# Forum Home Renovation Flooring  How long would it take to lay floating floorboards?

## karina

Hi fellow renovators,  
I am plannning on putting down floorboards in my unit, pending approval from the owners corp.  
I will be ripping up the carpet myself and pulling up the existing parquetry floor. The existing parquetry has already been partly removed by the previous owners. Some of it has been replaced with sheets of particle board just loosely placed over the cement. Much of the remaining parquetry has become unstuck from the cement so you can just pick it up without having to chisel it off. A very small portion needs to be chiselled off, but the glue is pretty bad so the wood comes off very very easily. I'm thinking the carpet and boards wont take too long to pull up, it will probably take longer for me to clean up afterwards.  
Now, getting to my question... I will be laying my acoustic underlay myself. But, I'm going to get the floor man to lay the boards for me.. I'd do it myself but I just dont have access to a table saw (or any other type of saw) to cut the boards to size, and I'm making the assumption that the floor person will have access to the required tools and machines. 
Its a floating floor, engineered boards, going straight onto the acoustic underlay (no plywood). The area to be floorboarded is approximately 30 square metres. Its basically two rooms: the shape is a big square with a hallway off one side and a smaller square attached to another side of the bigger square. I hope that made sense. What I am trying to say is that it is not a very complicated shape.  
How long would you say it would take a professional floor person to put that sort of floor down? I'm just trying to work out time lines of work!  
Thanks  :Smilie:

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## shrek4

I's say MAX 1.5 days for a pro - longer if you DIY. 
Bear in mind though if you think your able to do it providing you had the right tools then why don't you? We did our own and it wasn't that difficult (ok going around door frames was but that just required more measuring and triple checking). The tools would cost you far far less than the cost of someone else doing it for you. 
When we enquired about getting the floor laid by the company we bought the boards from it worked out for us the cost of the boards + 100% on top of that for installation. We DIY in the end. 
Just a word of caution though - we ended up with boards which were engineered to have a whole row at once being laid and clicked together. In a long room this required two or three people to physically manage the boards and clicking in process. Other boards we've seen are able to be clicked together individually with a light tap. You have NO IDEA how much easier this is in comparison. Therefore if you do end up doing it yourself check this before you buy. Otherwise don't worry about it - it would be the installers problem. 
Hope that helps

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## oohsam

It is a peice of cake. My sister asked me to do her house. Bascially they are the same boards as Shrek4's in the above post. One side has a tongue the other has a groove. There is a male and female end of each board, which makes cutting them to length a process, as you do not want to cut the wrong end, or you cant snap them into the ends. You'll see what I mean once u see them.  
I did not need a few people however. You just tilt the board up., get it into position, and push down a light tap on the end will lock the end lip into the groove of the board in the same row, and you move to the next.  
Do not over tap the boards together, or the ends will chip. This happend to me once or twice.  
Also, make sure you start at the door way and work way into the solid wall, as you dont want to end up with 1/2 a board infront of the doorway.  
Make sure you get your underlay nice and flat. I would recomend taping it all together so you dont get air pockets.
And make sure you leave a gap on each wall. I just cut some timber bits and ahd them in for the duration of fitting then removed them once i was done.  
cheers.

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## mirz

can someone please explain which tool are required to do this job as DIY, thanks.

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## shrek4

I used 
jigsaw for cutting delicate fiddley bits (get a fine tooth blade for it) $70
compound saw (wish I'd bought one on a sliding arm) to cut to size $80
pencil for marking boards $0.75
set square to make sure your markings etc are straight and square $20
rubber mallet for some gentle persuasion $15
tape measure / ruler $8
newspaper for making 'templates' around door frames before cutting $recycle
spacers (black plastic things for ensuring consistent gap around the edges) $10
AND THE MOST IMPORTANT - KNEE PADS!!!!! $12 
I think that's about it - prices are roughly what I paid.

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## Gaza

have the floor layer lay the acoustic underlay that way the entire installation will be a system that in the event of an issue it would be under warranty. 
also the concrete may require to be ground and then topped with a self leveling cement.

