Wood Flooring

We are looking @ installing wood flooring in bedrooms and closets, about 600 sq ft. Went to a local business and that had a glue down floor for $7.98/sq'. Got the bid yesterday and with labor it came in at almost $12/sq'.

Looked @ Lumber Liquidators today and they have hardwood floors for $4.69/SQ'. Anybody have experience with them?

These floors will be glued directly to a concrete floor. We have a floating laminate wood flooring in the living and family rooms but I dont like the "feel" or hollow sound it makes. anybody have experience with glue down floors?

Thanks!

Not glue down, but we just got almost the exact same sq footage installed. We bought it from LL. Ours is nailed to subflooring, 3/4" thick.
We wanted Bella Wood, because I had decided it was the best quality and I liked that the color goes all the way through the wood. Unfortunately we couldn't find what we wanted in the price range we were limited to, so we ended up buying another brand that for some reason I can't think of at the moment. It was Lucia Maple and we got it on sale for $2.99 ft2. Bad move. It all worked out in the end, but we had about 35% defective product, and they gave me quite a hard time returning it. They say you should expect 5% defective and 5% for scrap, so you should buy 10% more than you need, but then they try to talk their way out of taking back the bad stuff. This might be limited to the store we went to, idunno.
We didn't have them install it, because we have a contractor we regularly work with. He charged $3/sq ft for installation.
Here's my advice - LL is probably the best deal you'll get if you buy something that's on sale. Their sales change every week. Make sure you are absolutely clear on the purchase, delivery and return policies, as they stick to them. If you have a dog, be prepared for scratches and gouges in the floor. Our dog is fairly sedate, but he still marrs it up. Our floor is pretty hard. If you have an old house like us, be prepared for more work in leveling the floors. Lastly, don't skimp. In hindsite, I should have either gone for the Bella Wood or not done hard wood floors at all. But thats me with my situation and application. Yours may be different.

I have a glue down wood floor in my kitchen. Underneath is some 1930s black and green 6" checkerboard asbestos squares.

I couldn't get the tiles off the floor, they were down pretty good; so I sanded and feathered out any imperfections and laid down a layer of luwan. Probably spelled wrong, sounds like the girl's name Lou Ann. It's 1/8 or so thick vineer wood, finished on one side and it gives the wood floor a flat plane that has decent tooth for the glue to adhere to.

Check with local installers, Lowes, Lumber Liquidators etc. I'm apprehensive about gluing things to concrete. Perhaps the weather in Texas lets that work, not here.

Dan

Dont you need some kind of vapor barrier when installing on a concrete floor? We are about to do laminate wood flooring on concrete at my house and will be putting down a vapor barrier first.

PO of the house had carpet in that room before, with no vapor barrier, when I pulled out the carpet the padding underneath was moldy in a number of places. Nice.

Thanks Bravenrace. We also have a small dog and while we keep her groomed (clipped & trimmed) monthly, we still see the occasional marring/scratches. With laminate I can touch them up with acetone and it clears up. I was somewhat hesitant about a glue down floor but with the right adhesive and a knowledgeable contractor it shouldn't be a problem (I hope).

914Driver wrote: ... asbestos squares ... so I sanded and feathered out any imperfections...

OT, but yikes! That scares me a bit for your health.

We have @ 2300 sq. ft. of solid wood flooring (Brazilian Cherry) glued to a concrete slab. You have to make sure that your slab is totally dry, put down a sealer formulated for concrete, let that dry completely and glue down flooring with Bosticks Best glue. DO NOT USE A WATER BASED GLUE!! Your wood flooring will be ruined if you use a water based glue. We've been in the house for almost four years now and we haven't had any problems with it.

failboat wrote: Dont you need some kind of vapor barrier when installing on a concrete floor? We are about to do laminate wood flooring on concrete at my house and will be putting down a vapor barrier first. PO of the house had carpet in that room before, with no vapor barrier, when I pulled out the carpet the padding underneath was moldy in a number of places. Nice.

I am redoing my floors with laminate over concrete slab. One room was chalky, dusty dry so I didnt bother with a separate moisture barrier. I do have the underlay attached to the laminate. Another room is similarly dry, but it shares a wall with a bathroom, so I'll do a moisture barrier in there just to be careful.

I'd be a lot more worried if I was putting in actual hardwoods, but for the price of laminate, I am not too concerned.

failboat wrote: Dont you need some kind of vapor barrier when installing on a concrete floor? We are about to do laminate wood flooring on concrete at my house and will be putting down a vapor barrier first. PO of the house had carpet in that room before, with no vapor barrier, when I pulled out the carpet the padding underneath was moldy in a number of places. Nice.

Yes, with laminate a moisture barrier is an abosolute must. A good sound deadener is also recommended as well. I have noticed some laminate flooring does come with sound deadening material but we went with a separate sound deadning pad.

Due to the moisture problems that can be encountered down the road, I elected to stay away from hardwood on concrete. There's just too much that can go wrong.

Sure, there are roll out elastomeric coatings etc but by the time you do all that and level it out properly, if you have to add lauan board underneath etc it can easily add up to another 1 1/4" of height. That's why in the situation I am looking at, I decided to go with ceramic tile.

Debbie Brozyna wrote: We have @ 2300 sq. ft. of solid wood flooring (Brazilian Cherry) glued to a concrete slab. You have to make sure that your slab is totally dry, put down a sealer formulated for concrete, let that dry completely and glue down flooring with Bosticks Best glue. DO NOT USE A WATER BASED GLUE!! Your wood flooring will be ruined if you use a water based glue. We've been in the house for almost four years now and we haven't had any problems with it.

