Hi,

Another beginners question: Got a bunch of Bruce 3/8, 5 inch wide, Turlington American Exotic Hickory Paprika tongue and groove planks (non-locking). I was planning on stapling down but reading through the installation doc, sounds like I'm limited to floating or glueing down. The doc states:

(Mechanically Fastened/Staple-Down Installations)

• Do not install over floors that exceed one layer, as the thickness of the flooring materials will prevent an adequate mechanical bond.

The subfloor is made up of two layers of 5/8 cdx.

The doc also states:

Do not staple down products that exceed 5″ in width or Pecan, Maple, WearMaster®, Newcastle™, Northshore®, Hillden™ or Hickory products. Do not use floating system for Balance™ Strip or any self-adhesive products.

The doc is specifically for engineered wood products, so I'm not sure why the composition of the wear layer should matter?

Anyone have experience with this or a similar product? Are wider widths better off in a floating install?

Thanks,
Tim

yes...float it....my preferred install type for engineered.

Yes you can staple it down if you want. Says anything exceeding 5 inch in width so anything up to five you can staple. As a matter of fact I am stapling down 5 inch by 1/2 inch Armstrong on a job right now.That being said i,m not a big fan of the tiny staples or cleats recommended for install but never had a problem.

I think they mean going over another floor and or layer of vinyl, not underlayment. It's kind of a stupid statement. They need to write that over and qualify it.

Just did a Shaw 3/8 floater myself. Glued the T&G over concrete. But if I was on a wood substrate I would definetly staple. http://www.flickr.com/photos/13772863@N08/

The part where it says or pecan,hickory,maple etc is a little confusing because part of the reason for using an engineered is for stability. I called Armstrong in this same situation for Maple 5 inch 7/16 2 years ago and they said it could be stapled.It was in a basement with plywood over concrete and never had problem .Probably should call tech line just to clarify anyway or just be safe and float,glue it like other guy said.

Thanks for all the replies and advise, much appreciated. I checked the specific product page, as opposed to the generic install doc, and found that the recommended install method is either glue or float. Some other species in the line (Turlington American Exotics) can be glued, floated, or stapled. But the only difference appears to be the composition of the wear layer. Go figure. I'll try and call Armstrong\Bruce to confirm.

Thanks again.