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## karina

Thanks for your aadvice.   *Shrek4:* Yes, I would prefer to lay the boards myself, but my husband is being a bit funny about it and is insisting on getting someone else to do it. I'm confident I can do it myself, so I'm just going to have to convince him of it. He teaches wooodwork at highschool so he is able to use all types of different saws and should be able to cut the boards to size.  
The floor place man said it can be laid for around $23/sq metre (in addition to the cost of the actual board itself). Is this a bit expensive or about average? If we do go ahead and get them to do it for us, its quite a bit of extra money and as I dont work (I'm a full time uni student) I dont want to pay someone to do something I can do.  
Did you buy your saws or did you hire them? I dont really want to buy as I'm never going to use them again and dont have a garage to store them in. Can you hire them from hardware places, or somewhere like Kennards?  *Oosham:*  The space we are floorboarding has one long wall with no doors on it at all. The wall opposite to it has door. So, I start at the wall with doors, and work my way towards the wall without doors, right?  
The floor place we're going to get the boards from sell them with 2 differnt types of joins. One is a T&G, and the other is called "click lock". Click-lock is not all that different - its sort of like the T&G but it is a different shape and the boards actually click in and you dont have to glue them. The man at the floor place seems to think the click lock one is better, especially for DIY.   
Also, how long before you can walk on the boards? 
Its a floating floor, engineered boards and they will be either T&G or the click-lock thing I described above (probably the click lock thing at this stage), laying it over Regupol acoustic underlay. Regupol man seems to think that because its an engineered floor there is no need to glue it all down. Is this right? 
Also, with the Regupol (or other type of acousitc underlay) does it come in huge roles that you just roll over the area, or do you get it in big tiles? I'm hoping tiles as a big roll would be impossibly heavy wouldnt it?

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## Gaza

> Also, with the Regupol (or other type of acousitc underlay) does it come in huge roles that you just roll over the area, or do you get it in big tiles? I'm hoping tiles as a big roll would be impossibly heavy wouldnt it?

  It is very heavy

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## shrek4

> thanks for your aadvice.   *shrek4:* yes, i would prefer to lay the boards myself, but my husband is being a bit funny about it and is insisting on getting someone else to do it. I'm confident i can do it myself, so i'm just going to have to convince him of it. He teaches wooodwork at highschool so he is able to use all types of different saws and should be able to cut the boards to size.   shame on him......this really is child's play.  
> the floor place man said it can be laid for around $23/sq metre (in addition to the cost of the actual board itself). Is this a bit expensive or about average? If we do go ahead and get them to do it for us, its quite a bit of extra money and as i dont work (i'm a full time uni student) i dont want to pay someone to do something i can do.   seems about right. But like you said above it is expensive compared to doing it yourself.  
> did you buy your saws or did you hire them? I dont really want to buy as i'm never going to use them again and dont have a garage to store them in. Can you hire them from hardware places, or somewhere like kennards?  i bought all of mine. I've a shed to store them in when i'm done. If you haven't the space or need for them after find some young person to give them too. They'll love you for it. Also you will find it cheaper to buy the gmc (cheap brand) tools that will be fine for the job then what it will cost you at kennards. Kennards will hire you everything you could possibly need at a cost of course.   *oosham:*  the space we are floorboarding has one long wall with no doors on it at all. The wall opposite to it has door. So, i start at the wall with doors, and work my way towards the wall without doors, right? right! :u 
> the floor place we're going to get the boards from sell them with 2 differnt types of joins. One is a t&g, and the other is called "click lock". Click-lock is not all that different - its sort of like the t&g but it is a different shape and the boards actually click in and you dont have to glue them. The man at the floor place seems to think the click lock one is better, especially for diy.  we used click lock  
> also, how long before you can walk on the boards?  the second after you lay them you can walk on them. 
> its a floating floor, engineered boards and they will be either t&g or the click-lock thing i described above (probably the click lock thing at this stage), laying it over regupol acoustic underlay. Regupol man seems to think that because its an engineered floor there is no need to glue it all down. Is this right? correct - glue is not required  
> also, with the regupol (or other type of acousitc underlay) does it come in huge roles that you just roll over the area, or do you get it in big tiles? I'm hoping tiles as a big roll would be impossibly heavy wouldnt it?

  they all come in roles. I didn't find the lot we bought to be heavy. Having said that we didn't buy it all at once.

