difficulty of attaching directly to concrete. In other words everything from thin plywood with a hardwood veneer layer on top to solid wood strips and planks.

The installation process is slightly different for each but by following the correct steps it can be done without any problems. You don t want to try and glue it down either. Laying a solid hardwood strip floor is easier and faster if you choose a prefinished product to avoid the extra work of sanding staining and finishing. Laying a solid wood floor over concrete both solid wood flooring and engineered wood flooring can be laid onto a concrete subfloor.

Treated plywood to the concrete with concrete screws spaced every 16 in. Hardwood type there is no way to install standard 3 4 hardwood on concrete. Since humidity causes natural wood to expand and contract your flooring won t be able to move. Lay the 1x4s perpendicular to the direction you intend to install the floor planks.

Then nail the flooring planks with a standard flooring nailer see photo for details. With dry concrete and the right subfloors and vapor retarders solid hardwood floors can be installed on slabs that are either on grade at ground level or above grade above ground level. For starters while you can consider solid hardwood for at and above grade installations only engineered flooring with its plywoodlike construction is suitable below. Alternatively screw rows of treated 1x4s to the concrete 16 in.