Hello everyone!

I am in need of some advice. We had our flooring re-done about a month ago with "engineered wood" <--that's what they called it, but they said it's basically hardwood. Initially, it looked really nice, but once the glue dried and we were allowed to step on it, we immediately noticed a "slight airy gap"(don't really know how to explain it ) in one area that would always make an echo-y and slight squeaky sound when we stepped on it. It also felt a bit uneven. As the days went on, it became increasingly apparent that there was a problem there. We finally got around to calling the flooring company, and they said could fix it with an "injection".

So my question is, what is a good way to check for these "gaps" in the flooring? As we step around the vicinity of the aforementioned gap, we are starting to notice it is a larger area than we initially thought... and no, we are not just being paranoid now that we know of the one problem area . Haha.

They are coming tomorrow 5/4/12, and we want to be sure that we get all the areas fixed before they leave.

Would really appreciate your suggestions! Thanks in advance!

Good way to check is drop a golf ball from one foot height. Problem is even if the floor was installed well you'll still hear some hollow spots.
I'd concentrate on the larger more severe areas, otherwise you will go overboard. You may also want to check for floor flatness as lack of attention to is a major cause of gluedown problems or failures.

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... r/prep.htm

Gluing to a slab is always a PIA! Many different variables that installers cannot control unless your really on top of the flooring eg: rolling,bowed planks, weighting and of course floor prep in advance of installation.

That's very interesting, Ken. I will take all that under advisement. Thank you so much! This is a huge help ! And thank you for the link too!

Hi Ken,

You were so helpful before that I was wondering if you could give me some more advice . We did the golf ball test that you suggested, and it made things so much easier. Thank you ! It turns out that we have many large severe problem areas and many medium bad areas. Almost half of our floor is messed up . Obviously, we want to get the severe areas fixed, but should we worry about getting the medium areas fixed as well, or can we just leave them alone? Also, if we leave them alone, will they become a problem later?

And one other thing... sorry ... I googled floor injections and found this great video [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RwBoU2iCWDE[/youtube]. It looks like it would work well for distressed hardwood floor, but we have birch. I'm sure the putty cover-up would be okay for a few spots, but we are talking about riddling our floor with injection spots. As a floorologist, this isn't something you would recommend, is it? Thank you .

Sincerely,
TechWreck

TechWreck:

Floorologist? That's our moderator Howard in Las Vegas...I can't take credit to that.

That video was done by my son and I. Had a lot of fun doing it. I got him started with the website.

By the sounds of it I think you should address the floor flatness part first. Have you been able to check it? If it's really off you should look at the installer first. How did their visit go? I'm not an advocate of drilling dozens of holes. By the way, some areas may only require one hole. As an example, maybe you have a two foot by two foot section. That could take 4-5 syringe (4-5 ounces) fulls of adhesive, but will depend on how much of a void is underneath.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwBoU2iCWDE[/youtube]

Oh my gosh, that is too funny, Ken! Talk about coincidences! Hahahahaha . Very nice job on the vid !

So the second inspector came out and it turns out that their injections are made to go in between the wood panels, so that no visible sign is left behind. Hoping it works as well as they say.

On a side note though, I was looking on your website to see how to check for floor flatness, and it says to use a piece of string or a straight 2 x 4. But that is before installation, right? So how would I check for floor flatness now? Just wondering.

that was pretty fancy

Had fun doing it Paul. Hey Tech, I was off on the numbers mentioned.

Each syringe full of glue holds two ounces. I believe I made a reference to one ounce. I probably mentioned it on the website under FAQ's

You can probably still do the string line test or long straight piece of wood, metal etc, as some areas are probably still bonded to the subfloor. As far as injecting between the boards. That's a different method, but I've never seen it referenced that way even from the manufacturer. Has to be a reason why. Here's a thought why not. There's no "plug." Adhesive could ooze from the spot. Even minor oozing. Considering the adhesive remains tacky you could have dust magnets.