Wood Floors Floating vs Glue Down

[FreightTrain]

I was thinking about getting some wood floors put in my house. The room is 18x27 plus two hallways for a total of about 575 sqft. The wood that I want is a hand scraped engineered wood product. I was wondering what the pros and cons of either floating it or having it glued down would be. The floors would be going on top of a concrete foundation. Any opinions or advice is gladly welcomed.

[J&T's 82]

I have had it both ways. Glue FTW

[Blue90LXSupercharged]

I have had it both ways. Glue FTW

Glue it. feels more stable and solid. My house is about 85% (coverage)floated pergo. My parent's house is about 80% nice glued solid wood. It is much quieter.

[mikeb]

Mine's glued; I really like it. None of that hollow sounding crap. I feel sorry for the next bastard that has to scrape that stuff up though.

[donnie90stang]

Definetly glued down.. moms house has floating wood floors .. noisey as hell.

[Yellowstang]

Nothing wrong with floating floors, and if you ever wanna replace a section/piece, glued down would be a lot harder.

[FreightTrain]

I actually went to a jobsite today and was able to walk on a wood floor that was floated and it is the exact same type of flooring that I would be buying. I was suprised at how sturdy and quiet they were. The installer claimed it had everything to do with the type of under layment that you use. He claimed as long as you buy the high dollar under layment the floors won't sound or feel any different than if they were glued down.

[fredfarmer]

They are putting a floating floor (pergo) in my house now and I was pleasantly surprised that it does not have that "hollow" sound when walking on them. They also feel solid as real wood floors.

[J&T's 82]

I actually went to a jobsite today and was able to walk on a wood floor that was floated and it is the exact same type of flooring that I would be buying. I was suprised at how sturdy and quiet they were. The installer claimed it had everything to do with the type of under layment that you use. He claimed as long as you buy the high dollar under layment the floors won't sound or feel any different than if they were glued down.

Glue is cheaper than the underlay

[Sgt Beavis]

I actually went to a jobsite today and was able to walk on a wood floor that was floated and it is the exact same type of flooring that I would be buying. I was suprised at how sturdy and quiet they were. The installer claimed it had everything to do with the type of under layment that you use. He claimed as long as you buy the high dollar under layment the floors won't sound or feel any different than if they were glued down.

With engineered floors, you don't even need "high dollar" underlayment. The cheap shit works just as well and as stated gluing is cheaper.

Laminate floors (pergo) need an underlayment or you'll get that shitty hollow sound. Laminate doesn't have the sound absorption properties or density that wood has.

BTW, all my engineered wood floors (in the bedrooms) are floated on underlayment. No hollow sound at all. No problems so far. It looks great.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3261/2794453974_5e9ca1de7e.jpg

[pgans]

I used a 3 in 1 vapor barrier and then a thin cork underlayment in our theater room. It still has a little hollow sound to it.

For our kitchen, we bought Marmoleum, and used the second to nicest underlayment that Floor and Decor had. I believe it was .40 per foot. There is basically no sound and feels great.

Not sure if it was the flooring we put in both rooms, but it's night and day difference considering they are both click planks.

[Denny]

I did a floating floor in my house before I left. It was my firsst one (aside from helping Nick with his a little). It sounds solid as any other floor I've walked on. I've heard some floating floors sound like shit, though, but I don't really know what I did differently.

[8mpg]

Glue is cheaper than the underlay
That's a negative

A quality glue like Bostik is like $100/5gal bucket and only covers 200ish feet. You can get a roll of underlayment (plastic/foam combo) from Lowes that does 150sq ft for $25.

I would go with a glue down floor if it is a nicer house. There is no sense in spending $5000 on floors in a $80k house. If you are talking a $150k+ house...glue down is the way to go.

[FreightTrain]

That's a negative

A quality glue like Bostik is like $100/5gal bucket and only covers 200ish feet. You can get a roll of underlayment (plastic/foam combo) from Lowes that does 150sq ft for $25.

I would go with a glue down floor if it is a nicer house. There is no sense in spending $5000 on floors in a $80k house. If you are talking a $150k+ house...glue down is the way to go.


The house is in the 180k range. At least thats what the current houses are selling for in the neighborhood. I know glue is probably better than floating, but can anyone honestly tell a difference once the floor is down. I walked on the floor that I would be getting that was floated and it was solid as any other glued floor that I have walked on. Also the wood floor that I would be getting is an engineered floor that retails in the $9 a sqft range so its not like its some cheap laminate that sounds like crap no matter how its layed down.

[8mpg]

The house is in the 180k range. At least thats what the current houses are selling for in the neighborhood. I know glue is probably better than floating, but can anyone honestly tell a difference once the floor is down. I walked on the floor that I would be getting that was floated and it was solid as any other glued floor that I have walked on. Also the wood floor that I would be getting is an engineered floor that retails in the $9 a sqft range so its not like its some cheap laminate that sounds like crap no matter how its layed down.

I would go with SgtBeavis... a nice floating engineered floor should be fine. From what I have read, the sound comes more from a laminates than hardwood.

[Red5oh]

Something else that you need to consider... how much furniture is in the room! If you are have NOTHING in there and it sounds/feels hollow, then you put your furniture (or a different room with a ton of stuff) then it sounds solid. Just take that into consideration.

[FSON]

The kind that needs to be nailed, just me though.

[Sgt Beavis]

The kind that needs to be nailed, just me though.

Nailing means putting in a plywood underlayment. That adds cost, raises the floor 3/4th of an inch, and is generally a PITA.

[FSON]

Nailing means putting in a plywood underlayment. That adds cost, raises the floor 3/4th of an inch, and is generally a PITA.
Sorry, didn't read CONCRETE slab.

[11secCobra]

im a carpenter, and i can tell you that if i was in your position, id put some liquid nail down instead of floating it