Has anybody had any problems with putting soild wood floor over concrete that isn't below grade?
I am building a new house and would like to put solid wood flooring over the slab foundation. It will be drained under the slab and a vapor barrier put down also. Half the people say it’s OK and the other half say your crazy. Any ideas?
Most mis conception about wood over slab is from people doing it over the old , non code slabs. Slabs poured years ago that doesn t have both vapor barriers and drainage. These people ran into troubles with moisture coming up through un protected slabs.
You should be fine since you say your above grade and its new . Slab must be cured for a minimum ( hopefully longer) to get the moisture out from the slab itself.
You ll need an engineered wood or engineered solid wood to be able to put it down either as a floating system or a glue down application. You can do this with a full thickness solid wood.
Any questions you can e mail me through my avatar. GL
Solid hardwood is not supposed to be installed directly over concrete. However, people get it done. Some ways are to use a liquid vapor barrier (MVP by Bostick) and then glue it down. You can also attach a layer of plywood to the slab and then nail to the plywood. The best choice would be an engineered floor. They make some that have as thick of a wear layer as solid hardwood floors. It would be a good idea to test the slabs moisture content with a calcium chloride test.