My wife and I are looking at some different engineered floors to install in our living room, which is on a slab, and though there's tons of options out there, we keep coming back to the same options from a particular manufacturer, Naturally Aged Flooring. I've installed more than my fair share of laminate flooring, and I'm very comfortable with the process so I was looking for a floor that clicks together. Unfortunately, the floor we like can be floated, but it must be edge-glued to do so. I understand the installation process, but I don't know anything about the durability of the glued joints or any other possible drawbacks to a glued-edge, other than longer installation time. I know that in certain applications, gluing can be stronger than mechanical fastening, but it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that gluing would be superior or on par with a mechanical click-lock system.

I would also like to mention that I absolutely don't want to glue the floor to the slab. The glue is expensive, messy, and I've got a small engineered area in the house the builder glued-down that's already popping up (I know, could be poor prep).

Can anyone that might have any experience chime in please? Thank you.

Chris, edge glued works fine but you need strap-clamps to get it together tight. Same with gluedown. Lots of click locks squeek even if the floor is flat because some planks have a slight bow to them and move. Many an installer has been thrown under the bus by under educated inspectors who don't realize that because they have never installed a floor and and just dumb and ugly old men. lol. Sorry...got off topic a bit.

Thanks for the tip. I wondered how well the planks would stay together while I was tapping on another row. As far as the squeaking you mentioned goes, is that a characteristic of click-lock floors only, or do the edge glued floors exhibit the same behavior?

Another reason I'm leaning towards the edge glued product is that it was constructed of some sort of wood all the way through, verses the click lock product (virginia mill works at lumber liquidators) that had a HDF core much like a laminate floor. Seems criminal to pay the same price as a product that's all wood for a product that only has a bit of wood on the top and bottom.

when laminates were first introduced in this country they all were edge glued. Be sure to use the right glue, I like titebond's and you can find it at most home depot/lowes. One thing that I suggest with a edge glued floor is it to be at least 1/2" thick and 5" wide. too much deflection from 3/8 for me to recommend going that route. the edge glued floors dont like to come apart unless you dont use the proper amout of glue, too little and no bond too much and it squeezes back out the seams.

Thanks Kevin. How do you know if you've got the right amount of glue in the joint? It seems that all of the floors the company offers is 1/2 inch.:

http://www.naturallyagedflooring.com/products.htm

Basically, trial and error. You're going to have to do a couple of rows and see if the glue squeezes out.You want just enough glue so that it just avoids squeezing out.Or you'll be wiping every single row to get the glue off the floor. You could experiment by squeezing two boards together by hand to see if the spread rate is too thick or not and then once you have that down, begin the installation.

You'll also need some heavy buckets or equivalent to put on your leading rows or the straps will pull the boards up into the air.Having weight on the leading rows will counter act the upward tension created by the straps.

Most common size bead is 1/8 inch or so. Your manufacturer should state that in his installation requirements if they allow it to be floated.

Paul, You haven't tried my strap clamps..they won't do that. The clamp itself is what causes upward motion, under tension. These are designed differently than others..