Attaching new wood floor to interior spaces

[tjshuler]

Our 53MY has rather old and tired carpet throughout. Would love to be very proper and do teak and holly, but just plain old cherry or oak would look quite nice also.

The question is, how does one attach the new wood floor to the plywood underlayment? Don't think conventional nailing, especially in the salon, would work well as there are critical pipes and wires often snug to the bottom of the underlayment downstairs.

 

[dottieshusband]

The original wood parquet is glued down. If you do the teak and holly plywood, I'd f4s, put down a vapor barrier, screw and plug it. With teak and holly strip, vapor barrier, then blind nail it. With the right size nails or staples, it shouldn't penetrate the subfloor. You could also glue down the strip flooring....but knowing that someday you might have to access something under that floor...the screwed down teak and holly plywood gets my vote.

 

[Bob Bradley]

I did mine with the original square drive silicon bronze screws. Their heads are small and unobtrusive, and also match the rest of the cabin wall screws. I also hid them under hinges and flanges whenever possible.

 

[SeaEric]

A very long time ago in 1998 I installed Pergo "Manhattan Walnut" in the saloon on my wooden 42' Matthews. It was a perfect color and grain match to my mahogany trim - the bulkheads were painted white. I installed it as they suggested (at the time) which was to glue the pieces to themselves in the tongue and groove - otherwise it was loose lay to about 1/8 inch of the bulkheads. I added a very small teak shoe moulding around the edges. On the opening hatches I reinstalled the stainless trim using longer screws to go right through the Pergo and into the plywood hatch covers. It worked beautifully. I never had the experience where the boat rolled over 180 degrees, so it never moved out of place. My thought at the time was that if the boat turned turtle I would be facing much bigger problems than the flooring going adrift. You can't see much of the flooring in this pic, but you get the idea.

 

[jeremyschappert]

Hi All,

This is my first post!

I'm also deciding how to attach teak and holly veneered plywood. Half the boat was done by a previous owner so I'm doing the parts that are currently carpet. The stuff that is there is 1/4" or 6mm, so I want to match that. I see the posts about screwing it down but I'm concerned that with only a 1/4 in of meat by the time the screw head sinks there won't be much wood left to attach. Any one have any experience screwing down 1/4"? I'd guess bunging holes it completely out of the question for 1/4"? I'd love to screw it down if possible, even if the screw heads have to show.

If I have to glue/adhesive/epoxy it down, can anyone recommend a specific brand & product. I understand some people have use 3M 5200 but I think that may be too strong, if I ever have to tear it out or access underneath i heat it pulls plywood layers off the sheet. I'd assume something oil based. Someone mentioned WilsonArt 600, I understand that's primarily for bonding a veneer but maybe that would work? I also considered West System (105, 206 & 403) but again maybe that would make it too strong.

All thought's would be greatly appreciated as I'm picking up the plywood tomorrow.

 

[SeaEric]

From my own experience: I would strongly suggest that you consider using the 1/2" material instead of the 1/4". The thicker material gives you way more options for install and deosn't "creak" and flex like the 1/4" stuff does.