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Engineered Hardwood Floor Installation? Steve 03-04-2008
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Posted by Steve on March 4, 2008, 9:48 pm
I'm considering installing engineered hardwood flooring in my house.
The house is built on a concrete slab, so traditional tongue & groove
flooring nailed to the subfloor is not an option. So gluing an
engineered product with a finished hardwood top layer is the material of
choice. But I'm getting conflicting information on what is needed in
the way of surface preparation. Two questions:

1) Does the surface of the concrete need to be leveled as you would do
for ceramic tile, or does the adhesive used for wood flooring perform
that function as well?

2) Do I need to seal the cracks in the slab before I put down the
flooring? The house is 9-1/2 years old, and settling cracks have
developed in the concrete in just about every room - none over 1/16"
wide, but I'm thinking these cracks could be a path for ground dampness
(and maybe termites?) to get at the flooring.

Thanks!

--Steve

Posted by AZ Nomad on March 4, 2008, 9:55 pm
>I'm considering installing engineered hardwood flooring in my house.
>The house is built on a concrete slab, so traditional tongue & groove
>flooring nailed to the subfloor is not an option. So gluing an
>engineered product with a finished hardwood top layer is the material of
>choice. But I'm getting conflicting information on what is needed in
>the way of surface preparation. Two questions:

>1) Does the surface of the concrete need to be leveled as you would do
>for ceramic tile, or does the adhesive used for wood flooring perform
>that function as well?

>2) Do I need to seal the cracks in the slab before I put down the
>flooring? The house is 9-1/2 years old, and settling cracks have
>developed in the concrete in just about every room - none over 1/16"
>wide, but I'm thinking these cracks could be a path for ground dampness
>(and maybe termites?) to get at the flooring.

It depends on the flooring. RTFM.

I recently installed 'fake' wood flooring which locked together but floated
on the floor. I would assume that you need to level the floor or the flooring
is going to creak.

Posted by Edwin Pawlowski on March 4, 2008, 10:39 pm

> I'm considering installing engineered hardwood flooring in my house. The
> house is built on a concrete slab, so traditional tongue & groove flooring
> nailed to the subfloor is not an option. So gluing an engineered product
> with a finished hardwood top layer is the material of choice. But I'm
> getting conflicting information on what is needed in the way of surface
> preparation. Two questions:
>
> 1) Does the surface of the concrete need to be leveled as you would do
> for ceramic tile, or does the adhesive used for wood flooring perform that
> function as well?

It does not have to be as perfect as tile. Check to see if gluing is
acceptable for you flooring. Most on or below grade should be install with
a poly barrier and floating.

>
> 2) Do I need to seal the cracks in the slab before I put down the
> flooring? The house is 9-1/2 years old, and settling cracks have
> developed in the concrete in just about every room - none over 1/16" wide,
> but I'm thinking these cracks could be a path for ground dampness (and
> maybe termites?) to get at the flooring.
>
> Thanks!

They don't have to be sealed, but there usually is a barrier.



Posted by Malcolm Hoar on March 5, 2008, 12:18 am

>> 2) Do I need to seal the cracks in the slab before I put down the
>> flooring? The house is 9-1/2 years old, and settling cracks have
>> developed in the concrete in just about every room - none over 1/16" wide,
>> but I'm thinking these cracks could be a path for ground dampness (and
>> maybe termites?) to get at the flooring.
>
>They don't have to be sealed, but there usually is a barrier.

Yes, I'd be amazed if the manufacturer doesn't require a vapor
barrier when installing over slab as a condition of the warranty.

Hey, it's cheap and easy -- there's no reason to skip on the barrier.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| malch@malch.com Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Posted by Steve on March 4, 2008, 11:50 pm
alt.home.repair:

> I'm considering installing engineered hardwood flooring in my house.
> The house is built on a concrete slab, so traditional tongue & groove
> flooring nailed to the subfloor is not an option. So gluing an
> engineered product with a finished hardwood top layer is the material
> of choice. But I'm getting conflicting information on what is needed
> in the way of surface preparation. Two questions:
>
> 1) Does the surface of the concrete need to be leveled as you would
> do for ceramic tile, or does the adhesive used for wood flooring
> perform that function as well?
>
> 2) Do I need to seal the cracks in the slab before I put down the
> flooring? The house is 9-1/2 years old, and settling cracks have
> developed in the concrete in just about every room - none over 1/16"
> wide, but I'm thinking these cracks could be a path for ground
> dampness (and maybe termites?) to get at the flooring.

You've gotta do what the instructions tell you to do. The product
literature will tell you how much variation is allowed in the floor,
what kind of preparation, and what kind of adhesive to use. This will
give you the best result, based on the manufacturer's research, and it
will protect your warranty.

Most likely, the adhesive will seal small cracks and fill shallow low
spots. You can *probably* use a product like RedGard to seal bigger
cracks. You'll have to use a cement-based product to seal large cracks.

By the way, you *can* put solid hardwood flooring down. You just have to
put down 3/4" plywood first. This leads to all sorts of level and
transition issues, but they can be addressed.

--
Steve B.
New Life Home Improvement

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