I've heard lots about the hollow sound and soft feel associated with floating installations. What I need to know is... how much of this is fact with engineered wood and how much is fiction left over from experiences with products like Pergo? The only floating floors I've seen personally are laminates, which makes me wonder if perhaps my perception of a floating floor is related more to the product than the process.

Would those of you experienced with floating engineered wood be willing to share your perception of how a floating floor differs from a gluedown in feel, movement and appearance? Would you recommend one method over the other for terrazzo?

I was also curious if a floating floor is "solid enough" be refinished in the future, or whether the process would damage the install.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Star,here is something for you to read:http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodinstaller/floater.htm

Floating floors more than any other installation method, require strict adherence to industry norms for sub floor flatness. All of the factors that you are asking about depend highly on the amount of preparation that goes into the sub floor to bring it up to standard.

As for the sound issue, floating whether wood or Pergo is going to produce more sound that fastened methods. The underlayment and flatness of the floor directly affect the sound but the sound will not be negated just reduced with preparation.

In saying that with preparation and quality materials (i.e. cork underlayment) the price of installation goes up. Reducing the overall cost effectiveness of floating installs in the first place. To me the only benefit of floating installations is the reduced labor price but it only works out on homes that do not have major sub floor issues.

It really comes down to tradeoffs and what you are willing to trade. Make no mistake floating installs are an inferior method as if they where not every new floor would now be floated. Many in the industry regard it as a DIY job created by the box stores to get into the wood floor business. It’s cheap and it will work, but to get a quality floor out of a floater you will have to spend more money which negates much of the advantage of floating. Basically if you are doing it DIY then get cork and float it as you will save all of the labor. It will turn out OK, but if you are hiring someone then pay a little extra and have them either glue or nail down the floor. You will be much happier with the results.

The only advantages to floating installation are cost and time.

The disadvantages of floating are:

Noisy
Harder to refinish
Unrestricted expansion
Board separation
Unforgiving in relation to subfloor inconstancies.
Harder to repair hollow spots.

Thanks for the feedback.

KLS,

Can you elaborate on these 2 disadvantages? and

Would board seperation be a problem caused by the installer not using the appropriate amount of wood glue or possibly leaving low spots? What may cause this and is it avoidable with an engr floating floor?

By noisy do you mean that it creaks or it is loud when walked on with heals?

Eventually wood glue breaks down as it does on furniture, the quality of glue and the deflection of the wood have a great deal to do with how fast the glue will wear. Eventually though, it will wear, it may outlast the wood and it may not. Just as some furniture falls apart due to glue breakdown while other furniture is useless but the joints are still well intact. It all depends, but separation is a possibility and a concern. Using quality glue will reduce the concern but it still exists. Remember a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In a floating floor that weak link is the joint. Anything to strengthen that joint will serve to strengthen the entire floor.

As for noise I am talking about the clack, clack, clack sound that floating floors make. It can be reduced but it cannot be eliminated.

I recently installed 5/8 bamboo over concrete which was floated over cork underlayment. The sound is really solid, before that we had pergo laminate which had a hollow sound. We dont know if its the cork underlayment or the thickness of the bamboo that is making it feel more solid but we are more than happy with our floating floor and the sound. Drew

It is the thickness and the construction of Bamboo (it has the stability of a engineered but the density of a solid) that makes it deaden the sound more than other floatable woods. Thanks for brining that up, I should have said that in my first post. A cross-ply 3-layer (they call it solid) bamboo on cork will be quieter than a traditional engineered board in floated floor. The Junkers solid floating system is another that does not make as much noise as the more traditional floating floors. In saying that though you have to A. go with more expensive cross-ply bamboo or B. use the Junker clip system which is relatively new. I had a friend that installed a Junker system and said that he has hand nothing but problems and that his client is growing annoyed. I have never installed one so take that info with a grain of salt. I have walked on one though (at the distributor) and while not as quite as a glue down or nail down job it was quite a bit quieter that traditional floating installs.