3/4" flooring is stiff, comes with minor bows, warps and curls, requiring a
large rubber mallet to convince it to lay flat and fit the tongue of its
neighbor, finally you anchor it with a number of steel cleats (nails) to
keep it in place.

How would you do this with glue? As soon as you release it, it will go back
to its original shape.

I know of no manufacturer that recommends gluing wood planks of this
thickness. Only engineered flooring, which is a plywood type material is
stable enough to be glued, and I can imagine that sometimes there can be
problems with that material.

"James "Cubby" Culbertson" wrote in message
...

"JTurner" wrote in message
oups.com...
I've been doing a lot of research on this topic and I've seen a couple
different answers to this question based on the circumstances so I am
now looking for advice for my specific circumstances. I am putting 3/4
solid brazillian cherry at grade level. I am in the desert so there is
not much humidity. The contractor I have right now told me I could glue
this flooring down but he has never installed any solid plank flooring.
He wants to put a liquid moisture barrier down and then use a glue
down. Most of the articles I have read have recommended using a 3/4 sub
floor and then nailing it down which seems like the much better option
to me. However, this guy is currently charging 4US / sq ft for
installation which I believe is a good deal (I suppose you get what you
pay for). Should I tell him there is no way I should glue this floor
down and go with someone else ? Or should I make him give me a warranty
and if I should what type of warranty should I ask for ? The
manafacture (Bellawood) recommends a nail down application for this
flooring but does not specifically say not to glue down. I was also
unable to find the specific disadvantages of glue down application on
3/4 in, I assume it has to do with the moisture.

One more question, what is a reasonable price to pay to install a sub
flooring and then to nail down the wood floors? I feel a bit shafted
since I have already recieved the wood after this contractor told me he
could glue it down and had checked with the manafacturer. I do intend
to sell this home in the near futue, would glued down solid plank be a
draw back for a buyer ?

Thanks for your help, I am supposdly getting this floor installed in
less then 48 hours and now I am scared of how this might come out.

-Jason Turner


Most installer's will agree that about the maximum thickness you can glue
down is 1/2". Bellawood also says this, or at least they used to (in
fact,
all their glue down products are 3/8" to 1/2" thick....that should tell
you
something right there). Low humidity or not, your floor will move at the
first thunderstorm. I think you should plan to either build a subfloor,
plane the wood thinner, or buy some thinner boards. I'm in NM and just
did my first glue down with Bellawood so I've been through a number of the
issues/questions.
Cheers,
cc