Floating Floors! How do they work?

Scotsman

Good morning,

Recently starting renovating "My OLD House", tore up the 30 years rugs, and in the process of stripping wallpaper and patching cement/plaster walls, and now is the time to make decisions. I have seen these "FLOATING FLOORS" on umpteen HGTV/This Old House/etc but for the life of me can NOT figure out how they work. If they are not nailed/glued down, how do the stay in place? Why don't the gap? (I know the lock together). Anyone with any experience if you wouldn't mind giving me a run down, or anyone with experience installing/using benifits, disadvanges, whatever you got? I currently have (with rugs removed) 1950s style (hell they are 1950 tiles) tan with speckles in them, sure you know the ones. Very brittle, quite a few broke or chipped especially around the edges? Any info is greatly apprecitated!

Thank You

Bob Mariani

Floating floors snap together. Once they are locked they will not gap. The whole floor floats. You need to maintain 1/4" spacing to allow movement around the perimeter. One con about this system is it feels cheap underfoot.

vsheetz

I have installed floating floors - and like them for the appropraite location and usage. I would not put them whole-house or as a top quality solution. Bedrooms, guestroom, etc. is where I have used them.

The issue of how they feel underfoot can be mitigated to an extent by the use of padding designed to address this problem. A search here will provide info on suggested product and other information.