Our floating floor is Brazillian cherry engineered. It is put down over concrete painted with moisture sealer, and Quietwalk padding. The boards are glued together with Titebond III.

The problem is that the floors are way spongier than expected. One room (the dining room) isn't that bad, but we still hate it. The living room, however, has sections that have noticeable rise and fall when walking on them.

We would like to completely eliminate the problem. Our upstairs hardwood was nailed down, and we love it. We are considering gluing down to the concrete or laying a plywood sub-floor and nailing down.

Can this be done without trashing the old floor and buying all new wood? It is about 1500 square feet and all new wood would be rather pricey. We are considering pulling up the wood in sections, removing the Quietwalk, and then gluing the section back down. Is there a better way? What suggestions do you have? Thanks!

From what you have typed it appears the slab is not nearly flat enough for a floating floor as well as a glued down floor. Since the flooring is glued to itself with Titebond I don't believe you will be able to salvage much if any.

All substrates have to be checked for flatness and corrections made before the installation takes place. Did you hire the installation out?

I really hope you hired someone for this install. Any good flooring contractor would have made sure the slab was flat to within the manufacturer's recommended tolerances. Minor things can be corrected at time of install, significant irregularities may require the services of a concrete company.

It is unlikely that you can salvage much of the floor on removal.

Thank you for the replies. This is chrbonn's wife. No, we didn't really contract it out. We paid the same college students that did the upstairs, to do the downstairs. We can't really be mad at them. They did a great job upstairs. The downstairs, however, is miserable. I can't decide if it reminds me more of cheap vinyl or thin wood paneling. Either way, we have about 1300 square feet of AWFUL floors. If anyone else has suggestions as to what we might do to solve the problem, we're listening.

Thanks.

I hear what you are saying Mam and I sympathize for you. That said, the source of your super-spongy floors is underneath. A flat substrate along with a premium grade padding goes along way to make a nice floor.

Do your know padding was used? Also was there any 6 or 8 mil poly put down first as a moisture barrier.... just curious?

The flooring possibly could be taken up in sections, but with Titebond 111 on the joinery I seriously doubt it.

Thanks for the replies.

Quietwalk padding was used - it has a moisture barrier. The floor was also painted with a concrete moisture sealer. The living room floor obviously had a few areas that are uneven - however - we really hate the feel of the floating floor, even in the dining room, where a good result was attained.

Before we call in a professional installer for a complete re-do (and trashing $8000 in wood), we will likely give a salvage job a try. I think I can separate the floor in sections - the glue can be "cracked" and the boards separated. What to do underneath is the question.
What are the major advantages/disadvantages to putting in a sub-floor versus gluing down to the concrete?
Which one is easier?
Which would be preferrable in this case? We will be "salvaging" the floor. A good job was done on the upstairs, where we nailed down the hardwood.
I can see that leveling the living room floor would be advantageous. Does this need to be done by a professional?
If a floor isn't completely level, what would be the result?

So, it sounds as if you are thinking that you can nail down the flooring IF you can take it apart without destroying it. Well, first things first. You'll need to remove any trims and baseboards that are holding the flooring down. Then start in an area where the flooring terminates. Next to another room with an open floor plan would be ideal. The idea is to be able to lift up a panel and rock it up and down to break the glue bond without breaking the tongue. I have actually done this before on a T&G Tarkett floating floor. I cannot say if you'll be successful. I was. But I was careful and took my time. I gently re-stacked all the boards and scraped the excess glue off of the tongues. I made sure all the grooves were clean as well. Then, you will need to install a 3/4" plywood subfloor. I prefer to glue and nail these down. Some nail only but I think those do not last. Then, you will have a wood subfloor to nail down your re-claimed flooring. I do not envy you the job ahead of you. BTW, forget about attempting to directly glue down a floating floor to concrete. Those wide and long panels make it nearly an impossible task.

Gary,

Thanks for the reply. I think you are right that a subfloor will be necessary. I really do think that the boards are salvageable. What a pain in the ass, though, to get them separated and cleaned up.

Bullet Tools has a neat tool called a "skimmer"

You use it to skim down the groove and turn it around and use it to skim down the tongue. It removes the glue and debris.

Thanks for the heads up on the Skimmer. We are able to get the boards up without damaging them. The glue can be "cracked" and the boards pulled with only minor splintering in the tongue/grooves. We will be buying the Skimmer. Do we need to buy two? Is this a tool that will degrade with use, or is one adequate? Thanks again for all of the advice.

Will a level subfloor alleviate our problems or do we need to level both the concrete and the subfloor?

One should be all you need, but

Call Bullet Tools...
3390 West Hayden Ave, Hayden, ID 83835
800-406-8998 · 208-772-0175 · Fax: 888-204-9744





The Skimmer
Item# 703

The little tool that launched a company and inspired a toolbox full of ideas. The Original Skimmer is a hand-held device that is designed to be the most effective way to repair a defective tongue or groove on wood or laminate flooring panels to insure a perfect fit. It is useful in board replacements, as well as on any product damaged in shipping. The file side of the tool will reshape a swollen or damaged tongue and the blade side cleans the groove of debris. Accept no imitations! U.S. Patents Nos. 6,213,861 B1 and 6,270,399 B2

Since the plywood "subfloor" as you call it ( it's really underlayment ) will conform to the concrete slab, you need to check the slab for "flatness" first. Typically, any thing over or under 3/16" in a 10 ft radius ( or is it diameter? I forget now ) is out of spec. So low spots are filled in and high spots ground down. Once the concrete is flat to spec, then the plywood can be glued and nailed. Make SURE that the wood flooring you have can be successfully nailed down prior to going to all this work. You very well maybe able to hire a pro to glue down the floating floor directly to the concrete for just a bit more than the price of adding plywood. Just a thought. Of course, someone would need to be hard up to take a job like that. It will be a difficult one.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. We have five college students coming in mid-March to disassemble the floor. We'll let you know how it works out. Fingers crossed.

chrbonn's wife