DIY Home Improvement Forum banner

glue vs nail hardwood?

8K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  anonymouscuban 
#1 ·
I am looking at putting new hardwood in my house and right now the strips are nailed down... the stuff I am looking at is the interlocking engineered hardwood by Bruce not the toung and groove type (that I have now)... is there any difference between them? is glue just as good as nailing? any concerns with gluing vs nailing?

Also I am a little confused by this at lowes, it says it is a glue down floor but needs a 2 sided underlayment... what does that mean? and how would you glue it down witn an underlayment? or is this like a double sided sticky underlayment you stick the wood onto? for the stuff being $5 a sq ft. I'd want to get something good and not have problems in the future with... thanks!
 
#2 · (Edited)
Without seeing the product . I will take a wild guess , It means you would glue the interlock joints , NOT glue it down ,
You Are putting it down over a plywood floor right ? I think you need to scrutinise the installation directions closer because, you are correct ... What you are saying does not and cannot make sense ,
tacomahardwoodfloors.com
Oh And is this product the same thickness / And is it a veneer over plywood ? Is it one strip or several strips in one plank ?
The difference is, nail down is usually full dimensional lumber , And Bruce is veneer over plywood , some of Lowes Bruce products are economicall . but just make sure to save a box so IF you damage some later you can come back here and ask how to replace a prefinish board ,
 
#3 ·
Without seeing the product . I will take a wild guess , It means you would glue the interlock joints , NOT glue it down ,
You Are putting it down over a plywood floor right ? I think you need to scrutinise the installation directions closer because, you are correct ... What you are saying does not and cannot make sense ,
tacomahardwoodfloors.com
Oh And is this product the same thickness / And is it a veneer over plywood ? Is it one strip or several strips in one plank ?
The difference is, nail down is usually full dimensional lumber , And Bruce is veneer over plywood , some of Lowes Bruce products are economicall . but just make sure to save a box so IF you damage some later you can come back here and ask how to replace a prefinish board ,
I went out last night and had a look at it again, it is interlocking with the C like shaped joints that go into each other and lock together.. but then the display says it is glue down floating floor that requires a two sided underlayment (contradicting much?).....

and yep its vineered plywood I counted the layers on the display and there is 4 layers of plywood and one probably 1/8" layer of vineer... the true hardwood dimensional lumber is just too thick for our house... right now it has engineered down and the previous owners somehow soaked some of it and the vineer layer pealed off in a couple spots.


our floors are OSB right now, not plywood, any considerations I should take here? The hardwood that is installed now is engineered and they nailed it down but of course this newer stuff im looking at isn't nail down now... any considerations I should take or look into?
 
#4 ·
Well I have never seen that product that is a glue down floating . It Must mean glue down or floating , It has to mean it glues at the interlock joint , If the joint is locking then it should float , I would have to read the info something is wrong with this picture , The OSB subfloor is fine to glue or nail to , I do not favor glue , If you have to remove one glue is very difficult to work with
 
#5 ·
I believe I know of the product you are talking about and they mean the the joint is glued, not the actual plank. So ultimately, it's a floating floor with glued joints.

And I agree with the previous poster... if you have an option to glue down or nail down, go with nail. Glue is a mess, it's more difficult to get tight joints and if you ever need to replace a plank, it's much harder to remove than nailing.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top