I've got a new glue down that has quite a few hollows which I would call good sized to large. I'd like to know more about this condition and what to do about the situation. There is some slight movement in some of the boards. It's 3/8 flooring. The glue used was a superior grade moisture/crack barrier adhesive but they used a 1/8" 1/8" 1/8" v-notch carpet adhesive trowel so only a thin coat of glue went down rendering it an adhesive only. The floor was not rolled afterwards. Note that there were random patches of old glue remaining on the floor (smooth from grinder) and along the perimeter which were not scraped off. I notice a lot of hollowness along the perimeter as well. Very dusty floor from other trades which was only broom swept, not vac'd or damp mopped also concerns me.

Some of the patches might be 8" = 12" around. There are a few longer, maybe 1-1/2' to 2' long. Perimeter is concerning because of moisture/water accumulation outdoors along the slab during rain storms. This would seem to be a more vulnerable area for moisture absorption to my mind.

I haven't checked for t & g gaps but did notice one that's too wide near the door. Is this expected? The tg locks nice and tight on this flooring. I was hoping for tight joints all around to keep crud and spills out.

Does this condition with the hollows remain stable or does it change and get worse as time goes on?

Warranty on install is a year.

Carpet trowel? Om my gosh. Maybe the instructions weren't in their language? Thant can't be..most have 4-5 languages. Old glue not removed completely? Goodness! Complete failure to address one of the most important aspects of any flooring installation. Floor preparation.



My searches show this product matching the description.

Superior Roberts R1530 4-Gal. All-in-One Wood Flooring Solvent Free Superior Grade Adhesive

Trowel recommendation: Tiger Tooth 1/4 x 3/16 in. trowel. I see no 1/8 fractions there.



Great! Have them make it right. Start over and use someone that knows what they're doing.

You are right but this was a flooring store charging top dollar. I am shocked at what has taken place here.

It was Shaw 4-in-1 glue which we paid a fortune for. I notice the other glues like Bostiks or Roberts spec the same trowel, so it seems to be standard.

You are saying you consider it a rip-out? Exactly why. Isn't urethane harder to get off than the old wood glues? New baseboards would have to come off again too?

Do the hollows remain stable or does it change and get worse as time goes on?

He thinks they did a great job and nothing is an issue.

Well due to the nimrods using an inadequate trowel depth Id say you floor warranty and the bond warranty from the adhesive manufacture are now null and void. Manufactures love when a incompetent makes it easy on them. ACtually it probably would have been fine if the subfloor was table top flat but we know there is no chance of that without some extensive prep. Rolling some adhesives is bad idea, some require it there all pretty specific. that 3 n 1 adhesive is suppose to have a real specific trowel with little legs on it that allow you to trowel the glue down leaving a barrier of glue and still leave the trowel notches in one step. Not only is your floor going to pop they cut down the effectiveness of the moisture barrier way way down. I wouldnt go for the 1 year warranty thing if your going to live with it id tell them i want at least 10 years or rip it out and do it right. you have them by the short hairs if they used a carpet trowel you may have to hire one of those nasty lawyer's. I bet a dollar to a doughnut that the installer install a bunch of carpet and vinyl as well as wood. thus the shitty small trowel.

Here is what I found the 1/8 is for parquet only which is customary for most wood floor adhesives:

Urethane glues still have some flexibility to them making it easier to take off concrete compared to those products of previous years. However it will probably take a flooring grinder first to take off the bulk. Not really a grinder and not as messy as one would think.

One of these gizmos---> http://www.tools4flooring.com/scrape-aw ... 9sD68UjF48

My experience is only based with removing Bostiks urethane adhesive installed five years previous. It may need some final hand scraping, but the outcome will also be dependent on the condition of concrete slab. Smooth ones will come out best.

Another thing I. Doesn't Shaw make some of that fiberboard core stuff? That may become a real headache to remove. There's the real messy part.

Baseboards? Were they installed after the floor?

It's an Anderson floor, engineered wood. Shaw bought them out.


He said baseboards go down first because it makes it easier on everyone. So that was the course.


The trowel was a v-notch carpet trowel not a squared parquet one.

I don't see that the glue itself mentions rolling. It says to follow installation instructions for the floor -- which does say to roll with 100-150 lbs.

Was out there the other last night and one area is 5 feet wide, maybe a foot wide. There are voids all over the place. Some are maybe a foot around. It looks like a kit has a quart and covers approx 150 SF. Are they supposed to be filled completely? What size void would you make sure to fill? How many injections does it take for coverage, say for the 1 foot or 5 foot area? Don't want it to look horrible with polka dots.

Are there any bad brands to stay away from and not permit them to use?

He said he uses a stained filler. This is oak with many colors woven through. Can Color Rite be used?
I don't want cracking mismatched fill or a dirt collecting filler used.

Jerry, why are you trying to fix this problem or are you? It is not yours to fix. Make the shop of installer fix it. Actually, I would call an inspector to come out and rip out a section to see if the floor was actually installed correctly in the first place. Otherwise these hollow spots could pop up at anytime. If you try and fix them then it is your problem after that. The blame will lay on you.