The guy I hired says its better to glue and nail the very expensive engineered hardwood flooring I just bought. The store that I purchased it from says that you should either nail or glue and not do both. This concerns me and if any of you are installers please let me know what the disadvantage of doing it this way, the handyman I hired already installed the floors this way in two of the rooms and is working on the rest of the house soon, I want to do it the right way. Everytime I question him, he tells me he's been in this business for 25 years, and gives me this tone to not question him.
The best thing to do is nail it on a wood subfloor. Put about a 30-pound tar paper between the flooring and the subfloor for moisture protection, sound dampening, and less fatigue when walking on it. Before you put the flooring down, walk around and check for squeaks in the subfloor. If you find any, you can either use long screws to secure the subfloor to the floor joists, or crawl under the house, pry up the subfloor a bit, and squirt some white glue into the crack that's causing the squeak. Then screw the floorboard back into place. You should only really glue a wood floor down if the subfloor is a slab. And, I wouldn't recommend doing it yourself unless you're really skilled with a compound mitre saw. Cuts will have to be precise and straight. You'll also need a special floor nailer and the nails have to bgo in precisely (in the tongue of the tonge and groove joint, at an angle so it doesn't interfere with the joint). Also, you should at least check with someone who has installed floors as to what direction the planks should go, where to start, how to get random lengths and colors (or grains), etc. Too many floors get really screwed up by people installing them who don't know what they're doing. .
Me, the 1 st poster is absolutely right. It is the best over all way to do engineered or a pure solid 3/4 hard wood floor. Yes more expensive and time consuming but its the best overall way to install these types of woods. Treat the man to a home made simple lunch or some coffee in the a.m. when the work is done, he sounds like a good guy. Any questions you can e mail me through my avatar.GL
He is doing the right thing. The glue will keep it from squeaking as the temp and humidity change and offer another layer to hold the floor. Glue can also come undone if not secured. The nails will keep it from moving. When they tell you nail or glue they mean you can do either or both it's not an OR statement. Thank him, it's not often you get a contractor that stick to what he knows is correct faced with his clients pesterings (Many renos under my belt and I pester a lot). Your floor will be trouble free for many many years to come.
