Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Feb 13, 2014 9:32 pm I'm looking for comments on the issue of laying hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood, pros and cons. Your opinions based on your experiences are appreciated. Thanks. Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 2Feb 14, 2014 1:57 am I did ply. Reasons is lower height and ability to secret nail. I'm not sure you can secret nail using battens. However I do prefer the natural bounce and sound of timber flooring over battens. Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 3Feb 14, 2014 7:12 am Is this for a renovation or a new build ? I've always preferred battens over ply for any timber floors we've laid over slabs but being a chippie by trade and old school by nature, that is the way I was taught. We also used to glue and screw the battens down ( 40mm min ) and glue and nail the flooring with good quality construction adhesive and 60mm nails min. You can't do that with ply. Height as JB1 already says is an issue with the batten method and you need to work out all your heights for tiled and carpeted areas beforehand otherwise you'll end up with toe cracking height differences. And yes, you can secret nail with battens too. Stewie Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 4Feb 14, 2014 8:27 am This is our new home. Our builder recommends battens over plywood and it can be secret nailed as well. However we know that with timber floor over battens, you can hear sort of hollow sound. That's why we still undecide what's best for our new home. Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 5Feb 14, 2014 8:28 am Our builder also said that they can level the floor with battens but not with plywood Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 6Feb 14, 2014 9:36 am First you need to establish is your going 19mm (Structial) or 14 and less (Non Structial) flooring Having installed my own timber floors I believe plywood enables you to get a tighter fininish especially when working with harder timbers. Sometimes 450 spacing is still no enough to slowly close a gap. ALso finsihing my timber like this has given it a very solid feel. But laying ply can be more work. Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 7Feb 14, 2014 10:16 am Quote: Our builder recommends battens over plywood Huh? Over a concrete slab you would lay either plywood sheets OR the battens but not both ? I don't know why he suggested that. Seems like a lot of extra work and expense to me. Stewie Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 8Feb 14, 2014 10:41 am Sorry Stewie D. I meant our builder recommends battens instead of plywood. He used two different contractors for battens and plywood. The plywood installation guy is not going to level the floor when laying timber whereas the battens installation guy does level the floor. Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 9Feb 14, 2014 12:14 pm In our old house we had battens over concrete - I loved the bounce and my feet didn't hurt when you were standing in the kitchen all day cooking (only occasionally do I do a full day kitchen cook but you get my drift). We are going battens again in our current extension and renovation <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=62083">viewtopic.php?t=62083</a><!-- l --> Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 10Feb 14, 2014 1:43 pm Oh I see now , my mistake. Quote: the battens installation guy does level the floor. Exactly what we used to do too. How much levelling will depend on how well they lay the slab. Stewie Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 11Feb 14, 2014 3:01 pm We need to decide it now and let our builder know before he pours the slab in. That way he knows where and how much he needs to lower the floor appropriately so that when we lay timber floor, it will be the same level as wet areas where tiles are laid. I guess the plywood installation guy just wants an easy and quick job. That's why he's not going to level the floor while laying plywood. Is it harder to level the floor with plywood compared to battens? Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 12Feb 14, 2014 3:38 pm newstart2day We need to decide it now and let our builder know before he pours the slab in. That way he knows where and how much he needs to lower the floor appropriately so that when we lay timber floor, it will be the same level as wet areas where tiles are laid. I guess the plywood installation guy just wants an easy and quick job. That's why he's not going to level the floor while laying plywood. Is it harder to level the floor with plywood compared to battens? Its not easy laying plywood. why are you so concerned about the floor level?? Are you expecting it to be bad???? The person laying the battons is not going to fuss about getting it 100%. In fact I doubt he will even level them. I cant see him packing the battens. Instead if there is the odd high spot he may just plane down. Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 13Feb 14, 2014 3:57 pm I'm just wondering what's the best layer for hardwood timber. I was told that there is hollow sound on timber floor if they're laid on battens. On the other hands, you feel the firmness walking on timber floor if they're laid on plywood. Our old house is not on concrete slab so we've never experienced with timber floor on concrete slab. That's why we need to hear from your experiences. Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 14Feb 14, 2014 4:53 pm B STAR First you need to establish is your going 19mm (Structial) or 14 and less (Non Structial) flooring Having installed my own timber floors I believe plywood enables you to get a tighter fininish especially when working with harder timbers. Sometimes 450 spacing is still no enough to slowly close a gap. ALso finsihing my timber like this has given it a very solid feel. But laying ply can be more work. I forgot that. I have 14mm spotted gum over ply. I would assume ply would be more stable as you full trowel glue it. If I was had 18mm timber I'll go battens due to the bounce. FYI 14mm can be sanded as many times as 18mm Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 15Feb 14, 2014 8:04 pm Hi Newstart2day, We were also pondering this choice when putting down our hardwood flooring. We had previously lived in a house with a timber floor laid over bearers and joists. I personally liked the "noisyness" of it but the bounce got a bit annoying particularly when we walked past furniture that rattled (granted it was an old house and a fair bit of the excessive bounce was put down to a few piers slightly lower than the rest) In our new house we ended up going with ply instead of battens. The end result is a super quiet floor. No echoes. No cupping, movement or gaps have appeared yet - the floor has been down 12 months. I love it and would recommend it to anyone. I would probably love the floor just as much if we had laid it on battens too lol!! Owner Building on 1800sqm Sanity Intact so far Locked up March 2012 Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 16Feb 14, 2014 8:10 pm I forgot to add that partly our decision was made due to the height factor when stepping into the bedrooms that were carpeted. With a 12mm ply and 19mm board, secret nailed and glued down it ended up being the best option for us. My husband felt that to use batten we would have needed 15+ mm ones at least for a good grip. I don't understand your comment about the builder needing to know beforehand - I would be expecting a level slab either way. Good luck with your build. Owner Building on 1800sqm Sanity Intact so far Locked up March 2012 Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 17Feb 14, 2014 8:16 pm Me again....sorry lol Our wet areas that connect to the boards are the same height as we had told the tiler of our intentions and he was able to adjust the height of the floor tiles accordingly. Over and out this time for real!!! Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 18Feb 14, 2014 8:29 pm Yeah ours were the same and that might be why the builder wants to know ply or batten as we adjusted bathroom heights etc to take into account the extra height of the battens - especially things like kitchen kickboards and doors etc Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 19Feb 15, 2014 8:44 am Quote: The person laying the battons is not going to fuss about getting it 100%. In fact I doubt he will even level them. I cant see him packing the battens. Instead if there is the odd high spot he may just plane down. BSTAR, whoever is laying the battens should pack and plane them . The slab will not be 100% and any rises or troughs are easily seen after the floor is laid especially up against walls where there is skirting or against a kitchen kickboard. We've seen a few that weren't done this way and the floors looked like a roller coaster. Very poor result considering how much some of these people paid the flooring companies to install these timber floors. Stewie Re: Hardwood timber flooring on battens or plywood 20Feb 15, 2014 5:44 pm Forgot to mention that we'll definitely have 19mm thickness with 80mm wide hardwood timber but still undecide which species. Jimbo73 I would use heaps of adhesive on each sheet and screw rather than nail. use as many as you like cheers Simeon 1 4074 Engineering timber is certainly a less fuss option, times cheaper to supply and install and better withstands humidity. 1 15924 |