I am working on a laminate floor glued down to a concrete sub floor. Several places have come unglued or did not get glued down in the first place. What if anything can I do to re-glue this floor without starting over?
Pencile
I am working on a laminate floor glued down to a concrete sub floor. Several places have come unglued or did not get glued down in the first place. What if anything can I do to re-glue this floor without starting over?
Pencile
Source control, ventilation, and filtration are the keys to healthy indoor air quality. Dehumidification is important too.
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Replies
Why was it glued down in the first place? Likely no vapor barrier either.
well good question and one I am stuck dealing with!!!
I'd be tempted to start over. Should have vapor barrier and foam underneath. No glue.
....Get out the garden spade.....
Scott.
Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”
The floor should be floating. Is it buckling?
Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
It was supposed to be a floating floor, not glued down. Are you sure that it is in fact glued down?
What makes you think it's coming unglued from the floor? Does it sound hollow in some spots? That could be a floating floor with low spots in the slab that the laminate is bridging.
If it's original Pergo with planks glued together I don't think you can do anything with it. If it's more recent snap-together stuff, you could start at one wall and disassemble it.
Yes it was intended to be a glue down. I would love to start over but the customer is out of money. The floor is not buckling persay but does sound hollow. Thats what started this. Any idias on injecting glue into the voids?
Laminate floors are suposed to float, not be glued to the substrate. This is to allow for movement due to expansion.
Early laminates were glued piece to piece, but not to the subfloor. Anyone out there know different?
A laminate floor will never sound like a hardwood floor or any other floor for that matter. They sound like laminate floors.
If the floor is lifting or seems to have space below it, either there was not enough room left for expantion around the perimiter or the existing floor was uneven to begin with.
Laminate on concrete should always have a vapor barier. Most of these vapor bariers also act as a pad to quiet the floor also.
http://www.solidsoundusa.com/SoundBarrierPlus-3N1.htm Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
My first thought is of breaking out the ramset, but I can't think of any GOOD way to get that floor tight to the slab. I think the HO may have to put up with the floor as is until they have enough saved up to replace it.If they can't stand the hollow sound and are willing to have patched spots here and there, I guess you could drill and pour in an epoxy floor leveling material or polyester resin; center hole for the pour and holes at the margins of the void to let air escape. If there's some scrap material around, you might even be able to use a plug cutter to make patches for the holes.Or maybe you could cut out a section with a Fein MultiMaster, glue it down and then fill the cut lines with epoxy; chisel them smooth before it gets hard-cured.I really don't like any of the above very much, but that's the best I've got to offer.BruceT
Edited 11/27/2008 2:58 am by brucet9
I'm thinking we're talking about an engineered hardwood floor here. I can't think of any gludown laminate floors anymore. Wilsonart had one years ago and it was a nightmare.
There are two good injection kits out there. One made by DriTac but that's more for minor repairs. A few boards popping here and there. Bostiks makes a kit that would force more glue into the areas. (IE larger opening in injecter) For entire loose boards; replace and re-install with trowled adhesive.
DriTac runs about $ 40.00 retail.
Bostiks- very expensive for large repairs. May be better to drill and fill with regular sized caulk gun and Bostiks adhesive, but you'll be left with larger holes to fill.
also Chem Caulk by Bostik- not sure about pricing.
Interesting to know.You might want to re-post this to the OP. He won't get an e-mail notification of posts to others.By the way, why is it ok to glue down hardwood, but not laminate?BruceT
>>>By the way, why is it ok to glue down hardwood, but not laminate?Just a guess, but I would say that longevity (HW can be refinished almost forever) and ease of removal come to mind. I would think that laminate would be no fun to remove if it were glued.Scott.Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”
Thankyou for your help one and all I will try Dritac and Bostiks Web sites now
Pencile