What Is a Floating Floor? How It Works, Pros and Cons
A floating floor is a floor that is not fixed to the surface underneath it. The boards lock to each other along their edges, usually with a click joint, and the whole floor rests on an underlay as one connected sheet. Hybrid and laminate are almost always laid this way, and some engineered timber is too.
Because nothing holds it down, a floating floor needs a small gap at every wall so it can move. That gap, and how it gets hidden, is where skirting boards and scotia come in.
How a floating floor works
Each board has a shaped edge that clicks into the next one. Once the rows are joined, the boards act as a single raft that sits on the subfloor under its own weight. No glue, nails or screws go into the slab or the joists.
Underneath sits a thin underlay. It evens out small bumps in the subfloor and cuts the hollow sound of footsteps.
Timber-based boards swell and shrink a little with the seasons, and rigid core boards move with temperature. A floating floor copes with that by moving as one piece. It also means the floor must not be pinned in place. As a rule, kitchen cabinets and islands go in first and the floor is laid up to them, never under them.
Which floors float and which are glued
Most of the floors we sell are built to float, but not all of them. Here is how each type goes down, with an example from our ranges and the category supply price from our FAQ.
| Floor | How it is laid | Example from our range | Supply price per m2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hybrid | Floats on a click joint; Stonefloor can float or be glued down | Guardian 6.5mm, Duro Plus 9.5mm | $25 to $65 |
| Laminate | Floats on a click joint, no adhesive | Oakleaf HD Plus, 14mm Aquastop | $25 to $65 |
| Engineered timber planks | Either: click boards float; tongue and groove boards are glued down or floated with glued joints | Quercus 15/4mm, direct stick or floating | $69 to $129 |
| Engineered herringbone blocks | Glued down | Crosswood 600 x 127mm blocks | $69 to $129 |
| Thin vinyl plank | Glued down (direct stick) | Olympus Neo 2.5mm | $25 to $45 |
So when people talk about floating floorboards, they nearly always mean hybrid or laminate. Engineered herringbone is the main exception. Our Crosswood engineered herringbone blocks have tongue and groove edges rather than a click joint, so they are glued to the subfloor.
What goes under a floating floor
Every floating floor sits on underlay of some kind. With hybrid it usually comes attached. Guardian, for example, is a 5mm rigid SPC core with 1.5mm of IXPE acoustic underlay bonded to the back. That gives it an AAAC 5 Star impact rating without a separate acoustic layer.
With laminate and engineered timber, check the range. Some boards need a separate underlay rolled out first. Most makers say not to add a second underlay under a board that already has one, because a floor that is too soft puts strain on the click joints.
Underlay cannot fix a poor subfloor. Guardian's install spec asks for a base that is flat to within 3mm over 3m. High spots get ground back and dips get filled before the first board goes down, which is the floor preparation stage of any job.
Expansion gaps, skirting and scotia
A floating floor needs a gap between its edges and every wall, door frame and fixed object. The install guide for the range you choose sets how wide it must be, and your installer works to that figure. Without that gap, a floor that grows in summer pushes against the walls and can lift or peak at the joins.
The gap then has to be covered. There are two ways to do it:
- Take the skirting boards off before laying, then refit them on top of the new floor so they hide the gap. This gives the cleanest finish.
- Leave the skirting in place and fix a strip of scotia along the bottom of it.
Scotia is a narrow moulding with a curved, hollowed face. It is fixed to the skirting rather than the floor, so the boards can still move underneath it. Quad, a quarter round moulding, does the same job with a rounded face instead of a hollow one.
Glued floors skip this step. Our 2.5mm Olympus Neo vinyl is bonded to the substrate, so there are no expansion gaps to hide behind the skirting.
How big a floating floor can be
A floating floor cannot run on forever in one piece. Each range sets a maximum size for a single raft before the floor needs a break. For Guardian hybrid that limit is 15m x 15m.
In most homes the breaks fall at doorways, where a narrow trim covers the gap between two rooms. The limit matters most in long hallways that open into big living areas. If you want one floor to run through the whole house without a trim, raise it at the measure.
Pros and cons of a floating floor
Floating suits most homes, but it comes with trade-offs worth knowing before you choose.
What works in its favour:
- No adhesive to cure, so rooms are back in use sooner.
- It sits over a concrete slab or a sound timber subfloor without fixing into either.
- A damaged board near a wall can usually be unclicked and swapped.
- Some ranges suit in-slab hydronic heating, including Guardian, Duro Plus and Oakleaf HD Plus. Electric heating mats are not covered on those three.
What to weigh up:
- It can sound hollow underfoot if the underlay is thin or the subfloor is uneven. A glued floor is quieter, with no hollow click and no bounce.
- Every wall needs a gap, so the skirting comes off or scotia goes on.
- Fixed, heavy items such as a kitchen island should not sit on it.
Is a floating floor right for your home?
For most Sydney homes, yes. A click hybrid or laminate floats over a slab or a timber subfloor, goes down quickly and suits a whole-house job. If you want engineered herringbone, or the thinnest floor you can get, you are looking at a glued floor instead.
Choosing between hybrid and laminate is a separate question. Our hybrid vs laminate comparison goes through it room by room.
We supply and install across Sydney, or supply only if you are laying the floor yourself. Book a free measure and quote and we will check your subfloor and tell you which method suits each room.
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