Glued wood flooring not sticking to slab
Hey all, I’m installing ceramic tile flooring for a customer who just purchased their home. I had to rip up some wood plank flooring in one room that they wanted to have tiled and it was glued directly to the slab. In the room bordering the floor I ripped up is more of the same wood flooring. I think it would be safe to assume that it’s glued down as well. I was approached by the homeowner with questions about getting portions of the floor that are no longer stuck to the slab, and therefore moving when they walk on it, to stick again.
At a previous jobsite a few years back, I witnessed some wood flooring folks drilling through the joints and then injecting some sort of glue underneath the unstuck planks to get them to stick again. Then they used some of that stained putty stuff to fill the drill holes. I told the homeowners I needed to do a little research before I gave them any commitment to working on a flooring type I am unfamiliar with. So far, I have been unable to find anything on the net remotely like what I witnessed, so here are my questions:
1. Is the method I saw actually a good and effective way to ‘re-stick’ wood plank floors?
2. Assuming that it is the way to repair unstuck planks, exactly what type of glue should I use, what size hole(s) should I drill into the joints and am I good just using a syringe to inject this stuff. (I really can’t remember if these guys had a caulk-type gun to apply this stuff or some other tool) And, what keeps this wood flooring from unsticking from this application like it did from the originally trowelled on glue?
3. Is this something I could relatively easily handle or are there too many problems that could arise that I would be unprepared for?
4. Is there anything else obvious regarding wood flooring that I should be keeping in mind that, in my ignorance, I have failed to ask or state?
Thanks for any help!
Replies
The first word that comes to my mind is "compatibility". You have to know that the adhesive you choose is not going to react adversely to the existing glue and not be worth the effort.
The next thing that comes to mind is "why" did the adhesive fail. Is it because of moisture, is it because the strips were installed on a slab that was uneven and thereby over voids that were never properly glued if at all?
I think that I would want to try to lift any loose sections first. If you have noticeble movement probably means that you have a fairly large area that is free to move so you may have entire strips that are able to be pried free. If this were possible then you could reinstall the strips with compatible adhesive.
Just food for thought
Gabe
Bostick makes a epoxy repair kit that has a double plunger "small caulk gun", and a mixer nozzle. You can take a piece of masking tape a stick it to the floor and then drill series of 1/8 holes thru tape and floor, weight down or wedge to ceiling. After dry take sharp chisel and remove tape and slice epoxy flush with floor. Most repairs are invisible in lighter color floors.
David
Thanks much for the suggestions, if I decide to go the route of removing the boards and re-glueing, how would I remove planks from the center of the floor without tearing up the joints?
Depending on the age of the floor, if it is 14 years +, the glue has probably crystalized. That is what it does and the floor begins to come away from the slab. That is why I always suggest to my prefinished clients to use a floating floor to eliminate the "glue problem" later. If you try to remove a section, the boards that are attached in the surrounding area will start to come up to. Epoxy glueing is an expensive option if you have a lot of areas or large diameters of area. Replace the floor when you have the money. GW