Q for WoodYouLike, why floating over glued

[NicG2]

WoodYouLike,

Having read your posts and followed your excellent advice in the past I have a question on floor installation.

I will be replacing the awful laminate left in some bedrooms by the prior owner with oak and was wondering about whether to float it or glue it down (rooms are 5mx4m, 3mx2.5m, and 3.5mx3m, onto a level concrete base oak is solid wood). I know you prefer floating as an installation method and I wondered why, is it becuase you can get sound insulation under or is it easier/provides a better finish.

Thank you

NicG

 

[WoodYouLike]

Hi NicG

Why? Besides personal preference - due to experience, specially in the UK with poor quality concrete floors - floating has more pros than gleuing. Let me rephrase that: glueing has more cons than floating:
your concrete floor has to be very level: the adhesive can tackle small unevennesses but it is not a filler
floorboards sometimes - even the best quality - are bowed when you remove them from their packaging. glueing these boards means not the whole board will connect with the adhesive in time to bond correctly. Natural bowing due to storage etc will settle down once the floorboards connect together but can take a bit longer than the 'window' of the adhesive allows.
The weakest link with glueing down on concrete is the concrete quality or thickness and/or quality of the screed layer. Wood is very strong and when it goes - it goes, taking a poor quality or not correctly bonded screed layer with it when glued down.

Adhesive works like a sound-insulation too, but when there are dips in the concrete that effect is rendered useless - echo gaps.

Hope this helps

 

[NicG2]

Thanks for the response it makes perfect sense why you prefer floating.

Thinking about it I have a couple of echo gaps in the kids playroom on a floor that was glued. Fortunatley it does not matter, not even sure why I bothered to get the floor put in as you can't see it under all the toys anyway.