The market for home flooring is replete with a variety of materials. One of the most popular options has been and remains wood. Its environmental friendliness and operation features elevate such a flooring to the rank of the most popular materials.
The thickness of the floorboards, their main characteristics deserve detailed consideration. This will allow you to properly install high-quality flooring. It will serve its owners for many years.
General concept of material
Studying the question, what should the thickness of the floorboard be used in the construction or repair of a home, the basic characteristics of the material should be understood. This is a profile element of the floor covering made of wood. It has the appearance of a milled part. It is made of solid wood or several thin layers connected using a special technology. Such material differs from parquet in significant dimensions of the elements.
After processing, their shape has elements of adhesion (phases and comb). If you want to fill your house with beauty and natural delicate aroma of wood, you should give preference to this type of flooring. A number of its advantages make the material in demand.
The properties
A floorboard, the thickness of which is acceptable for arranging a living room, has a number of features. When choosing, you should pay attention to the quality of the material. Wood should not have any flaws. On the board are not acceptable knots, bumps, tar pockets. Cracks or blackening are also unacceptable.
The floorboard is a natural material that does not cause allergies and irritation. Oak, pine, ash or larch is best suited for such purposes. These varieties have sufficient hardness. Less commonly used softer walnut, aspen. But poplar or linden are categorically not suitable for flooring.
Benefits
Correctly selected thickness of the floorboards gives this kind of coating a number of advantages. In addition to environmental friendliness and aesthetic beauty, it is worth noting good thermal insulation characteristics.
This is a “warm” coating. It is comfortable to stand bare feet at room temperature indoors. Also, this material is durable and durable. A correctly selected variety of wood is not afraid of mechanical influences. The service life is therefore long for boards.
Material favorably affects human health. It is allowed to choose for allergy sufferers. It is helpful for people suffering from respiratory diseases to breathe air with the esters released by wood.
This material is known for its ability to purify air from various pathogens. Therefore, it is also a hygienic type of coating.
disadvantages
Going deep into the question of how thick the floorboard should be, a number of its shortcomings should be taken into account. The material is subject to many external influences. He is afraid of high humidity. Under such conditions, the appearance of deformations, cracks, the development of the fungus. Significant temperature differences lead to changes in the dimensions of the coating elements. Because of this, squeaks may appear, gaps between the boards are observed. If the wood from which the coating elements were made was not processed correctly, the moisture content of the material will meet the building requirements.
Therefore, the material should be purchased only from a quality, trusted manufacturer. Wood of insufficiently strong wood will be quickly covered with scratches, dents, stains.
Board size
Important in the selection process are the dimensions that the floorboard has. Dimensions (thickness, width and length) are selected depending on existing conditions. The reliability and durability of the coating depend on these parameters.
To correctly choose the thickness of the boards, it is necessary to take into account the distance between the lags. If each such structural element is located at least 70 cm from adjacent ones, thick boards (35 or 40 mm) should be preferred. Such a coating is able to withstand significant loads. The width of each board is also very important. This parameter is selected in accordance with the design of the room.
Expert Advice
The thickness of the floorboard in panel houses, private cottages depends on the operating conditions. Experts advise against purchasing products thinner than 22 mm. If the thickness does not exceed this level, the board can only be used for cladding walls, ceilings.
Experts advise taking into account the load that will be on the floor before buying such a coating. If there will be heavy furniture in the room, a lot of people walk, thick boards should be purchased.
The most commonly used value of such products is 30-35 mm. This is the optimum value. Very hard woods are suitable for the subfloor , in which the average number of curvatures, knots is allowed.
For finishing, it is important to purchase boards with a minimum number of defects. The bottom layer (draft) should be thicker than the top (decorative).
Production technology
A modern floorboard, the thickness of which is selected in accordance with the listed parameters, can be made in several ways. Flooring elements can be solid or spliced. Each variety has its own advantages and disadvantages. A spliced board is made by gluing two or more solid wood. For this variety, thick products are preferred. They are less durable than solid boards.
However, such products have a significant advantage. This production technology allows you to produce boards without knots, bumps. They are smoother and more suitable for arranging the final floor.
Solid arrays are more durable. Their thickness may be less than that of spliced varieties. But in them sometimes knots, small deformations come across.
Affordable and quality boards
When deciding what thickness of the floorboard will be optimal for the room, the cost of the material cannot be ignored. It depends on many parameters. The thicker the elements of the floor covering, the more expensive the installation will cost. Therefore, you should purchase a suitable variety of material.
When buying, you need to pay attention to the moisture content of the wood. Its level should be no more than 14%. If this indicator is high, the material is deformed over time. You should not save on this characteristic. Resinous wood species (pine, spruce) have good resistance to such negative phenomena. They differ in affordable cost. Therefore, the presented breeds are ideally suited for flooring.
Oak and ash are also resistant to changes in temperature and humidity. It is strong wood, steady against mechanical influences. But their cost is more expensive than previous varieties of material.
How to calculate the amount
The thickness of the floorboards is taken into account in the process of calculating the amount of material at the time of purchase. In this case, the coating is sold in cubic meters. Some manufacturers pack boards marked in square meters.
In both approaches, it is important to pay attention to what area the seller takes into account when selling. Unscrupulous sellers can count the board along with its fasteners. For example, the working surface of the product is 36 by 135 mm. But along with the grooves, this same part will have dimensions of 37 by 141 mm. If such floorboards are sold in cubic meters, then this figure reaches an unreasonably high value of 41 by 149 mm.
The buyer in this case overpays a significant amount. It happens that the seller rounds off the dimensions of the elements of the flooring. The cost of the floor goes much more than the manufacturer provided. To avoid cheating, you should pay attention to the actual size of the elements of the floor covering. It is better to check the actual size using the ruler yourself.
Having become acquainted with such a characteristic as the thickness of the floorboards, you can choose the optimal coating elements in all respects. This guarantees the quality and durability of the floor material. Properly selected thickness of each coating element will result in proper load distribution. By checking the quality of materials when buying, as well as paying attention to other nuances, you can get really high-quality boards.