Must be the same stuff as that crummy Shaw adhesive I used once. I roll everything with a hundred pounder.

I do set the end joint in first as well to keep that memory from biting me, then strap the five or so rows as I rack out some more and on and on. I'd rather nail myself, most all wood subfloors here are upstairs like LV is. That hurts.

Then you finally get a naildown, of coarse upstairs, and there's no balcony, so you have to hoof it 200 times a day, up and down the stairs to make your cuts outside. I hope everyone is getting out their little violin for me Think I had a rough day today ? Weeding through BR111 Tigerwood defects ! So dont feel alone out there !

Or you can pay 900 bucks for a vct cutter on steroids. Leave the rips for outside.

Virginia Hardwood, out here, has one of those guillitines for sale. They swore it cuts wood easily I tried a scrap of 3/8 x 3 , and I about got a hernia.

When installing upstairs, if there is no balcony ( there rarely is ), I take over one small room or area I can isolate as my "cutting room". You can hook up a shop vac to the cut off saw to assist in keeping the dust down. Some vacs switch on when the saw is turned on. Also, a cordless circular saw spins slower than it's corded version, thereby kicking up less dust. You can make your cut offs with a cordless when the cuts are hidden by trim and base. Use the table saw outside of course.

I refuse to run up and down stairs all day cutting flooring.

We use those guillotines here but mostly for laminates and thinner engineered. Boy do they ever cut down on the mess.
When the rep was demo-ing one for me a couple years ago, I cross cut a piece of 3 1/4 hard maple. With the handle fully extended, it cut cleanly and with very little grain tear. However, it did require that I eat a can spinach before using.

So, was that one can of spinach for each cut?

Doesn't seem like you should have to eat a can of spinach, after spending 900 bucks, for a guilitine. That's a good idea about the cordless , for upstairs. I use my little makita cordless for laminate, cuts pretty clean, , but not enough power for wood, I need to look into higher volts. I dont know whether it's something in the air out here or what, but people would freak out if I set up a room upstairs for cutting with a mitre saw, vacume or not. You know it's gotta dust the room. To give you an idea of the kind of people out here. There are a lot of balconys out here. And when I tell them I'm going to set up my saws on the balcony. They're all worried about the dust going into their pool ! I just dont want to rock the boat, so I run up and down steps. Looking at a large upstairs job this weekend, gotta come up with a better plan

I can't keep the boards tight. Strap 10-12 rows, blue tape, loosen the straps and the rows start to open up.... even with all that 1 1/2" blue tape on top. The boards will pull back from underneath the tape. About half the boards have some warpage, and add in the glue memory it creates one huge hassle to deal with. Because of so much furniture to work around i could not start in the room center and work both ways.

Pick up a box of Heavy Duty Magic Erasers on your next glue down job. The erasers work like mini grout sponges.... they pick up glue flicks and ooze on one pass, and holds it, instead of smearing it around like a rag and cleaner is prone to do.

Do you use your feet to set boards in glue? I do

Jerry, sounds to me like a combanation problem with the adhesive not grabbing, bowed wood and maybe some dragging the foot to far.

Jerry, I have really never had boards pull away from the tape, as long as the tape is sticking good. And I'm talking about installing Bellawood Koa. A gapping mess of twisted and warped planks. But never 1/2 the planks, like you say. Dont you think that's pretty extreme, 1/2 the planks ?That's surely not within any manuf. tolerances. I dont think it matters what the adhesive is doing, 1/2 the planks being warped might be a problem. Are they twisted ? I mean blue tape cant hold back a train ! Like to see that wood.

I'll check out those magic erasers, willing to try almost anything once.

In reference to using your feet to set boards in the glue. You must have some pretty talented feet . Maybe I dont dunderstand what you mean. I use my feet to push ends in tighter, before I cinch down on the strap clamps, and run blue tape.

Howard

Blue tape will stretch. If you don't stretch it as you appy it, the boards will stretch it opening up gaps.

1½" wide tape is not enough to hold a problem floor. 2½" or 3" is the ticket. Plus, you don't just tape one board to the other, that never works. You have to span 4 or more rows to do any good.

I should rephrase that Howard, about 1/2 of the longer boards are bowed, some with a slight bow, some badly bowed. I can't cut and re groove all these boards. The manufacturer is working with me on this problem.

I will get some pictures up showing how the rows will gap open after I let the straps go.

Maybe that's why I haven't had any problems with the tape. I'm a blue tape fiend . I lay 3 to 5 foot sections ( depending on whether I'm working on the wood or not ). Then I tape the whole width of the section, ( using 1 1/2" tape ) about every couple feet, of coarse depends on what I'm trying to hold tight, sometimes more. But I'm spanning a lot of boards. I guess that's why stretching hasn't effected me. Come to think of it , I do pull the tape toward me, so it's pretty taught, as well.

If any of you are interested, I found a good deal on tape. I found this guy on Ebay a few years ago. The tape is seconds, but I'll put it up against 3m any day I'm about ready to place my yearly order, (about 4 casses). 60 bucks plus deliv.for 32 rolls of 1 1/2".

calls his bus. "Masking tape Seconds"
Chip Wentworth
( 704 ) 608-2050

( I hope this is o.k. to post on here )
It's not my business, Just trying to help everyone out.

Howard

Thanks for the contact info for tape Howard. We installers can use discounts on materials any time we can get them.