I recently got an engineered wood floor over Gypcrete. First, the QuietWalk padding was installed then the hardwood. So it is a floating floor and it feels like i'm walking on a trampoline. It's very disappointing and the installer said it is floating so there will always be some give. I don't believe this can be right. Is there something they should have done different when they installed it to make it solid feeling?

Theres so many variables when you speak of a floating engineered floor. Floor flatness, the manufacturer and industry have a standard for that. Then there is the obvious everyone forgets about. Installing bowed planks in the floor. Many times it is not an issue, many times there are way to many bowed planks. Even the slightest bow in an installed plank can cause lifiting. So when you step on it it flexes.

Did the installer check for flatness and do any floor prep?

As Stephen mentioned, in a floating install , your substrate needs to be as flat as possible .If not , your floating floor will have excessive bounce. And even the best floating floor will have some bounce to it .It's the biggest drawback to a floating floor.

I did a glue down over a gypcrete floor that had radiant heat tubing buried in it. And the floor was so uneven that I made the homeowner bring in a mason to skim coat the floor to my specifications before I would do the installation. And because of my insistence, the floor came out really nice.

So the people who installed the floor are now admitting that they need to re-do everything. They say that they will need to take up the old floor and prep the floor (duh). I knew that. But what they're now saying is they will need:

1. 1 day to seal the gypcrete before they can put down the leveling compound...
- Seal? They're going to put down some type of liquid on it? Do I risk having it soak through to the unit below me?

2. 1 day to put the leveling goo down.

3. 1 day to put the floating floor down.

And I should basically stay in a hotel for all this...


Who would have ever thought putting down hardwood would be so complicated. Wow... NEVER again!

So, does all this sound right for the way to put the floating floor in right? And besides getting the labor and materials for the floor covered because they screwed up, I will have to fork out the money for the leveling and sealing, which is VERY VERY expensive.

If your talking about using Ardex G4 then yea, it is a little pricey but great stuff. http://www.ardexamericas.com/en-us/Prod ... s/GS4.aspx

I think they are forgetting it needs to dry down for minimum of 3 days.

I wouldn't pay them a dime extra. They laid it improperly so they should fix it unless your feeling especially gracious. But then you would have had to to begin with anyway. Personally I would not glue jack to gypcrete even with G4 over it.

I hate to hear when a homeowner must have his home turned upside down to fix a problem that a little due diligence would have prevented. The installers to a gamble at their risk and yours and unfortunately you lost and didn't even know you placed a bet. Even with an adequately level substrate you will always have some spring to the floor along with a hollow thunk sound with every step you take. I can appreciate the appeal of the convenience that a floor can just be clicked and floated, but its always going to sound and feel different than a floor actually affixed to the substrate. You should be prepared for an improvement, but some affects of that type of flooring will remain even at best. Best Regards, Kevin Pennington

They came in and used Ardex Feather Finish... which I think was the wrong thing to use. Unbeknownst to me, they decided then and there after the ripped up my old (new) floor to re-do it from scratch to do a glue-down. So it is Gypcrete, Ardex Feather Finish (which did dry, in about 3 hours), Glue, then the hardwood.

It's still soft and springy. I don't know how... it's glued down. There's also no padding (obviously) which is a no-no with my association. The only thing I can think of is if you pulled up a plank there would be glue and ardex feather finish stuck to the bottom of plank and the gypcrete stays behind.

$6000 for 500 sqft down the tubes. I don't think this is resolvable and I really, really don't even want to deal with it anymore.

I'm thinking of having the whole thing pulled up and putting carpet back.

I should have done my homework. I am devastated.

A urethane based mastic flooring adhesive is intended to remain somewhat pliable but you would not feel any movement (soft & springy) unless it was not cured yet. I'm hopeful that is the case and will improve significantly as it cures, but that shouldn't take very long. That type of adhesive which they should have used (and most likely they did I would guess) is moisture cured. Sometimes people will work to far ahead with the adhesive and it will flash over (develop a semi-dry skin on top) and you will not get good transfer of the adhesive to the back of the flooring. I know those examples are opposites but one or the other could cause the floor to feel soft & springy. Relax over the holiday weekend and see if it improves. I sure hope it does.

Sincerely,

Kevin Pennington, Principal Member
Prodigy Hardwood Interiors, LLC
Jeffersonville, Indiana 47130

Yup, thats what usually happens. It also might just pull off some gypcrete with it. Could have been dusty and improper use of or non use of a primer.

http://www.ardexamericas.com/en-us/Docu ... Finish.pdf

We have used Sika MB Primer over gypcrete with no problems so far. specs say it penetrates 1/4" and they guarantee glue down over this products. Only done 2 jobs so far for multi level project for a developer.