need a little floor help

[jtcmedic]

Hi all new to the form
I live in Florida and am about to partake in laying floor in my home. I have concert floor with congoliuim (I think I spelled it wrong) in the main part and carpet in my bed rooms. I will be taking the carpet out and wanting to put Hardwood in the whole house. Aprox 2300sf. Having put Lam floor in a couple other homes I feel good but here is my problem.
1 do I float the floor, or with the s/f I am worried with the sound and.
2 if I glue do I take up the congolium
3 if I want to nail, do a plywood sub floor over the congoluim (this is what an installer advised)
Any help in this matter I would really appreciate

[Kman]

Maybe you clarify what it is that you're planning to install: 3/4" prefinished hardwood or something else?

I'm a fan of nailing wood flooring over a wood subfloor. Whether you're gluing or nailing, I'd still take out any old flooring. The few extra hours you spend now will be worth it later.

[jtcmedic]

we are looking at a 1/2 x5" enginnered pre finshed or 3inch solid i know then that i need the plywood sub floor. main question do i need to take up vinly floor to lay a sub floor

[Kman]

I have concert floor

I missed this in your original post. On a slab, I would take up any existing flooring down to the concrete. Get it as clean as possible, then glue the flooring to the slab.

However, I have no experience gluing solid wood flooring to a slab, only engineered. I think the solids are more prone to warping, making it more difficult to glue down.

Let's see if one of the resident wood experts has some more info for you.

[mcbrides]

If you are referring to your "concert" floor being concrete, then KMan is right, take the vinyl off and scrape it clean. Our understanding of wood applications is that engineered wood is designed to go over concrete. The wood guys should be chiming in any time.

[Peter Kodner]

My personal misgivings about engineered wood floor notwithstanding, this route is certainly a viable option for your situation.

I would remove any existing floorings and adhesive down to the bare concrete. In my case, I would take moisture readings in accordance with what the manufacturer requires, i.e. Moisture Vapor Emission (CaCl) or Slab Relative Humidity (In Situ) tests. These are best left to professionals who do this work regularly! Depending on the results, you will know if any action must be taken to eliminate any moisture issue.

Alternatively, you could use a moisture suppression system or adhesive from the start, in effect, presuming there is a moisture concern. Given you locale, this might not be a bad approach.

If you post the product(s) you have under consideration, I am confident any who have had experience laying those materials will share their experiences with them.

Good luck on your project!

[BrianM]

jtcmedic said Hi all new to the form I live in Florida and am about to partake in laying floor in my home. I have concert floor with congoliuim (I think I spelled it wrong) in the main part and carpet in my bed rooms. I will be taking the carpet out and wanting to put Hardwood in the whole house. Aprox 2300sf. Having put Lam floor in a couple other homes I feel good but here is my problem. 1 do I float the floor, or with the s/f I am worried with the sound and. 2 if I glue do I take up the congolium 3 if I want to nail, do a plywood sub floor over the congoluim (this is what an installer advised) Any help in this matter I would really appreciate

**
1. I don't care for floating wood floors because of the hollow sound but that would certainly be much cheaper and faster than what's necessary for a glue down.
2. Yes, glue down will require complete removal of all flooring and adhesive residue down to bare concrete. If it were MY house I'd go even further. Bead blast and use Bostic MVP4 and then Bostic's Best adhesive. That stuff works.
3. I'd never put plywood over concrete on or below grade.

Extra Info: Both floating or glue down installs require FLAT underlayment conditions and the manufacturer will use the same measure of flatness for their warranty. In reality the glue down method requires that strict adherence to factory specs. There's a little more slack with a floating installation. However, its those humps and bellies under that floating floors that cause that hollow sound or creaking noises as you rock and roll over any high spots. Either way don't for a second consider lumping over a bad slab. Take the time to make that sucker FLAT.

[jtcmedic]

Thank you guys for your answers. Here is the wood choices we are thinking of going with. a solid hand scraped 3/4"x 4 4/3 oak from lumber liquidators, or a 3/4x5 anderson hickory. now the Lumber liquidators tell me that i can glue the oak down after using mvp and bostic best due to the board length. every thing your fourm teaches is this can cause buckling.
as for the concrete the home is new (5years old ) and we made sure the vapor barrier was in place , after taking up carpet i have no moisture stains. the 1 store advises to tar paper plywood the floor secure with tnails and then tar paper and then 7 or 12 (can not remember mil vis then the floor. hope you guyscan help, i want to put the best floor in i can the first time