Q: I purchased over six hundred sq ft of
3″ American Maple Natural
Westhollow® Wood
3/8″ Engineered / 6mm cork underlayment From iFloor.com
I plan on installing in a bedroom with heavy furniture. Should I plan in advance where the furniture will be placed and install a solid underlayment instead of the cork under furniture ? or is the weight not a concern with the 6mm cork underlayment. If you can please answer asap as I would like to start my installation.
Thanks Very Much
A: As far as underlayments are concerned, cork is one of the best when it comes to density. This being said, a floating floor which is carefully installed over cork underlayment will be able to handle more weight than foam underlayments. Depending on how heavy the furniture for your bed room is will depend upon how much planning you will want to do.
I would avoid placing exceptionally heavy furniture toward the edges of the floor, especially if there is no other furniture across from it to balance some of the stress on the floor. This being said, take some time to plan where you will place your furniture, but this underlayment should do fine for a bit more weight than most floating floors. A big thing to keep in mind here is that the flooring is only 3″ wide which means it is slightly less stable than wider planked floors.
When doing your install, make sure you put a proper amount of tongue and groove glue into the grooves of the flooring. Then give plenty of time for the adhesive to cure and the floor to settle. I would say at least 24 hours though you would be better to give it 48-72 hours before moving any furniture back into the room. This will help ensure the floor’s adhesive has cured and it is stable to accept the weight without as much worry. If you have something extremely heavy, like a water bed, I would suggest nailing or gluing this floor in place rather than floating it.
