INSTALLATION RULES

Parquet can be installed onto a glued subfloor cast from concrete or made of water-proof plywood/chipboard.

In addition to the above-mentioned subfloor types, floorings can be also installed onto ground-sills with help of screw-nails. The required frequency of sills should be 20 mm; in case of thick oak flooring, it should comprise no more than 40 mm. The thinner and smaller the stiffness of flooring is—different kinds of wood have different stiffness—the more frequent the sills should be.

When installing flooring onto a subfloor made of plywood, chipboard, or concrete, in addition, employing the right materials and operational methods, a greater stiffness of a subfloor as well as a possibility to fix the part more strongly is an advantage, which helps to decrease certain risks, such as floor swelling, cracks, sagging, creaking, etc.

Subfloor design as well as the choice of materials used depends, within certain limits, on characteristics of each object, and exact solutions are advised to be ordered from specialists possessing professional education and experts in the field.

Generally, the acceptable planeness deviation comprises 3 mm for every 2 m.

When installing onto concrete, the following should be considered:

solid wood flooring can be installed only onto glued concrete
not all the glues are suitable to glue a concrete floor. When choosing a glue, grade of concrete used should also be considered. Generally, to achieve a better result, polymer adhesives, which become elastic after drying, should be used
as from the moment of installation, the relative humidity in concrete should comprise no more than 70%
after the installation of the solid wood flooring onto concrete, getting of moisture into concrete through other structural steels, for example, foundation, should be avoided
if the concrete floor is not sufficiently even, it should be levelled; the use of levelling compound is not recommended since after the installation of the flooring it may break.

Installation onto plywood/chipboard:

boards should be secured rigidly and fairly tightly—with help of glue or screw-nails
the thickness of the boards should be sufficient—min. 10-12 mm; if the boards are laid onto sills, based on the frequency of the sills, they could be even thicker if necessary
the solid wood flooring is advised to be installed not in a parallel way to plank edges
a better result can be achieved when during the installation of the planks, employment of glue is combined with that of screw-nails/nails
boards are normally secured by screw-nails/nails using dowels at an angle of 45 degrees; sizes of screw-nails/nails depend on the thickness of flooring secured as well as the subfloor; if required, holes for the screw-nails as well as sockets for screw heads are drilled.
when gluing, use an appropriate glue—recommended by the manufacturer; generally, it is better to use water-free or containing less water wood adhesives. During the installation of floor planks, a possible swelling of planks in cross direction should be taken into consideration; and according to building regulations, for that, deformation joints are left every five metres. A space of 10 mm should also be left at all the walls.

To conclude, we advise you to make use of services of professional fitters when installing floorings.

Notes:
installation by means of gluing onto plaster boards and uneven surfaces leads to a great risk of breaking of the flooring; thus, it is not recommended
glue can be spread into the grooves at the ends of the planks but never into the edge grooves because the latter may cause the danger of splitting of the planks in case the planks dry out—which is usual for solid wood planks when air humidity decreases
floorings installed by means of glue can be sanded only after the thorough drying of the glue—note that for different types of glues, the time of drying is different—when aqueous glue is used, waiting time before sanding is started is even greater since water exuded during the drying of the glue should exude from flooring as well—follow the application instructions for using particular glues
during the installation, use the required personal protective equipment and follow the safety requirements

Installation of heat-treated wood floorings is similar to that of regular wood floorings. Differences lie in that:

· Heat-treated wood, depending on the extent of its processing, is more fragile and can break more easily—it should be taken into account when selecting the frequency of the sills as well as during the use of screw-nails/nails
· The ability of heat-treated wood to absorb water is less than that of regular wood; thus, it is recommended to use water-free adhesives—during glue drying, water cannot exude properly and gluing does not take place; in addition, after the drying of the glue, water absorbed by the heat-treated wood cannot come out of it fast

Floor Heating and Solid Wood Flooring

Generally, it is possible to install solid wood parquet and flooring onto under-floor heating. However, it should be taken into consideration that such a solution bears several additional risks which manifest themselves in cracks between the planks caused by drying up during heating seasons as well as in greater swelling and crookedness deformations that may end in detaching of the floor. Generally, for heated floor, planks with smaller crosscut and planks made of heat-treated wood are suitable. Moreover, for it, polymer adhesives that become elastic when dry and which make it possible for planks to move more relative to subfloor are used. During the underfoot-heating exploitation, it is better to increase the temperature as slowly as possible and avoid temperature jumps.