This isn't the glue!!!! It is the installer that lacks a clean working area! He has not got the concept of cleaning glue smears when they happen. We all get "fat finger syndrome", but the key is to have your rag with a little mineral spirits handy to wipe not only the glue on the boards, but your fingers and hands, to keep them clean. I may miss a spot here or there, I am human, but if I look my floor over the very next morning, I can usually get the glue off, as I'm pulling my blue tape off. These floor stores, subcontract out the installations, rarely do they have an employeed workforce doing the work. Having no idea of the guys training or experience, the flooring store owner, will always take a subcontractor with a cheaper price, over the better quality installer with a slightly higher price. It has to take something like this, (and sometime not) for them to look for a better subcontractor to service their installed product sales. But they still dictate very low pay. It is a good thing he is ripping it up!! Some will make you go all the way to a courtroom, to get what you want.

Thanks for the replies. I have gotten samples of the cork flooring from Globus and didn't notice a smell and plan to order some of the glue to check that. I didn't realize that the cork is ground up before using adhesive to make it into sheets so will have to consider this too. To Ken - Is rift and quartered considered to be true quartersawn? When you say disaster, is this something like major standing water on the floor or a broken pipe? Do you think if I use 6" wide board and nail every 6" in the tongue and groove using quartersawn or quartered and rift, that I will have very low risk of cupping or other expansion/contraction related problems. I normally keep a dehumidifier running in the basement below the kitchen but am not the most diligent at keeping it running all the time. What do you think is the widest plank width I should go with before I run into significant risk of issues? Thanks! Dave

Rift and quartered flooring is going to be more stable because of the movement in cell structure. Vapor barrier underneath the flooring is something that is a minimal investment for an invaluable benefit. You might be fine without the vapor barrier 90% of the time, however, if you were to have a warranty claim this is a big red flag for any flooring inspector. The vapor barrier does not completely block moisture from coming through, rather it allows moisture to pass through at a safe level for your hardwood flooring. A good example is if the basement floods and you have the vapor barrier installed underneath your flooring on the main level, it might save your hardwood from cupping. Having finish on all sides of a plank is useful for slowing down the moisture changes in the wood allowing it to withstand small fluctuations in humidity. Flooring with grooves on the bottom side allow for the planks to get more surface area which is the most important for glue down installation. After analyzing your particular situation, I feel like with a 6" plank it is best to opt for an engineered product with a decent wear layer (3 mm or more). If you can get quarter sawn that would be the best, but this will be a more costly option and limit your choices because not all manufactures produce their floors in quarter sawn. The main thing to monitor is moisture, try and keep things between 35-55% RH and you should be safe.

I honestly don't know the moisture content of the subfloor. Below is another floor (NOT a basement, it's a ground floor). The end joists are insulated with Polyurethane Spray Foam (4 inches = R24), so we're safe there. The upper floor walls are R24, the lower floor walls are R18-R22. As a matter of fact the whole house was insulated with SPF, the roof being R36. Of course we do get humidity fluctuations in Montreal, with our winters being dry and our summers very humid. We will be installing an air exchanger and a central humidifier. I'm guessing the humidifier would help? Would you still use glue? Thanks.