I previously had carpet on the slab I am installing the hardwood on. There are holes in the slab where the carpet was nailed down. One of the installers who gave me an estimate said that you can use the Bostik's glue to fill in those holes. Is that true? Another installer wants to use a sealer to fill in the holes. Is that right? What is the best way to fill the holes? Is it also true that you don't need to tape engineered wood together for a glue-down process because the boards are straight? Thanks.

This is what I did and I haven't had any problems yet...

The carpet strip nails broke up some of the concrete leaving "holes". On the deep holes I used some floor leveler to fill then in. On the holes that weren't that deep I just trowled the glue over the holes.

I definately think you should use blue tape to hold the boards together. I don't know what brand flooring you are putting down but the floor I put down had slight bends making tape necessary. Tape costs a dollar a roll and is easy to put down, I think you should use it, it won't hurt!

I want to know your source for $1 a roll blue 3M painters tape!!! It is almost $4 a roll for 1½.

Small tackstrip holes are OK, but nothing bigger then a pock. Think about this... 10# bag of ARDEX SD-F is around $14. Moisture cure urethane adhesive is $30 to $40 a gallon. with a spread rate of 45-50 sq.ft per gallon, on a flat surface. That lowers, if your filling holes with it.


Have you checked with a flat 10' straight edge, to see just how flat the concrete is, before you make a big mistake!!!!!!! I say your going to need some surface flattening somewhere. I have never seen a concrete pour, not need something, some where.

Ok, so maybe I was streching it a little, blue tape does cost a bit more than a buck . My point was I don't think he should skip on using the blue tape, it really helped me keep all my gaps from expanding.

They are pretty big holes. What's the best way to patch it up?
Should I patch the holes myself?

The 2 installers that came to my house just looked at the wood (no screed) and said that it looked level.
I am installing br-111 5/16 3" engineered wood.
I want the job done right, but it seems that both installers think the floor is level.
Any advice?
Anyone know any good installers in the Bay Area?

Do you have a straight edge so that you can check flatness? I bought a 10 foot metal straight edge to check the flatness of my concrete slab. I'm glad I did because several areas were lower than the 1/8" tolerance level recommended for my wood planks. I used Henry's 555 self leveler and primer to fix the slab. I had enough left over to fill the small pockets left from when the tack strip was pulled up.