Do I need an underlayment for hardwood floors?

While underlayment isn’t always necessary for your hardwood floors, there are always benefits to it. Underlayment provides support for your floor and helps smooth subfloor imperfections. It allows your flooring to lay correctly over the subfloor, preventing tripping hazards or an uneven appearance.

What is the recommended underlayment for hardwood flooring?

What Underlayment is Best for Wood? When installing hardwood or engineered wood flooring, the best underlay options are cork and foam. However, foam does have more give than cork so, while it is the more popular option, we recommend cork. Cork has less give, making it less likely to flex underneath your planks.

Does my floor need a vapor barrier?

When moisture penetrates your flooring, it can cause mold, mildew, and the potential for water damage. A moisture barrier helps control the water vapor’s movement to help protect your floors. Therefore, if you’re installing floors in an area that sees moisture, even a little, a vapor barrier is needed.

What is vapor barrier for wood floors?

Vapor Barriers. Vapor barriers for hardwood and wood sub-floors are sometimes referred to as vapor retarders. They can be a membrane, vapor resistant material, or covering with a vapor resistance rating at or above .7 perms, or at or below 50 perms.

What is floor vapor barrier?

Vapor barriers typically involve sealing your concrete walls and/or floor with coatings of paint or adhesives. It can also involve large sheets of felt or plastic but floor tiles with vapor barrier properties are a much simpler solution.

What is a vapor barrier over concrete?

Concrete Vapor Barrier. A concrete vapor barrier is simply a sheet of polyethylene plastic (Visqueen) placed directly on top of the sub-grade before the concrete floor or slab is poured to help keep moisture from the soil from passing up through the concrete.

What is floor moisture barrier?

A moisture barrier is need to protect the flooring against moisture or moisture vapor. Along with the moisture barrier, you may want to install an underlayment. It insulates and cushions the flooring, making it more comfortable to walk on.