DIY Example from Betty: Floating Insulated Floor System
This customer created a lightweight, insulated floating floor system over a standard pressure-treated wood deck. The design was chosen for its ease of installation, moisture resistance, and improved thermal performance while remaining simple enough to install with basic hand tools.
Step 1 - Layer 1: Deck
The base consists of a conventional pressure-treated deck built with standard decking boards and spacing.
Step 2 - Layer 2: Insulated Subfloor
On top of the deck, DRICORE Insul-Armor panels were installed as a floating subfloor.
These lightweight interlocking panels feature a tongue-and-groove connection and can be cut with a utility knife, making them easy to fit to the circular shape of the yurt. The customer chose to seal the seams with Tuck Tape to create one continuous insulated layer (this is not required by the manufacturer but was done as a preventative measure in case the panels would come apart while installing the rest of the floating floor). DRICORE Insul-Armor provides an R-value of 4.1, incorporates an air gap for moisture management, and helps create a warmer finished floor.
See Product Detail HERE
Step 3 - Layer 3: Finished Floor
The finished floor is a 2–4 mm waterproof vinyl plank flooring with GripStrip® adhesive edges. Unlike click-lock flooring, GripStrip planks adhere to each other rather than to the subfloor, creating a floating floor that installs quickly and requires no additional adhesive. The planks were also cut to the circular shape of the platform using only a utility knife.
See Product Detail HERE
Step 4 - Perimeter Finish
After the flooring was finished, black lawn edging (at least 4" high) was installed around the insulated subfloor perimeter of the platform to create a clean finished edge. The housewrap layer was then sealed to the edging using Tuck Tape, while the remaining yurt layers were tucked neatly inside the perimeter.
See Product Detail HERE
Performance Notes:
The customer reported that this flooring system was very quick to install, comfortable underfoot, and has held up well so far to hiking boots, forest debris and the occasional spill. One limitation they noted is that the foam subfloor and vinyl flooring can dent from heavy, concentrated impacts (such as a hun falling during set up), although they felt this was an acceptable trade-off for the speed, insulation, and ease of installation
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