I am about done with my 3/4" solid 3 1/4" wide maple floor stapled into OSB. I have 5 walls that are about 1 1/2 boards short of the wall where the stapler will not fit and I have no room to blind nail through the tongue by hand. I *was* planning to glue the 1/2 board to the last full board then face nail the full board (nail heads would show). However I saw this post and it got me thinking:

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... light=glue

Can I glue the 1/2 board to the full board and then glue that one and a half board assembly to the 2nd to last full board that was blind nailed down? (The same as what you would do under a cabinet toe kick in the above thread) This would make things easy and eliminate visible face nailing. Will this be strong enough?

Also, can anyone recommend a poly (solvent based) glue brand specifically that I can buy at HD or Lowes that would be safe for this application that would hold ok and not make the wood cup/bend? Thanks!!!

Yes, by all means glue the last rows with liquid nails urethane glue in a caulking tube.

ok, just wanted to make sure that was an acceptable option. The flooring person I bought the wood from said don't do it but honestly, I trust you guys a bit more
Even if it causes a problem, it's at the end of the rows so pulling it out if needed is easy. So, I will proceed to glue the last 2 to 2 1/2 boards together TO THEMSELVES and not to the OSB and then wedge them temporarily while the adhesive dries..


PS - I found "PL polyurethane premium contruction adhesive" in a tube. I assume that will work ok? (i.e. will not cup boards and will be strong enough to walk on?)

yep pl400 will work as well

I think we're refering to gluing the flooring to the subfloor, not just to each other. While I've done that occasionally, you are supposed to glue the flooring to the subfloor.

Yep, it doesn't hurt to glue just those rows that you can't seem to nail down. Just don't try and glue too much out into the room. PL is excellent, too.

Hang on a second. Glue the joints AND glue to the OSB? How is the floor suppose to expand like that? I left 1/2" expansion area.

Two of the three rooms I plan to do this in had the wood come in through a door way so the floor started in the middle of the room. So right now I'm 2-3 boards away on both walls that run parallel to the wood. Then I'd have 2 "bookends" glued down with nowhere for expansion to occur along the width of the boards.

If you don't want to facenail the last few rows, then you must attach them to the subfloor with glue. You can glue a few boards together to each other with yellow wood glue but that isn't necessary. Simply put glue,your PL urethane adhesive, on the backs of the boards and wedge them in place. This isn't a floating floor. The glue doesn't lock the boards in place. It will allow the flooring to expand without breaking it's bond.

That's interesting, I figured if it moved more than say 1/16" the glue would break. Everyone says leave 1/2" expansion area so I figured the end boards could move up to 1/2".

Well, I guess I'll give it a try gluing them to the subfloor. If it works out well over time then thanks in advance.

In 26 yrs. the only floors I've seen move that much at the expansion space were floors that were flooded. And even most flooded floors peaked up instead of sideways. The expansion space thing is really all about theory. In the real world, it doesn't happen. However, we continue to recommend it because of worse case scenarios. If your floors ever expanded that 1/2", they would be badly cupped or even buckled first. In the real world, when floors are subjected to long periods of high RH, they will want to expand as they are growing in width. But the fasteners prevent them from doing so, so they cup and buckle instead of taking up that expansion space. This is what most often happens. IMO.

Thanks for the explaination Gary! This is a mix of art and science I guess. So I'll try glueing the last few rows to the osb without glueing the boards to themselves.

PS - this was my first wood install and it was 800sqft over 6 rooms. Quite a learning experience!