FLOATING LAYING OF STRAND WOVEN BAMBOO PARQUET
Instructions for the floor layerer
Floating laying solutions for strand woven hardwood bamboo parquet with click interlocking are the same as any other self-locking parquet.
FLOATING LAYING WITH MAT
the floating assembly involves supporting the parquet slats directly on the substrate without blocking it permanently. Our floating laying bamboo boards for floating laying are fitted with Unilin self-closing interlocking and do not require any adhesive: it will be laid completely dry. You must always place a mat in between two rigid materials such as a parquet and substrate, because this layer of soft material is capable of absorbing any noise, impacts and also moisture, depending on the model.
Proceed as follows:
– unless the mat you have chose has already incorporated a 
high-quality steam barrier, it is always recommended that you lay a polyethylene sheet with a minimum thickness of 0.2 mm over the entire substrate being covered to prevent any moisture from rising; this barrier for blocking moisture will be “bathed” against the walls at a height which is sufficient to cover at least the thickness of the parquet before it is trimmed when the skirting board needs fitting; the steam barrier may not be required if the substrate is made from linoleum or undamaged vinyl material;
– the actual mat above the polyethylene fabric, which has a thickness varying from 1 to 3 mm will be laid with the transparent film facing upwards; it is recommended to position one roll at a time, then lay the parquet and place another roll so that it will not be damaged when walking on it;
– at this stage you can being laying the flooring; start the installation by moving from the left hand wall to the right hand wall, placing the board parallel to the longest wall in the room, and make sure that you always leave a gap of around 1-1.4 cm in between the wood and all of the walls (this includes any fixed vertical objects such as columns or other items); you can use wooden spacers which will be removed after the laying has been completed so that the distance remains in tact;
– rows also form part of floating laying; move on to the next row once the first row has been complete and cut as required: hook the first board to the second row by attaching it to the previous row (then to the long side) and it will then flip with one bash of a hammer (not directly on the board but on a piece of wood sitting on top of the board) until it fits onto the short side of the board which has just been laid; 
– whenever a floating parquet is laid, it is important to snap the flooring with expansion joints and subsequent coverings whenever they exceed a width of seven metres or a length of eight metres; even if they are in varying surroundings, you must expect to put a joint in place which detaches the ambient flooring from that of continuous surroundings. Unlike applying adhesives, floating laying does in fact involve a number of elements which are bonded o one another, but which are not anchored to the ground; this may result in opposing tensions which would not allow the parquet to move properly if extended into an entire large room which has not been halted by appropriate dilatation spacings. In essence, the flooring of each individual room must b able to move independently;
– position the stacked slats at least 20 cm apart from each others; this makes the entire flooring stronger. And finally, fix the skirting board to the wall, whilst checking that each board has enough space to both expand and contract naturally;
– should any pieces of furniture be fixed permanently to the floor, such as plasterboard walls, fixed tables, counters, large items of furniture etc, then these should not be attached to the floating flooring, but should instead be installed directly on the INITIAL screed to allow the flooring to be laid; the basic concept here is that the parquet can move freely without any obstacles which would otherwise prevent it from expanding naturally in the presence of ambient humidity or atmospheric heat.
– fully clean the flooring and allow the entire area to rest for approximately 12 hours after the boards have been installed.
ADVANTAGES
There are numerous advantages of this type of laying:
– it is easy to install for DIY;
– it is possible to dismantle the flooring and reuse it in another location (around 80% of the flooring can be reused);
– it preserves underlying flooring which you do not want to ruin, for instance when renting out a home to strangers;
– there are no adhesives whatsoever;
– it is the most highly recommended type of laying where humidity levels are marginally above normal;
– any defects are rectified by using an air mattress which is always applied during floating whenever the substrate is of an irregular nature.