Crazy about Glue- Down

This post is a continuation of a little series on hardwood floors that I started last week- I am discussing all of the little details to help you make the best decision for your home. This post is contrasting glue-down floors with floating or longstrip floors- (see the previous post for longstrip info)

Glue-down engineered floors. These are hardwood floors that have different layers of wood for greater moisture stability (less expanding and contracting), and they are individual planks, glued down directly to your slab. (Raised foundations would use a nail-down floor- some wood floors can be both nailed down or glued down- which is a good choice if you want a glue down on you main floor slab, and the same piece upstairs.)

So- here we go- glue-down

• PROS

1. These floors are quieter, and have a more solid sound to them.


2. You can see each individual plank. I like this look - as it sets it aside from the laminates.
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4. This type of flooring is used in most herringbones or other patterned floors.


5. It is possible to have a beveled or eased edge. (I only recommend a beveled edge for buyers that like to vacuum on a daily basis. )

• A word about beveled edges. Why have them? With a square edge glue-down floor, there is always "overwood"- this is referring to the little difference in height between the different pieces of wood, due not to imperfect milling, but rather to the imperfections in your concrete slab. A beveled, or eased edge, makes this unnoticeable.


• They also have a different feel and look about them- more clearly drawing attention to the individual planks of flooring.


• This is always the look in a distressed hardwood floor.
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• They are higher maintenance - requiring more vacuuming to keep them clean.
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• There are different depths to a beveled floor- as you can see in the pictures above.

CONS

1. The over-wood spoken of before- this bothers very particular people, but not most people.
2. This type of floor is most susceptible to moisture problems in a slab with high moisture content. (Underylaying with an inexpensive sheet vinyl takes care of that in most cases.)