Okay, we're here on a cold bit this morning in Somerset
We're about to start laying an engineer timber floor. So I'm going to go through some of the processes that we'll use and some of the tools that
we'll use to prepare. Let's go inside. Okay, some bits and pieces, some tools and materials we're going to be using
These are floor tensioners. It's basically just a ratchet strap that truck drivers use to attach things to the back of
their lorries. And you just put the two sides onto your floorboards
If there's ever any gaps between them that you can't close up, there's a little bit of pressure, you attach this over your floorboards and it will squeeze them together like that
We've got some good quality wood glue. We're going to do a whole floating floor today, so all the bits of flooring are going to be
glued together. That means that as the floor expands and contracts as the room gets hotter and colder, the whole
floor moves as one and it expands and then as it pulls back together, it will pull away
from the skirting instead of gaps opening up between our floorboards. Because the floor is going to expand and contract and it's bouncing back around the edge, this
will be covered by the skirting board once it's put in place
But to fill that gap, we'll put this cork strip in. What that will do is as the floor expands, the cork will contract and then as the floor
contracts again, instead of the flooring pulling away from one side and leaving a gap along
the skirting, this cork will ensure that it pulls away evenly from both sides and you're
left with a beautiful floor with no gaps around the edges. Most importantly is our floor
Today we're using an engineered floor. It's a hardwood laminate on top of essentially a plywood
That means that the grain of the cinders are laid like this, which makes it much more resistant
to expansion and contraction, makes it much more stable to cutting and twisting and it's
just generally a better product than a solid hardwood floor. So our floor needs to be laid on an underlay
This is basically just a foam sheet with a chenpoil batter to it
The chenpoil goes down, it stops any moisture coming up from the substrate on the floor
underneath and the foam just gives a cushion onto the board, takes out any unevenness in
the floor and gives a little bit of softness to the flooring
So the boards have been left in the room for about a week now. You need to give the boards time to acclimatise to the room, to the temperature and the humidity
They'll expand and contract if they get hotter and colder or more or less moist
The boys are now just going through and sorting all the boards into different sizes, picking
out any that have got two steps or that are particularly darker than the others
We use them for the tucks later on. And putting them into piles just helps you lay your floor properly, get all the joints
where you want them to be. OK, so before you start laying the floor, you want to consider where your boards are
going to lie. Now Steve's been kind enough to mark out some of the boards that are forming on the underlay
And what we're looking for is, as you get towards the walls, we don't want to end up
with a tiny little tuck that disappears underneath the chair thing. It's hard to fit and it just doesn't look right
You also want to end up with a similar sized tuck on this side of the room as you do to
the other side. And it just makes for a much neater, tidier job
So a little bit of thought before you actually start makes the whole job a lot better at
the end. So in a new build, what you see is you have a lovely straight wall, fitted by your excellent carpenter
And you'd be able to start with your first board 10mm off the wall for your expansion duct
What we've got is an old barn which has a wiggly wall
So we're going to have to slide that last board in there
What we've done is loosely laid these first boards where they're going to lie and then
you can come along afterwards, push our boards up, cut what we need to cut off and put that
first one in. Once that's in, then the whole floor will just fall out from that point
OK, so we're working our way along sliding these boards into the floor
What I've got here is a pair of compasses. I've got a board that's 180mm wide so I've set my compass to that width
Now if I lay my board exactly where it wants to go, put one board over, then I know that
this board wants to move 180mm that way and then it will fit perfectly into the space
So with my calipers set at the width of the board, draw the side line using the wall as
a reference. And then around the pipes as well. This is all going to be under some kitchen units so not the most vital area
And put this there. OK, now we'll cut this piece off and that board should fit perfectly in there
This measurement is a tight fit between the wall and the board so I also want a 10 minute
planching gap so I'm going to cut an extra 10mm off the board to give me that space
Right, this board's ready to fit. I've cut the scribe line on it. OK, we're going to put the glue on
The first thing to do is turn the board over and run the glue down the back of the tongue
and that way when you squeeze the two boards together you don't get any squeeze out coming up on top of your board
OK, so just a very thin bead of glue. That's it and on the end there as well
I want to close up the joint on the end of this board here
All I've got is a little off cut with the tongue still attached
This is just so that when I tap on the board I don't want to actually cut on this board
because it will damage the edges. So all I've got is a little off cut
Put the tongue inside there, give it a little tap and it's ready to come together
OK, so I'm going to put the board back on. I'm going to put the board back on
I'm going to put the board back on. I'm going to put the board back on
I'm going to put the board back on. I'm going to put the board back on. I'm going to put the board back on
I'm going to put the board back on. I'm going to put the board back on. I'm going to put the board back on. I'm going to put the board back on
I'm going to put the board back on
I'm going to put the board back on. I'm going to put the board back on. I'm going to put the board back on. I'm going to put the board back on
I'm going to put the board back on. I'm going to put the board back on. Those were our expansion gaps and it just tidies the junction between the wall and the floor
That's what you're staring for. Around our doorway, just because we haven't got space, the height for a staircase
And we're just going to use an oak quadrant, the hardwood that will match quite to what the floor is
So it'll just appear into the floor and it won't sit there. It'll sit there the same way
And yeah, that moves along with that now. Thanks for following along
I hope this was helpful for you guys. I'll see you next time. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye