laying wooden floor

[tedsmart]

hello, i have just finished attatching wooden battons to the bearers of my 51ft narrowboat and am ready to lay my reclaimed pine floorboards...i think!

The battons are 60cm apart and i was planning on fixing the floorboards directly to these (leaving access hatches where i may need to adjust ballast). However i'm wondering if i should be putting ply down first and attatching the floorboards to this? (the bathroom floor will be ply anyway with as i'll be laying something waterproof in there!)

I've also applied cuprinol to the underside of the floorboards, should i also treat the upperside to avoid cupping?

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on fixing them as this is obviously quite an important part that i'd like to get right!

thanks for your time, look forward to any suggestions

[carlt]

Hi Ted

welcome to the forum.

You can find some varying opinions here:-

 

Wooden Floor Thread

 

As you're already committed to a solid wood floor the laminate/engineered floor argument doesn't count. Personally I'd go straight onto battens but I know some will disagree, saying you'll need extra insulation (they're just nesh but don't tell them I said that) and to fasten them onto ply. I wouldn't cuprinol the top, unless you've got underfloor heating, I assume you'll be waxing or varnishing anyway. If you're waxing I'd treat the top with a sanding sealer first.

[tedsmart]

hi thanks for your reply, i'm so glad you didn't recommend ply under the floorboards, i can't wait to get the flooring down, then it should really start to take shape!

[shorty]

How thick are your boards,below 5/8 i think you may get a bit of bounce at 60 cm centres?

[Ewart Hodgson]

How thick are your boards,below 5/8 i think you may get a bit of bounce at 60 cm centres?

 

I am sure you have thought of this... but don't forget to fit vetillation to let air circulate down there, for the sake of both floorboards and hull...

[BORNJOYFUL]

Hi Ted

welcome to the forum.

You can find some varying opinions here:-

 

Wooden Floor Thread

 

As you're already committed to a solid wood floor the laminate/engineered floor argument doesn't count. Personally I'd go straight onto battens but I know some will disagree, saying you'll need extra insulation (they're just nesh but don't tell them I said that) and to fasten them onto ply. I wouldn't cuprinol the top, unless you've got underfloor heating, I assume you'll be waxing or varnishing anyway. If you're waxing I'd treat the top with a sanding sealer first.

Hi i have a similar question- we have reclaimed pine boards but we have just found out we have a height issue and want to maximise ehadroom. we have struts that are 2 foot apart and are 75mm high. we need ballast down there and have been told as we are 68x11 that we will need all the ballast we can get-i.e. no more room of thet 75mm left. we were going to ask our fitters to screw the 18mm marine ply straight to the metal but now we have found the boards we prefer not to use any ply first at all.

so a couple of questions-

1) can this be done or will there be too many issues with contraction and expansion ?

2) would we not also need on top of the concrete ballast some insulation ?

3) could we put some thin celotex (cellotex?) as insulation

4) doe sballast come in less than 75mm-i.e. at 60mm we could think about some form of floor insulation at 15mm.

many thanks Tania

[boatgoball]

hello, i have just finished attatching wooden battons to the bearers of my 51ft narrowboat and am ready to lay my reclaimed pine floorboards...i think!

The battons are 60cm apart and i was planning on fixing the floorboards directly to these (leaving access hatches where i may need to adjust ballast). However i'm wondering if i should be putting ply down first and attatching the floorboards to this? (the bathroom floor will be ply anyway with as i'll be laying something waterproof in there!)

I've also applied cuprinol to the underside of the floorboards, should i also treat the upperside to avoid cupping?

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on fixing them as this is obviously quite an important part that i'd like to get right!

thanks for your time, look forward to any suggestions

 

 

Having fitted a solid cherry wood floor in my new boat I would recommend some insulation underneath for two reasons

 

You may well get cupping if you ever have a leak in the bilge ( I did in the bathroom)

And also in winter the floor can be remarkably cold underfoot

and also make sure you have an inspection hole at lowest point of the boat to pump out the bilges

 

My battens are about 60cm apart and my boards are 10cm wide 18mm thick and there is no discernable movement of the boards