Solid Wood Flooring Guide 

The Lifespan of a Junckers Solid Wood Floor

Because there is a thick Solid Veneer, a Junckers floor may be sanded between eight and ten times. You can sand deeply into the dovetail joint and board strength is unaffected. Ask us for life span comparisons between our floors and other types. It can easily be repaired by a professional contractorors.

Should I be looking for the most abrasion resistant lacquer finish? You may think so, but a combination of hardness and flexibility is better. We achieve this with a combination of two lacquers. Many other boards will have a low cost “UV cured” lacquer with a distinctive “rippled” texture which may be brittle and difficult to over- coat. Here the client’s maintenance costs will be higher and the life of the floor will be shorter. 

Do other floors have better water resistance than solid boards? No. Any wood floor will suffer water damage if it becomes sufficiently wet, and synthetic floors will suffer damage if welded seams fail. Junckers coats the stave ends during manufacture to reduce water penetration. See our cleaning and maintenance guides. 

Herringbone blocks

Acclimatisation and Storage

Your new flooring must be acclimatized before installation, Engineered for a minimum of 72hrs and Solid wood for a minimum of 120hrs. The flooring must remain in its packaging stored horizontal in the room which it is to be installed into. Please Note the room must be dry and have a constant relative humidity between 45 - 60% as this will affect your behaviour of your floor.

Subfloor Preparation

It is of the utmost importance that the subfloor is dry, clean, solid and flat. You can find appropriate electronic moisture meters in DIY stores; the subfloor must be flat, and the flatness tolerances must be observed. The installer must always and in particular with renovation work check the current status of the subfloor, if it does not meet the requirements stated here extra work will need to be carried out to level the subfloor out, to determine the flatness of your floor apply these tolerances over 1m length the floor must not be more than 3mm difference and over 2m that rises to 4mm.

Please note:

A herringbone design should typically be started from a central axis, using a chalk line or straight edge to mark the centre of your room create the ‘x’ line, then a second line needs to intersect this line at 90° to create the ‘y’ line. Setting this axis up is crucial and its good practice to check all angles and measurements are correct at this stage before any planks are laid. From the ‘Y’ line measure out 27mm each side and mark the floor off with lines ‘A’ and ‘B’ these will serve as guide lines as the ‘Y’ line runs through the centre point of the two planks once they have been joined. From plywood create a starter board, this will need to be the same as the plank length and must be square. Lay the starter board so its top and bottom corners are in line with line ‘B’ and temporarily fix it to the floor.

Full Surface Bond Glue Down Installation

It’s essential the Herringbone floor is fully glued down on the back, including the short edges for the most secure fit. The sub floor must be checked for suitability in all respects as per the information previously stated above - including flatness, soundness and suitable moisture content - with the appropriate equipment and as per guidelines given in B.S. 8201:2011. The moisture content of a concrete / screed sub floor should be checked carefully with an appropriate moisture meter or humidity box/sleeve as per the B.S references above and MUST have a relative humidity value of less than 75% and be in accordance with BS8204: 2004. 9 If the appropriateness of the moisture content of the sub floor cannot be determined or guaranteed, install an appropriate liquid damp proof membrane that is compatible with the adhesive to be used.

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