I have recently had some engineered wood flooring installed and am having problems with it. In certain areas, when you walk across the flooring, it seems to "unstick" to something underneath it and you hear a "sticky" type noise. This is somewhat simlar to what you would hear if you were stepping across bubble wrap, or had tape or gum on the bottom of your shoes. In a few areas, you can also actually physically see a depression in the wood when you step on it, and hear popping noises. Am I correct in assuming that this is not normal? Also, the wood is layed over a cork underlayment, which has been laid on cement. Let me give you the products used:

The wood is Appalachian brand engineered hardwood. On the side of the box it says: Hermosa plank - 3 in Brazillian Hickory - Henna 3/8 in Nominal (8.5mm)

The cork undelrlayment is 5-Star Cork Underlayment, Item: XACORK-30LA-150 Size 2x3x6.0mm

The glue is Roberts 1407 High Performance Acylic Urethane Wood Flooring Adhesive

The flooring has been down for a little over a week now. I have never had hardwood floors installed, so I want to make sure this is not "normal." Also, please offer any suggestions on what it would take to fix this, if the entire job has to be redone, etc. Also - I may want to get a second opinion from someone in this area, so if anyone knows any highly frecommended, reputable floorers that I can bring in from the Miami, Floida area that would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

They din't prep the substrate to make it flat according to the wood manufacturers requirements. What glue did they use to install the cork. I personally wouldn't have used that "WET" acrylic glue over the cork. It will cause it to swell. Moisture cure urethane is the right stuff. Sounds like they cheaped out on the products used for installation and not only that, the labor it takes to prep a concrete.


They may be able to come back and inject it with glue or epoxy.

I keep reading of these problems with installations over cork. It's my opinion that its just as likely that the cork wasn't installed properly. Not that it couldn't be a issue with prep. But the few, (very few) cork jobs I've installed, called for a psa adhesive, applied on the floor, and on the back of the cork. It sure seems likely that the floor crew was rushing this part of the job, (and maybe others) based on the descriptions of the noises. Just my 2 cents.