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He's not laying it on top of the hearth rubble, he's taken off the top layer of mortar that was used to level the hearth with the floor and glueing the boards to that. Its the easiest way of doing it but not what I would do it as this way presents a couple of issues:
- Floorboards will expand and contract slightly with the seasons and changes in humidity. Nails will allow this to happen (especially old fashioned cut nails most often found in floors like this), however when you glue the boards to an inflexible surface like stone either the glue or the boards will fail (it doesn't matter how good the glue is).
- Because the sub floor is also timber it too is prone to movement. If there is any vertical movement then there will be a bump in your floor that appears and disappears.
Because of the two reasons outlined above I'd always recommend removal of the hearth but this isn't something a diyer should undertake as the hearth is often cantilevered out from the chimney itself.
- Floorboards will expand and contract slightly with the seasons and changes in humidity. Nails will allow this to happen (especially old fashioned cut nails most often found in floors like this), however when you glue the boards to an inflexible surface like stone either the glue or the boards will fail (it doesn't matter how good the glue is).
Bobbo-
Thanks for your reply.
I removed the layer of cement from under the tiles and the hearth "stone" and got it down to roughly the level of the joists with an SDS drill.
I have rearranged the boards a bit so that most of the boards over the hearth straddle it completely and can attach to joists either side of it - luckily my boards are running with the hearth rather than perpendicular as in the video.
I was thinking of putting some old carpet underlay between the boards and the hearth to hopefully cushion any gaps and still allow for some movement.
What are your thoughts on this?
tbc
Me again!
Today's annoying enquiry is about removing a hearth and putting floorboards above it.
Here's a video of someone doing it:
https://youtu.be/n87liO4Vfxg
Is this a good method, laying the boards directly on top of the flattened hearth rubble?
What is it they're using on top of it to stick them down?