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## karina

Thanks again for your advice. 
Turns out we are going to have to get it put in professionally as I've just found out that this is what the Strata conditions are. Its a pain in the butt, but there doesnt seem to be a way around it because the strata wants the person who does it to write up something to confirm that they have laid it according to BCA standards and how Regupol recommends it to be done. So, because of some stupid condition, I have to shell out heaps of extra cash for this to be done. They want them to lay the regupol AND the boards. They're saying it is so if the soundproof barrier doesnt work, we can go whinge to them. I'll still tear up the carpet and existing boards myself though.  
Re: walking on it straight away, does that mean I can chuck all my furniture back in place straight away too? I'm in a 2 bedroom unit and theres only so much spare room for me to store furniture while the work is being done.  
Shrek4: how did you buy your Regupol? Was it in peices? Does that mean it doesnt have to places down in one continuous peice, is can be broken up and that doesnt affect how effective it is? What Regupol did you use, is it good? Theyre telling us we should get the 5mm one.

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## dazzler

> Thanks for your aadvice.   *Shrek4:* Yes, I would prefer to lay the boards myself, but my husband is being a bit funny about it and is insisting on getting someone else to do it. I

  Youve made and raised kids - laying floors is a piece of cake  :Tongue:  
Tell hubby to take a big can of harden up and have a go - you wont regret it  :2thumbsup:

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## oohsam

Your Hubby teaches wood work and wants someone to do it! hehe that was funny. 
In all honesty though. I am the biggest amateur there is, and I did this easily.  
The underlay stuff comes in rolls, We had 4 lengths of it taped together and used a stanley knife to get it to the right size.  
We acually used the click lock stuff which was very very easy to install. All you need is a drop saw to cut to length, and a hand saw if you have to adjust the width of a board (if you're doing a hallway or something.) 
you can walk on it right away and move ur furniture in.

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## karina

Yeah he teaches woodwork but doesnt think we can lay the boards. He is worried about how to properly cut the boards down to size and shape (to go around door frames and stuff).  
We live in a unit so will need to drag the underlay up stairs to our unit. One of our neighbors has talked about another underlay called thermotec that she used so I'm going to have a look at that too. We have toddler so we need something to block her noise. 
But anyway, the strata is asking that we get it installed by a professional. I wouldnt mind so much but its gonna cost heaps more and they're not going to pay for it, even though the floor we have now is absolute rubbish and needs to be replaced anyway.

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## Gaza

regupol is sold by most good timber flooring compaines, i would recommed using sydney flooring they have been around for 40yrs and dont overcharge like most the other firms. 
let the flooring company supply underlay as well as they will have it in stock and just charge you for the m2 needed not for full rolls like regupol does.

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## karina

nah when I talked to the man at Regupol he told me you just by it by the metre, not by the roll. Anyway, getting a person to come to my house on wednesday and give me a quote to lay the stuff.

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## Gaza

the price for cut rolls from regupol is 20% or 30% higher than buying full rolls, 
we do commerical timber flooring we stock in our factory 3mm, 5mm, 6mm dipple, 5mm for parqutery, 10mm. 
most other big flooring compianes do the same.

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## mirz

we bought ours from Fowles (in Melbourne) underlay was included in price.

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## Strom

I know this is an old thread but Let me get this right... 
"Your husband teaches woodwork but He doesnt think He can lay the boards. Because He is worried about how to properly cut the boards down to size and shape (to go around door frames and stuff)".  ???? 
I would hate to say If this is the case your Husband has no right or place teaching Woodwork..  :Frown:  :Frown:  
Bye rights he should be more qualified to do this job than the "Professionals" that you are going to pay to come in and do this for you.. 
This post has me very confused !!!  :Confused: 
What is the world coming to ???  :No:  :No:

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## 26091963

How did your floor boards go?? Do you have any creaking ? Did they use self leveling cement?Was aplastic layer sused prior to the cement?

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