I just ordered an engineered hardwood product which comes in 4 3/4" strips. My subfloor is concrete and I was planning on doing a floating install (however, the product says it can be floated, glued or nailed down) to save a little on the costs and was wondering what the general steps are that I need to follow. From my understanding, I need to first lay down a plastic moisture barrier over the concrete (6ml plastic) and then need to put down an underlayment. I was planning on using cork as it tends to be a little more firm than some of the pads out there. Is that a good option to go with? And, do I need to secure it down in any way? Or, do I just lay it over the moisture barrier and then float the wood over the cork?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Alan

First you need to make positive the concrete surface is as flat as a pancake. 3/16" in 10' is the tolerance.

I also forgot to ask if there is anything that I need to do to "prep" the concrete. It seems pretty level, but its really hard to say, and I would hate to lay the floor down and realize later that I should have done something to ensure how level/smooth it was -- or does it even matter if I am floating the floor?