glue down hardwood flooring along gulf coast

sbmcclean@sbcglobal.net

I have a concrete slab, Ike took our new laminate flooring. The slab was poured in the mid-70s and is about 4" on top of gumbo soil. I have found a 3/4 inch thick hardwood flooring from virginia mills/lumber liquidators that the salesman assures me that is designed to be glue-down over concrete along the gulf coast. Does anybod know if an effective moisture sealant is available for concrete slabs in this type of humidity? The floor has a 25-year warranty but the installation warranty offered is only 1-year and I am somewhat reticent about that. Can this be done or is glue-down in this region not kosher?

Thanks,

Steve

Gevans17

Strongly suggest you not use 3/4 inch thick solid hardwood over concrete slab. You need to find an engineered floor (several layers) to resist expansion and shrinkage. I used engineered hardwood over concrete slab with Floormuffler underlayment following Katrina. No issues 2 years later.

SM1

The LL guy is on crack!! solid flooring plus concrete plus glue equals RED FLAG!!!!!! you may consider an engineered floating application with a vapor barrier.

Termite

It isn't kosher anywhere. Can't trust the guy selling the product in this case.

chefwillymac

I agree, 3/4 inch natural hardwood should be naildown only! After Katrina, I put down a 1/4 inch engineered hardwood glued right over the cement slab and it looks great, still does! Used wide planks and did it myself, first time install went with minimal glitches other than sore knees and back! I think the brand was BR-111. Good luck!

smcmurrey

I know this is an old post but thought I'd add what I've seen work.

I'm in Houston and a few friends have laid 3/4 hardwood over concrete. They put a thick plastic like used under concrete on the floor, then laid down 3/4" plywood diagonal to the finished floor, then put 30lb felt paper over the plywood, then nailed the hardwood to the plywood. Everything is floating over the concrete.

My brother did this with wide oak hardwood in a bonus room in his garage without air or heat about a year ago and hasn't had problems. Right now concrete around here is wet in the garage due to high humidity all week so I know his floor has seen plenty of humidity in the last year. He did say that it creaks a bit but I can live with that on a first floor. I'm getting ready to do about 1300 sq ft in my house like this.

Has anyone else used this method or seen this method fail? I'm going to use the maple since I bought it used from a reclaimed gym floor.

Gevans17

seems like alot of extra work, but if you are married to the 3/4 inch hardwood..it should work. If you are going to have a floating floor anyway, why not float an engineered product over the slab with a moisture barrier?