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How to install vinyl laminate flooring onto an existing Jarrah floor?

helpme1
Just Starting Out

How to install vinyl laminate flooring onto an existing Jarrah floor?

Hi, I need some help and direction, I have an older house with Jarrah flooring and will be converting a box room into an ensuite for the main bedroom, I am steering towards Vinyle laminate planks or tiles for their ease of installation and waterproof hardwearing qualities' How do I prepare the existing Jarrah floor and include a floor waste.

 

I assume a cement sheet applied over the jarrah flooring and then waterproofed? but how do you slope floor waste, or should i be considering another option for the Jarrah subfloor.

 

MitchellMc
Bunnings Team Member
Bunnings Team Member

Re: How to install Vinyl Laminate flooring onto an existing Jarrah floor for to make an ensuite

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @helpme1. It's fantastic to have you join us and many thanks for your question about ensuite flooring.

 

Here are a few step-by-step guides which you'll find useful:

 

 

 

 

 

Once you've decided on the position of the floor waste, you'll need to screed back away from it to your walls. Start at the waste with no less than a 15mm thickness and slope the screed upwards to the wall at 1:100.

 

Have a look through this wonderful guide on How to plan a bathroom renovation and check out our Top 10 most popular bathroom projects for inspiration.

 

Let me mention one of our resident experts @Vis-á-vis to see if they have anything to add.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

Mitchell
 

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Vis-á-vis
Having an Impact

Re: How to install Vinyl Laminate flooring onto an existing Jarrah floor being used as a new ensuite

Hi,

The first thing you need to think about is your plumbing and how you will tap into existing lines and waste.

Where do you want a waste? Just in the shower area?

Is this first floor or ground floor? Stumps or concrete slab?

 

Timber plank flooring is not a great substrate for tiles as timber moves and tiles will crack. Ceramic tile underlay (cement sheet) can alleviate this but it is generally best to start again with a more suitable floor. Cutting the jarrah out and installing a cement sheet floor (19mm Scyon or similar). Cutting out old hardwood will be a hard job but it is possible.

 

Vinyl laminate flooring. There are products that are waterproof as a material so would meet the Australian standard for a waterproof membrane but would not meet 

the standard for Waterproofing Internal Wet Areas as they have seams which are not impervious to water. You would need a membrane underneath. Tiles are generally better in wet areas although there may be newer vinyl products out there that I don't know about.

 

As far as a screed to create a fall is concerned, if you have a substrate that is likely to move (a timber floor) then you will need an unbonded screed (separated from the floor with slip sheets) and that generally requires a minimum thickness of 40mm and some reinforcement although there are some exceptions. You cant just screed a bonded membrane to a timber floor as it will crack as the timber moves.

 

Some more information on exactly where you require a waste would be useful. If it is just in a shower then you may be most well-suited to a pre-formed polymarble or acrylic base.

 

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