BuySafe Guarantee
  • Home
  • UKFD Tips for Tough Situations

Cutting around Radiator Pipes

Measure the centre position of the pipes and mark them on the board, don’t forget to consider the expansion. Take measurements from the spacers into account. Drill a hole of 12mm (1/2”) bigger than the pipe diameter and expansion provision. Saw at a 45 degree angle to the holes.

Door Jamb Installation

If you have a wooden door jamb, we recommend undercutting according to the thickness of the flooring plus the underlay. Install the flooring underneath the door jamb, leaving the necessary expansion gaps.

In the case of completing your installation underneath a doorjamb, we recommend that you remove the locking part of the protruding groove of the boards with a utility knife or a pocket plane.

The newly laid board can now be pushed horizontally over the groove of the previously laid board. Use high quality wood glue on top of the tongue to secure the connection. If you have a door jamb which cannot be shortened, e.g. a metal doorjamb, we recommend that you cover the expansion gaps with mouldings or fill them with elastic acrylic sealants.

Using a Levelling Compound

First of all make sure you read the product instructions for mixing as this will return the best results.

Where you have an uneven floor, use a 1m straight edge and lay it flat on the floor. Where it touches a high point draw a dot. It is a good idea to write the depth of the gap seen between the dots as you go, so that you will know what thickness to spread the levelling compound. You can then join the dots, this is the area where the levelling compound will need to be poured and feathered out.

Alternative Floor Preparation where Bitumen is Present

Where Bitumen or Asphalt is present we recommend floating your flooring. However if you are intending to lay solid hardwood, you will need to plywood the surface first. The choice of thickness of ply will depend on the method of installation you intend to use. If you are gluing then 12mm ply will be fine, but if nailing or screwing the floor then you need to use at least 18mm ply.

In both cases we recommend a 1000 gauge DPM is used to stop any chemical migration affecting the adhesives in the ply, and that the ply will need to be fixed securely at 300mm square intervals by drilling and plugging.