We are trying to decide between two products based on their different application. 1. Home Legend Maple Durham click-lock to be installed floating (with moisture barrier and padding)2. Shaw Brass Maple to be glued (using new one step non-toxic glue) Our slab is not perfect. We are doing a large 700 sq ft room including foyer, kitchen, hallway, and large living area. I do not like the hollow sound laminate makes and want to avoid this. Should we glue the floor or install floating? We will be installing ourselves (husband works in masonry).
Get the floating floor and put a high quality foam underlayment under the floor. The floor will have more give and less sound.
Last summer I installed about 1200 ft2 of floating wood floor in 5 different places in the house. After a year everything is looking good and there are no issues with floor. I was careful to make sure the floor had room for expansion and there are no humps or shrinkage openings. Neighbor across the street has a few humps in his glued down version. When you walk across the floor, there is a slightly hollow sound but I have had this in nail down floors. Where the floor slab had some dips the sound is a little more hollow. One of the reasons that I decided to go with the floater is that I could work at my own pace and not have to brace the floor so that it did not expand overnight with the glued version. I did a nail down 1300 ft2 in a previous home and it was solid with 15 pound tar paper under it. That floor had the hardwood click to it. It was much harder to install than this floater. In looking at the fact that the flooring is not all exactly straight and perfect and that I could not do 700 ft2 in a day and did not want to brace, I would probably go with the floater again. You still need a vapor barrier under the glued floor to prevent moisture absorption through the slab.
