Too Much Glue Hardwood To Concrete

This is a common mistake with newcomers to the do it yourself hardwood flooring field.

Too much glue hardwood to concrete.

Clean up as you go. Glue is a secondary method of attachment for bonding wood to concrete. Glue down hardwood floors on concrete. Applications are more prominent with residential construction in sunbelt areas commercial locations and high rise dwellings.

They use too much adhesive thinking that more is better and the panels will be more secure this way. Although this may be true they run out of the adhesive halfway through the installation process and lose precious work hours. Glue forms the initial bond but without screws and nails the natural expansion and contraction of the wood can break or weaken the glue. I have seen some glue down 3 4 solid hardwood floors directly to concrete and many installers use straps or clamps in an effort to force board rows tighter together during installation.

Be advised that over strapping can adversely affect the floor and may result in glue bond failure seam peaking twisted boards or out of square floor board alignment. Spread only enough glue for an hour s work at least until you re more comfortable with the process. I have seen some major disasters because someone who lacked experience did exactly what this post suggests and ended up with a 16 000 failure in no time. The installation of hardwood floors by the glue down method is used predominately on concrete slabs.

Solid hardwood should not be glued to a concrete slab. Ken fisher is a flooring contractor in bonita springs fla. Once the glue dries it s much harder to remove. We have scraped and vacuumed and the concrete seems ready for the new glue for our subfloor sound deadening mat to which the 5 8 x 5 engineered oak floor will be glued.

When glue is used in conjunction with screws and nails the bond is strong enough to resist natural movement of the wood. Photos by charles bickford except where noted.