Exotic Hardwood Flooring

[MobileNewbie]

We got an incredible buy at an auction yesterday on exotic hardwood flooring (I won't say how good, but it was REALLY good). Now, of course, I don't often hear of people putting down that grade of flooring in mobiles, but does anyone have any suggestions? I replaced large chunks of the 3/4" particle board floor, and then put down 5/8" plywood on top of that (all glued and screwed). What else do I need to do to put down the hardwood flooring?

[Yanita]

Hi,

Congrats on your great deal!

Since you have purchased an exotic wood flooring the first 2 things I recommend:

Let wood acclimate to your home for at least one week, humidity and temps cause the wood to expand and contract,

Next, not knowing what you have under your home I recommend a moisture vapor barrier.

Since I do not know what type of wood you have it would be impossible to give advice on install instructions...bamboo, cork, all these require specific installs.

Do a google on your particular wood type flooring, you should fine many reputable install instructions there.

~Yanita~

[Maureen]

Hi There,

Just one word of caution! If you've just glued and screwed down 5/8 plywood over 3/4 particle board you might have a height issue in places.

The proper way to install a sub floor, either mobile or stick built is to replace the whole subfloor.

Sorry, but I wasn't real clear on the subfloor repair. A deal is only a deal if the base or foundation is structurally sound. Other wise, it might cost more than you bargained for!

Maureen

[JD]

Yanita and Maureen gave excellent advice. I would also add that if I was going to lay tile, hardwood or even a good laminate, I would replace all particle board with 3/4" plywood. 1. If the paritcle board under your flooring ever got wet, you would lose all that nice work as the particle board warped or got soft. 2. All floor covering has a recommended flex tolerance, with tile and hardwood requiring the least amount of flex. 1-1/8" tongue and groove may not be out of the question, but as Maureen said, you may have a height issue.

Also, you will want to look into a flooring stapler. These are specific staplers used to fasten the tongue edge of the wood flooring. These can be rented almost anywhere they rent construction tools.

JD