Factoring in a slope in Flooring

Our house is made up of 2 distinct sections. The front area is the traditional bearers and joists while the back room is on a concrete slab. We are just about to have our subfloor rebuilt before new flooring is installed.

We are having new flooring installed - floorboards down the hallway right through the living room into the family room (which is on the slab). I was hoping to have it all flush and on the same level so there was a continuous feel.

Our slab is a little high and we knew we would have to factor in a slight slope from the slab to the front door, a distance of about 16 metres (11.5m hallway and 4.5m living room). We have since worked out the slope will be about 35mm over the 16m.

My question is, is that type of slope acceptable? If it is, will it be noticeable?

And one last question, we are getting 130mm width floorboards, but some people have told us that narrower boards (80mm) may make halls and rooms seem larger. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

2 mm per metre is negligible though I wouldnt do it. Rather, I would place a lovely contrasting piece of wide timber as a threshold piece between concrete and hallway timber. I did this to disguise a big problem at a transitional point between carpet and slate. It worked a treat and no one ever picked up that there was a slope + an uneven one at that! Not sure if I am being very clear about what to do - just sing out if I am not and I will do a drawing, but basically you take a piece of 30-45 cm wide timber (or two to make up the width) - placed across the hall opening in say, Jarrah if youre flooring is ash (or vice versa) and make it flush with the concrete AND the flooring, in other words like a very wide and subtle wedge.

How wide is your hallway as this will have some bearing on the flooring width..... though I have to say colour of the floor will have a lot more to do with the feeling of space. The hall in our 1880 Victorian is 11 metres by 1.75 with 150mm Baltic Pine floor - it looks fine - if it was Jarrah or similar dark timber, it would be like midnight though all the time.

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Originally Posted by seriph1

2 mm per metre is negligible though I wouldnt do it. Rather, I would place a lovely contrasting piece of wide timber as a threshold piece between concrete and hallway timber. I did this to disguise a big problem at a transitional point between carpet and slate. It worked a treat and no one ever picked up that there was a slope + an uneven one at that! Not sure if I am being very clear about what to do - just sing out if I am not and I will do a drawing, but basically you take a piece of 30-45 cm wide timber (or two to make up the width) - placed across the hall opening in say, Jarrah if youre flooring is ash (or vice versa) and make it flush with the concrete AND the flooring, in other words like a very wide and subtle wedge.

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I think I understand - do you mean like a miniature ramp? ie the board you place across absorbs the slope?

I did actually consider that and mentioned it to one tradey that quoted on the job. He said it wasn't legal to do that???

sporry abt the multiples ....... how did you intend to create this slope? Is it possible to do a quick sketch and scan/post it here?

Do it as a ramp in the last metre of the hallway. 35mm 0ver the last metre will be barely noticeable.
if you slope it over the full length of the hall any furniture (sidetables or hallstands etc) won't look vertical.

I'd rather butt upto the slab, you're less likely to notice 35mm over that distance, than over the width of a thershold or a meter, and you'll only need one floor joist
Nice choice going with the boards, can't do better than timber boards. As for the width of the boards, it's cheaper laying wider boards, fewer boards to lay.


Just my opinion, you don't have to like it or agree!!

yeah coz tradies are legal experts ...... oboy

I will do a quick sketch

idea attached ...... apologies for the dreadful drawing

Sorry for the delay in getting back and thanking you guys.

I had thought of the ramp idea but was trying to avoid as much as I could. Anyway, we have decided to make the ramp at the point where the slab meets the rest of the house. I looked at doing it at the end of the hallway, but the living room and kitchen floors would have been raised about 40m higher than originally - just too much. Hopefully it will still look OK.

Just diverting the topic a bit, we were going to lay the new boards on top of Yellow tongue. We have been advised that the nails actually grab better if they are nailed into ply, not yellow tongue.

Does that sound right? Is ply stronger than yellowtongue? Better for absorbing moisture?

Thanks again.

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Originally Posted by vGolfer

Just diverting the topic a bit, we were going to lay the new boards on top of Yellow tongue. We have been advised that the nails actually grab better if they are nailed into ply, not yellow tongue.

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How is laying flooring under flooring going to solve you problem. I'm not getting that?
How is that going to look at the low end?

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Originally Posted by Auspiciousdna

How is laying flooring under flooring going to solve you problem. I'm not getting that?
How is that going to look at the low end?

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No, it's not going to solve the problem at all. We are laying the yellowtongue (or ply) underneath the floorboards as we have been told by the manufacturer that will give us the most stable and least 'noisy' solution.

I just wanted to find out what is stronger - ply or yellowtongue??

Cheers

If you use the really expensive (Bostik I think) adhesive - around $200/can, this is actually the binding agent, not the nails. The nails hold the timber in place til the glue goes off. This adhesive is a special expanding-contracting glue specially suited to hardwood. Spending a bit extra on this might cost less that using ply. That's what our flooring supplier told us anyway.
Good luck, Justine