I put down Brazilian Cherry from LL, nailed not glued. That stuff is beautiful!

pigeon wrote:

914Driver wrote: ... asbestos squares ... so I sanded and feathered out any imperfections...

OT, but yikes! That scares me a bit for your health.

Me too.

spitfirebill wrote:

pigeon wrote:

914Driver wrote: ... asbestos squares ... so I sanded and feathered out any imperfections...

OT, but yikes! That scares me a bit for your health.

Me too.

Ahh, it'll put hair on your chest......and a third ball in your sack.

I put down 800 sq ft of glued, floating laminate on a concrete slab in my last house eight years ago and it’s holding up perfectly even though renters have been on it for the last three years.

I used 12”X12” peel n’ stick vinyl squares to serve as a moisture barrier. There’s no president for this that I’m aware of but it made sense to me as their cores are made of tar and I got them from HD for twenty nine cents each.

In reply to RX Reven':

You glued or floated the laminate? Or you glued what was supposed to be floating laminate?

I looked at the Lumbar Liquidators wood and in the end went with a name brand from a wholesaler (Bruce, I think was the brand). The word from our installer is that the LL is a lower grade of lumber - more knots and imperfections. I have nothing to substantiate that, but looking at their samples seemed to confirm that.

Otto Maddox wrote: In reply to RX Reven': You glued or floated the laminate? Or you glued what was supposed to be floating laminate?

It was a floating laminate that you glue together as opposed to snapping together

Right, there are laminates which you glue at the tongue/groove and then there are the types which click together.

From what I have seen Lumber Liquidators is no cheaper then Home Depot or Lowes.

I just did a floating click lock engineered floor on a slab. No glue, super easy to put in (I mean REALLY easy). I did around 200 sq/ft (once the room was prepped) in a few hours. And obviously very easy to remove if needed.

I used a mid-grade pad and do not notice any "hollow" sound in the floor (don't really walk on it with hard shoes though). The only sound it makes is a slight creaking in some spots.

I was very hesitant to glue a floor onto a slab. The thought of every having to remove or fix it seemed like a nightmare.

One kind of interesting option I ran into was a type sticky padding that you can use to put solid floors on a slab. The downside is price, it is very expensive. So expensive that is made the cheaper solid flooring more expensive then the lam.

For those who don't know, generally you cannot put solid flooring on a slab unless you glue it. The only other option is to put a small sub-floor in and nail to that. That of course can create all sorts of issues with doorways, stairs etc.

-- Corrected to say Engineered floor. As noted below laminate is crap, avoid it, SUPER thin wear layer (if you can even call it that)

We bought our 5/8" Bamboo nail down from a small (very small) local supplier. for $1.95 a sq ft. Lumber Liquidators was almost 3x the price

god invented tiles with mock woodgrain so we wouldnt have to put wood or laminate over concrete :)

experience: don't lay down more glue than you can cover up in 10 minutes. check out the engineered hardwood for glue down, it is more forgiving and dimensionally stable than solid 3/4" flooring and generally is way less warped out of the box. curved boards are no problem with the big floor stapler, but when gluing down it can be a pain to eliminate gaps with traditional solid wood planks.

bella cera stuff is pretty nice, ive done several glue downs with their engineered hand scraped oak, cherry, and maple.

my new favorite thing in the whole world is floating click together engineered hardwood, it's like a hybrid that has real wood on top, real wood on the bottom and in the center, and a laminate core and installs over a vapor barrier/cushion. i can literally do a 20x40 room by myself in 3 hours. every customer has loved it and commented on how it felt a little easier to walk on than glued down wood but feels way more solid than laminate. laminate belongs in dumpsters IMHO

Daughter got snap together floating laminate flooring for a room in her house, about the size mentioned. I helped with the initial set up and will do the last row for her. The room is a second floor room so not a slab. She got it from Lumber Liquidators, most reasonable place around here and she checked. Going in easy enough, take you time around door frames and somewhat forgiving. Looks nice so far. Will be babys room in 6-7 months. Looking to do similar to my house in the dining room (hate the rose colored carpet, hard to keep clean) and hallways.

DrBoost wrote:

spitfirebill wrote:

pigeon wrote:

914Driver wrote: ... asbestos squares ... so I sanded and feathered out any imperfections...

OT, but yikes! That scares me a bit for your health.

Me too.

Ahh, it'll put hair on your chest......and a third ball in your sack.

Don't play. I'm from Somerset County, NJ. Borough of Manville is located there. As-in Johns-Manville. One of the largest manufacturers of asbestos insulation materials.

I know of dozens of people who died from the stuff, including entire families who were wiped out because Dad came home with the stuff on his clothes and they got washed in the family washing machine.

Sanding asbestos flooring is a terrible idea. If you did it and have children, please get professional cleanup and dust abatement help that includes a HEPA vacuum. Dust sitting on windowsills, on top of cabinets, etc. is all carcinogenic.

In reply to patgizz:

Pat, how thick is the top veneer?

Also, anyone ever use/install warmboard or one of the electric floor warming systems?

I just finished installing a Lumber Liquidators sourced oak floor. I laid down 1148 sq ft of 2 1/4 x 3/4 gunstock oak and it came out beautiful. I got it on sale for $2.99 per sq ft. They have sales like that all the time if you keep your eye on the website.

That $7+ price for glue down is madness. The work is not difficult at all, just very labor intensive and time consuming. Anyone can do it but you will need a flooring nailer, nail gun, and a decent chop saw to do it well.