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How long do you have to leave concrete floors to dry before laying hardwood flooring in a new house?

We are considering laying hardwood flooring in the living/dining room of our new house. The floor is concrete and we have been told we need to wait for a period of time before laying wood flooring. The time period varies with who we ask, but we've been told anything from 3 months to 2 years! Does anyone have any direct experience of this? Is it a load of rubbish or is it genuine?

Public Comments

  1. 4 to 6 weeks .so the concrete can expand
  2. Would have thought that after a week or so when the concrete was set it would be ok to lay flooring. Maybe the flooring contractors are trying to put you off until they can fit in the job!!
  3. well the way i see it is, if you are in your new house and you have furniture in there, then i can hardly see what kind of problem this is likely to cause. even if you've got carpet down your constantly walking about on it, the weight of the furniture and whatever. surely if the concrete was still wet or partially damp they would,nt have let you move in. wooden flooring is only a few millimetres thick, and your supposed to put a foam backing down first anyway. When i laid ours down i did so directly onto the top of the carpet that was already down, which is a very close thickness to the proper stuff you are supposed to use. Did'nt cause me any problems, in fact i had the best of both worlds. When we moved i just took the wood flooring up again and took it with us, the other people wanted carpet so they were happy, i put the flooring back down because the rooms were smaller than our other property. Answer to you question though, it seems strange why they say that, like i say if your already living in it, then why worry. if your unsure ask a professional
  4. No, this is legitimate. My concern would be the excess moisture that would be present in the concrete. Waiting a month from after the concrete was poured would allow the concrete to hydrate properly and would be better than putting it on “green” concrete.
  5. Let's see I've been selling flooring for over twenty years from my experience it's been generally about 30 days from the laying of the concrete (curing time for concrete is 30 days --depending on humidity). So my question is this when were you thinking of doing the floor? You cannot under any circumstance use solid wood flooring at all. It will cup and twist. The only type is an engineered wood floor. It can only be glued.
  6. Go here, http://articles.directorym.com/Flooring-a943.html The website gives you tips on what to do.
  7. It's painfully obvious that steven Y is correct.
  8. It's 1 month per inch of concrete, usually you have a 2 inch screed (uk). What I recommend is you get a de-humidifier, set it at 60% after 3 months you are ready for a floor. P.S you must seal the concrete before you lay the floor and let the flooring acclimatise for 4 weeks for boards upto 6 inch wide, 6 weeks for 6 inch+