Float or glue engineered wood floor?
anna-claire
16 years ago
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rivkadr
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Engineered wood over hydronic heat - glue or float?
Comments (8)My husband and I own a radiant heating business in California. In our first home, we put a floating laminate floor over the radiant and it worked out great. In the new home we are building, we will probably use a floating engineered wood. I found a website about installing wood floors over radiant heat. The link is at the bottom. What they say is that for radiant heat, engineered wood is more dimensionally stable than solid wood flooring. Also, they say that floating the floor is best because it tends to move as a unit to help accommodate moisture content changes. What ever you decide to do, make sure you acclimate the flooring first. Also, make sure you run your radiant system for at least 72 hours before installation to make sure the slab is dry. Here is a link that might be useful: installing wood over radiant heat...See MoreEngineered hardwood: glue or float?
Comments (1)I can't tell you the technical specifics of glue versus float, but what I can tell you is that I would never float a floor, for the sole reason I hate the hollow sound when you walk on them. And I have walked on a floating floor with "isoloation padding" as well, but it still sounds too hollow to me. So to me it would be worth the extra money to glue it down....See MoreEngineered wood floors in a condo - What underlayment? Floating? Glue?
Comments (7)Oh dear. Noise abatement requirements with hard surface flooring over light weight concrete (aka "gypcrete"). And you only have enough room for 6mm worth of acoustic insulation. Hmmmm. You are getting into expensive territory. First check what is ALLOWED by the HOA/Condo board. They will have ratings that will tell you what you have to MEET or exceed with hard coverings. Secondly check to see if the acoustic glue underlayments will even grab gypcrete. Most things HATE gypcrete. I mean HATE. There are many high-quality glues that do NOT grab gypcrete. And the one's that do, can be nasty. But don't worry. Being in California means you can't purchase anything that violates CARB compliance - unless you order it over the internet (ahem...best to stick with brick and mortar point of purchase for stuff like this). And just for fun, not all wood floors can be floated and not all can be glued. And not all glues grab gypcrete...see where we are going here? And then there is the noise abatement that MUST be addressed BEFORE you go any further. Without those numbers, you are flying blind and so are we. In the cork industry, I NEVER got my 6mm cork underlay to pass a SoCal condo boards requirements. My customers ALWAYS had to go 12mm with a wood floor (of any kind). You can get some decent sound reduction with mass loaded vinyl. But it is expensive. It is very thin and very expensive. And vinyl does NOT like sitting underneath wood. But it depends on the mass loaded vinyl product. And QuietWalk Plus is a product that is relatively thin and yet has some of the same acoustic insulation as 12mm cork underlay. It will save you the height at least. It too is not cheap. https://www.mpglobalproducts.com/flooring-underlayment/products/quietwalk-plus/sound-rating/...See MoreEngineered wood floors - floating opinions
Comments (1)I think reading this article might help you Floating floor...See Morejuddgirl2
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