How to glue "down" wooden floors?

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racso

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I am preparing to glue down wooden floors in my home. I have down a search and googled but it has nor been of huge benefit. I would really appreciate if somebody could give me a brief step by step guide and to suggest the best glue out there.

I have solid elm t+g floor boards and they are unfinished i.e. will sand and varish once layed.

We also have underfloor heating. Do i need to seal the cuurent concreate floors first or do anything with them?

As much advice and information that you can give will be great.
 
Hi Sueellen,

Thats for that but due to me being a complete amatuer it does not give enough detail about the whole job but has a few pointers alright.

Thanks

rasco
 
racso said:
Hi Sueellen,

Thats for that but due to me being a complete amatuer it does not give enough detail about the whole job but has a few pointers alright.

Thanks

rasco
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I'd be very careful about trying to do this job yourself. mess it up and its going to be some expensive lesson. hardwood floors are almost an art to lay properly. a chippie once said to me that every carpenter can hang a door, but not every carpenter can lay a floor.
I'd go back to where you purchased the material, talk to those people and consider if you could stretch your budget to include laying costs.
 
just going to agree with previous poster, I know it doesn't answer the question but if they are solid floors as opposed to laminate and you have under floor heating, do you really think you should be doing this yourself
 
I got a quote which broke down as follows: 1800 to lay the floors and 2200 to lay and varnish the floor. The 2 rooms total 36 sq metres so depending on quote would work out at 50 euro a sq metre or 61 euro a sq metre including. I kind of feel that this is a bit on the steep side myself. I do understand what you mean legend that it could end up being an expensive lesson but I would hope that if i receive enough info before hand we could give it a mighty good shot. (fingers crossed incredabily hard)
 
well racso i'll say this to you. I'd be pretty handy. I've fitted 3 kitchens by myself without any previous know how, I've fitted 50 square yards of laminate floors, I've hung a door or two, done skirtings etc. But I wouldn't (even with that experience) attempt to fit solid wooden floors, esp. if you are gluing them! I know that doesn't help but it might be the most helpful thing you can hear in some respects!
 
legend99 said:
well racso i'll say this to you. I'd be pretty handy. I've fitted 3 kitchens by myself without any previous know how, I've fitted 50 square yards of laminate floors, I've hung a door or two, done skirtings etc. But I wouldn't (even with that experience) attempt to fit solid wooden floors, esp. if you are gluing them! I know that doesn't help but it might be the most helpful thing you can hear in some respects!
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Different strokes. I have layed a few floors, including a solid oak floor, a couple of pine and a few semi-solids, but I would never attempt to hang a door or fit a kitchen.

Not sure why you are glueing the floor. I stand to be corrected but I believe the usual way is to a) put down a vapour layer, b) nail battons to the concrete or cheap ply and 3) secret nail the wood to the battons/ply.
 
The only reason i am going to glue the floors is because of the UFH and everybody i have talked to seems to suggest that is the way to go now when laying solid floors.
 
Most sites giving instructions on installing hardwood floors say they must be nailed, but obviously this won't work with underfloor heating. I'd be very slow to lay solid wood with underfloor heating due to the insulation properties of the wood.

Standard means of glueing a block wooden floor to concrete is to use a proprietary bitumen adhesive.

If you take a look at , for the wood they list as suitable for use with ufh, they still recommend secret nailing onto ply!
 
Leo: Thank you for pointing me in the right direction that is an excellent and i thank you.

Legend: Thank you for the advice and that it has been taken on board and if after researching it i dont feel up to the job i will go with the pro's
 
Sorry if I have come too late on this but in nearly all cases Solid wood floors need to be nailed to either battens or preferably USB plywood(this has superglue in it) which gives the nails excellent grip. You should be able to glue laminate on though.

There is one exception, if the solid wood you are have purchased is near perfect boards, (have seen this stuff, no bevels or hollows), usually costs over €100 per sq foot, then it can be glued on.

Also, I would concur it is best to get it done by a pro particularly if your room has any angles on it or is unusually shaped. This is where the skill is.
 
one of the places in Cork sells solid wood for gluing. Up near Musgraves on the way to the airport. And they sell this special doubled sided stuff as I recall that sticks to the floor and the wood sticks to it....its like using double sided selloptape instead of glue.
 
I have just purchased solid Oak flooring, 110mm, and the seller, Ganleys, said it can go down on 4mm underlay, which they also supplied. Its goin on a concrete floor...would ye recommend this..??
 
We have an oak block floor in our dining room which has been glued down with bitumastic straight onto concrete for about 50 years. Blocks are about 9 inches X 3 x 3/4 .
 
One thing to note, if you must glue a t&g floor down, do not glue the tounges/grooves.
 
well went ahead and laid floors at the weekend. Just thought that having done it i would give some feed back for people who are planning to glue down floors in the future:

1)The glue advices you to spread no more then you can use in 20 mins i would suggest 10 mins.

2)use a u notched trowel

3)use spacers every 5th board i used 5c coins and for the love of god do not kneel on them like i did!!!!!

4)Every so often tap the boards with a wooden handle to ensure that the boards have stuck properly. if not place a very heavy object on the board to ensure that the pressure applied will create contact with the glue

5) it is a messy job so ensure you have plenty of rags handy

6) If taking a break even a short one remove any visible glue as it is twice as hard to do this upon your return and you will need to as it will have begun to set due to air exposure.

7) I found this site to be great [broken link removed]

If i can answer any questions please do not hesitate to ask and thanks again to all for the advice given prior to this project
 
I bought the wood in kilkenny from a guy named John Brett who makes all his own wooden floors etc etc. Has a good selection also.
 
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