Tell me about putting down a new floor.

[mollyfolk]

We have tiles downstairs and I want a wooden floor. How does this work? Can they put the wooden floor over the tiles or is it a very messy job.

They will need to lift the tiles and, depending on the type and quality of the floor beneath, prep the floor with leveller or screed ready for wood.

It might not even be possible. Best to talk to a fitter to find out.

Depends how level it all is. If it’s ok then you can but will either need to install a sheet of ply underneath to act as an anchor or use engineered wood and glue. If you are wanting solid wood then that is going to likely need a new subfloor as the joints don’t lock, so the floor will float and ultimately come apart as the wood expands and contracts. Is it a solid concrete sub floor?

Yes it is solid concrete. Part of the downstairs was extended so the whole floor was levelled 15 years ago or so.

Ok. So will depend on what floor you want to put down. If the quickstep stuff with locking joints then you can likely just crack on with underlay and then put it down. Don’t glue or try to secure it as the expansion and shrinking will make a mess of it all and it’s supposed to float. If you want solid wood then you’re going to need to get some sort of mdf subfloor down, or P5 tongue and groove. You’ll need to secure the boards to this otherwise you’ll end up with gaps everywhere as the tongue and groove doesn’t interlock. That will be a whole load more faff, it solid wood is a higher quality so depends on your taste. Other thing to consider is new subfloor and then thicker boards ontop will raise the floor height by 3-5cms depending on what you’re putting down.