I have been in the business for years and have not come up with a good way to keep glue off the floor when we do a glue down install. We clean as go. We try to keep our gloves clean. We try to make sure we don't have glue on our shoes. We even put down the discarded boxes or we use tarps or hardboard when we are forced to walk on the flooring we have already installed. We work grove side out and kneel on the sub-floor until we get to the finish wall. However, if I look at a bucket of glue then look at the floor, a spot of glue appears. Seriously, on a 500 sq ft install we spend at least 30 minutes removing haze spots from the surface of the wood. Admittedly, I am more watchful than most installers I know when it comes to glue spots for the mere fact that I don't enjoy call backs .I would like to get it to a point where we only have a 10 minute crawl-over. Do any of you have methods that reduces the amount of glue that needs to be cleaned of the surface?

Verhine, I've never been able to accomplish that feat either. Does groove side out really help? I tried both ways and don't see any difference. Also tried gloves and it seems I cannot detect adhesive getting on them as good as not wearing them.

We have a pain with that too. Sounds to me like your doing all of the stuff you can to help prevent it.

I don't do many glue downs but generally find that working without gloves causes me to be more careful .My only other tip is to not spread more on the floor than you need. Then again, I go pretty slow compared to most installers. Speed ,cleanliness and quality all have to be balanced in some way because you cant have all three 100% , one hundred percent of the time.

One other tip I just thought of is if you have the luxury of having helpers on the job with you, have one guy just spread glue and not touch the boards. Let another guy rack boards and maybe a 3rd guy install the boards. I don't have this luxury for myself.

Stephen, grove side out definitely helps. Most manufacturers recommend it as the "proper" way to install. It keeps glue from building up in the joints and potentially causing the boards to push away from one another. Honestly, we have been successful both ways but I have found that grove side out is cleaner and quicker.

Groove side out helps but is a pain scribing the last board if you are installing tight to base on the finishwall. As when I scribe I lay the board directly on top of the course before and scribe it that way. When the groove is facing out you cant see the edge of the board good. I know there are other ways... I'm just saying..I'm sure most of you install b4 base so you have no problem, Here in Boston the builders want tight to base alot, unless thats something my boss uses to get the job telling them "We can do that". Sorry to get off topic, the glue cleaner we use is a product called AR2000 it works good and the gloves do make you not no if you have glue on them, therefore every board you touch could be getting a little glue on it. Keep a soaked rag with the cleaner on it next to you a constantly keep your hands clean, and keep another one nearby for the floor. When you see it clean it. There is always cleaning at the end but it is kept to a minimal I find doing it this way..

I'm new here so I hope I can help in any way. Ive been installing for 11 years with the same company, we have won best of Boston a couple times and I think I'm one of the better installers out ther and very knowledgeable.