HI:
am building a new house which will include traditional hardwood floors #2 oak, throughout.except for kitchen and bathrooms. My question is that I have heard or read that flooring can be glued togather piece by piece rather than the traditional nailing in place. This in turn makes a floating floor which is not as prone to expanding and contracting due to humidity changes. I live in Mississippi which is rather hot and humid. We had oak flooring in another house which was nailed. In the winter when humidity was low in the house from heat the joints in the flooring opened. No problem in summer as the joints swelled tight. Floor had a good finish of poly and looked good. Am afraid to try to glue pieces unless someone has tried this and it worked. Has anyone got any advice good or bad about glueing the flooring rather than nailing?
Replies
My .02 (probably what its worth). The floor is gonna expand and contract no matter what. if you glue it like a table top and float it, it will move at the edges. Probably a couple inches. Got the room on the edges? That said, go ask these guys and get the right answer....
http://www.floormasters.com/community/
Bud
Thanks for the info. will check with floormasters.com. Jack.
Do me a favor and report back to this thread what you find out. Thanks
Matt:
I visited floormasters website and got several replies. Most of them feel I would be wasting my time and money glueing the floor. One guy said that a southern California company had a factory finished floor that used clips instead of glue but it was very pricey. I now feel that I should not try this but install in the conventional way with nails. I really appreciate the advice shared. This probably saved me a chunk of money and time.
Thanks for the update. When I first read the idea I thought it was way outside 'the box', but not being a floor guy didn't share my opinion. My thought was that wood flooring has obviously been around for 100s of years, and if just gluing it was an option, I would have at least heard of it. Stranger things have happened though.... As a builder one wants to be innovative, but at the same time trying stuff on customer's homes that is not tried and true is risky at best.
If you try to float solid wood it will buckle and split
Typical wood glued joints are stronger than the wood and the wood will split before the glue joint separates.
It's the plys or layers in a floating floor that keep it flat.
Regards Rik