Gluing Tongue & Groove Planks To The Floor

Journeyman T

My boss wants to glue tongue & groove plank flooring to the floor in addition to nailing it. I told him that I don't think it's usually done that way, but he thinks it's a good idea. Will his glue be harmless, or even helpful - or is he in for a big surprise?

It's a remodel job, and the floor he'll be gluing over is old 3/4" plywood. The tongue & groove planks are real wood - I think I heard they're supposed to be bamboo, but I could be wrong. The planks are also 12" wide with the maximum length being 16'. This is supposed to be "hand distressed" flooring, and to give it an authentically aged appearance he plans on face-nailing them every 18". Personally, I like his face-nailing idea, but I'm thinking he should nail them into the actual joists, which are not 18" O.C.

Flooring is not my specialty, so I appreciate your expertise.

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floorinstall

first of all if the flooring is 12 inches wide and 16 feet long it can not be bamboo. For wide plank flooring of that size you will need something other than just blind nailing through the tonger. It would depend on the species of wood and the environment that it was to be installed in. 12 inch wide any thing is very hard to install on the best days especially if it is 16 feet long. Your biggest enemy is going to be the tendency of the floor to want to cup. The gluing will help but it will not stop the floor from cupping. You should consider screwing and plugging the board rather than face nailing.

Floordude

Acclimate to the highest humidity there is, that that floor will see in it's lifetime. If the wood needs to be 10% MC or more to acheive that, so be it.

If it is the winter heating season, you will need to figure the shrink & swell cofficient for that species of wood, and figure the size of the gaps you will need to leave between each row.

Gluing and nailing wide plank is the new deal. I don't agree with it, but I guess it works to some extent. I don't think it is full spread glue, but a serpentine / zig-zag along the plank, with a cartrige, and caulking gun.

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neolitic

Slow down boys.
Maybe I'm missing something here. 12' "boards" says some kind of engineered product to me. Probably the manufacturer has some thoughts on how his product was meant to be installed. Some of this stuff needs a good vapor barrier, or an isolation "blanket/pad". If the stuff was engineered to be free floating and some bozo nails it...won't be pretty
Did anyone look for any paperwork that came with the stuff? Manufacturer's name or brand name? Maybe there's a web site might tell how it's 'posed to be done? Warranties usually don't cover the "Cowboy Way"

floorinstall

I certainly have not seen all or know all but I have never seen or heard of an engineered flooring product of that dimension. The only thing that would come close would be European long plank flooring but it dose not come in that dimension. It is just to expensive to package and ship. The only floor I have ever seen or installed of that dimension are antique heart pine floors. I have installed several floors that were that wide and they all were heart pine. I installed one oak floor that was 8 inches wide and 14 foot long and it was a PITA. Since I don't know what species of wood it is or if it is plain saw rift saw or quartered saw it is impossible to give any accurate assessment. To answer your question about gluing it will help but it may not be enough to insure a problem free installation.

Floordude

These guys have glue and fasten in their installation instructions, for their wide plank.

http://www.wideplankflooring.com/woo...tallation.aspx

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Journeyman T

Thanks for the responses guys.

We unloaded the flooring yesterday, and it is pine. We're suppose to install it tomorrow. The manufacturer is Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring, and it looks like they probably provided our company with installation instructions.

One other thing I wonder if the instructions included though is how to handle the ridging that has occurred in the old plywood subfloor. My understanding is that any irregularities 1/8” or more from the surface plane needs to be sanded flush. The boss doesn’t want to take the time to do that. Will this pose a problem, or does this glue technique take care of that?

I guess it’s really not something I should be worrying about anyway. However, I am the carpenter, and the foreman’s a drywall finisher. When anything goes wrong, it already usually gets blamed on me.

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Floordude

Your Boss is a HACK. He has no business doing flooring.

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PrecisionFloors

I'll second that.... someone is willing to pay a premium for a product like that and your boss isn't willing to sand some plywood joints. What an ass.

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Mike Costello

I second that emotion.

Or third as it may be.

Journeyman T

Thanks guys. I finally feel like someone understands what I put up with. It's like you washed the whole day's frustrations away.

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MrSandman

You know, that wood floors is bound to have so many more problems now than the original question even posed..... What a waste too. Those floors are solid 3/4" and the prep work to get them in finishing state wil reduce their lifetime sanding span to ....oh, I will guess two years..... since the over wood will be so ridiculous on that wavy subfloor.

Last time we installed a Carlisle wide plank floor like that we learned that your finish product is only going to be as good as your subfloor prep was, which in this case will be, "well, at least they took the time to sweep the subfloor,": but who knows maybe not....