When installing a hardwood floor, make sure you have all the necessary tools and give due consideration to the other conditions important to installation: the floor should be level and the ambient temperature at the right level.
Both the Karelia Profiloc hardwood floors and the tongue-and groove flooring glued around the edges are easy to install. The floor is ready for use immediately after installation and requires no further treatment since the surface is prefinished at the factory.
Karelia is introducing the next generation joint system – Profiloc 5G – enabling easier and faster installation, as well as ensuring a stronger floor. The short ends of the boards are connected vertically, instead of at an angle, which makes installation much simpler. The contracting and expanding according to the seasons can create a huge amount of stress on the joints. The Profiloc joint has proved superior to traditional joints when it comes to withstanding this type of stress. Karelia with Profiloc 5G is just as easy to install as a glued down or floating floor.
Before installation make sure that the subfloor is clean, dry and level. The relative humidity of concrete floors must be under 85 %. Check that the floor surface is level with e.g. a ruler or a straight floorboard: - max 3 mm deviation allowed over a length of 2000 mm. Where necessary level out the subfloor, using a good quality levelling compound.
Prior to installation remove any dirt and dust from the subfloor. Roll out a strip of the underlay on top of the subfloor, leaving a narrow gap (appr. 5 mm) between the underlay and the wall.
Tuplex underlayment is installed onto the subfloor according to the roll's unfolding direction, face-down. Tuplex can easily be cut with for example a stanley knife. Be careful that you don't damage the materials underneath, such as under floor heating systems.
The parallel strips are joined together with the plastic overlap, by turning the plastic onto the previous strip (by width of the overlap, about 20 cm). The successive strips can also be taped together if so wished, but it is not obligatory. Taping helps keeping the underlayment in place during hardwood floor installation. Make sure that the Tuplex strips are tightly adjoined and the plastic overlap firmly on top of the seam. When moving on top of the underlayment, avoid puncturing and denting of the Tuplex.
This document gives you the basic information when installing a Karelia product with Profiloc 5G.
Read these instructions carefull before starting the installation work of a Karelia product with Profiloc 5G.