Unseal slab, bad idea?
The house is 1965, In texas, has a sealed foundation without any major cracks or issues.
Eventually I would like to have solid wood glued to my concrete subfloor and finished with woca or Rubio.
right now, the cost of this is out of the question, but I found an affordable floating engineered floor.
Before the contractor puts down the floating floor, I’ve asked him to grind and prep the concrete slab so it will be ready to glue down hardwood in 10-15 years. My idea is the floating floors will come up and voila the subfloors are ready for the new install.
However, I wonder if unsealing my slab will cause other problems with moisture be cracking.
Comments (27)
PROBeth H. :
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoI don't understand you waiting 15 years? is the cost that much that you're going to fork over money for a floating floor now, and then wait a decade?
I have a concrete subfloor. i have both solid wood, and engineered wood, both glue down.
this was the demo of the old wood floor and tile. I've never applied a sealer on this cement. (it's 35 years old thought)
new engineered french oak, glue, replaced it
You can find an engineered wood floor, glue down, that wouldn't be much more than the floating. (unless you're doing a super cheap $1.99 floating floor)JJ Smith thanked Beth H. :Related Discussions
Marble Bathroom a Bad Idea?
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strategery
3 years agoSJ McCarthy
3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years ago- PRO
Beth H. :
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoJJ,,,no, actually there were some high spots they had to grind, (I had tile on one portion) and there were other parts w/self leveler. This particular floor had other engineered wood glued down for close to 15 years without any issue. We might have applied a sealer to the cement way way back, but I know if you dropped water on this slab, it wouldn't absorb.
in my back bedroom I have a solid hardwood glued down and have noticed a few spots with a bit of cupping issues. not bad, and not even visible. i can slightly feel it w/my hands. Prob should not have done a solid wood. I wanted a herringbone and at the time could only get it in a solid, and not engineered. I'm not worried about it. We don't get a lot of humidity or rain here so there isn't a lot of expansion and contraction.
As for the front room, the demo alone took them 2 full days. it was horrible. my husband and i had laid both the wood floor and the tile floor, so looks like we did a really good job of using mortar and the glue. the workers who demo'ed wanted to kill us.
this is the engineered flooring. I love it and am happy I got it over with! I'll be dead before I change this flooring again.
JJ Smith thanked Beth H. : JJ Smith
3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoJJ Smith
3 years agolast modified: 3 years ago- PRO
Beth H. :
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoJJsmith,, my new floor is from Casa California, Mediterranean line. I love it. (and I got a really good deal on it)
Grinding should just be done and get it over with. They'll plastic sheet everywhere and bring fans.
and you're right about the glue having a barrier in it. I totally forgot about that. I believe that's what was used back in the bedroom.
as for the cupping,,,,no, I have spilled some things, (like the cat water bowl, and cat vomit,,eww) but nothing major. actually I did have a leak at the back door during a rain storm. water was dripping down from the glass onto the new floor. that cupped rather badly, but I put a fan on it, fixed the leak and it went back to normal. The other parts are in weird areas that I haven't spilled anything. don't really know why it's doing it
During install I had a high spot where the back portion was added on. they had to really grind that down. (there was carpet here prior). we also did a self leveler for this back portion, and the bathroom
the cupping issue is actually in the older part of the room, in random small spots. not a big deal though.this is the front room where I had the other wood. they didn't do much grinding here. you can see in the back they did some self leveler there. I want to say way back when we did the wood the first time, we applied a concrete sealer/water barrier. But the cement slab was so old and cured, I don't think it really mattered.
SJ McCarthy
3 years ago
Bruce in Northern Virginia