Best Glue Down Hardwood Flooring

When it comes to engineered hardwood floors two common methods of installation are floating and glue down.

Best glue down hardwood flooring.

Installing engineered wood flooring is a great project for the diyer who desires the look of a professional wood floor with the strength and longevity offered by its sturdy design. With that said one of the most important factors while dealing with glue down installation is going to be your subfloor. Bostik s best urethane adhesive may be used over all properly prepared substrates common to hardwood flooring installations including concrete plywood osb well bonded vinyl vct and ceramic tile cement backer board gypsum underlayments dry above grade cement patch underlayments radiant heat flooring and properly prepared terrazzo. Some engineered wood flooring products are designed for a glue down application when installing flooring over a concrete slab.

As mentioned previously glued down floors are a bit of a more permanent option. Glued down flooring sounds more solid and is less forgiving as you walk. Glue down hardwood flooring often sounds more like real solid hardwood flooring than floating floors do. If installing glue down hardwood flooring in a new house completely close the building in with all outside doors and windows in place.

The installation of hardwood floors by the glue down method is used predominately on concrete slabs. Glue down hardwood floors on concrete. When working on a clean concrete subfloor the glue down method is often the go to choice. On the contrary many installers prefer to use glue down floors because they re more stable and if the glue is good you can avoid a lot of the problems that bug other flooring methods.

Glue down hardwood floors are amongst the first of their kind but that doesn t mean that they went obsolete with the passing of time. Boards adhere well to the rough surface of the concrete subfloor and therefore lead to less gaps or planks lifting and buckling. The feel and sound of glued down flooring is reminiscent of the traditional hardwood floors of generations past. The following is a rundown of all the basics you need to know about these two installation methods.

The glue down method of engineered wood flooring installation is typically the most common and creates a highly stable floor. Because of the way it is installed there isn t a hollow sound when walking across the floor or a spongy feel this is something that can be an issue with floating floors if they aren t installed perfectly and with optimal conditions. The floor will be glued directly to the sub flooring using a hardwood flooring adhesive. Subfloor preparation is critical on all job sites but especially for glue down.