Nailed-down engineered hardwood floor underlayment
rosebud42
| Posted in Energy Efficiency and Durability on
Our floor is a engineered wood floor to be nailed down. Right now I have a plastic foam roll that we used under our floor in one of the bedrooms upstairs. After research, this seems to be not the correct underlayment. This new floor will be over a garage and in our living room with much more traffic so I need a better underlayment and I’d like to have an insulation factor to it… I see the QuietWalk mentioned in other posts … is this okay to use under a nailed down floor?
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Replies
Deborah,
If you are using an engineered wood flooring product, you should use whatever underlayment is recommended in the flooring manufacturer's installation instructions. In most cases, these installation instructions can be found online.
I have never used QuietWalk, although I note (from information on this page) that it is a vapor barrier. If you want your floor assembly to be able to dry inward, you don't want a vapor barrier at this location. In some climate zones, a vapor barrier in this location can lead to moisture problems during the summer, especially if the house is air conditioned.
If your flooring is being installed above a garage, you need real insulation in your floor assembly -- something like cellulose, fiberglass, mineral wool, or spray foam -- not just an underlayment.