What is the preferred method of installing an engineered wood floor over a concrete slab? Float or glue & why?
If you don't want glue(Chemicals,formaldehyde)in the house you can use a rubber membrane on top of the concrete beneath the wood. It will give you a more solid floor than just floating it.Home depot has a product its a green roll membrane.
Yes you can, most of the new wood flooring are tongue and groove floating floors. Just be sure to buy a good underlay. Ask the flooring professionals at Lowes or Home Depot they will tell you what to do. If your tile is nice and flat and installed well it is almost just as good as installing on a concrete foundation (this is done on homes in Florida everyday!). Good luck to you, be sure to take your time and do a great job!
Floating a floor is easier to install than a glue down especially for a less experienced person or a DIY. There are less harmful fumes to breath when floating a floor. Floating flooring has more give and so the sub floor can have more unevenness/small dips compared to a glue down. Glue down will have a more solid feel when walking on it, and floating will have more give. Some people are bothered by a slight hollow sound when walking on a floating floor. The sound or give do not bother me, personally. Also, check with the store...some actually require a glue down.
It depends what you mean with engineered wood floor. Normally that term means that the planks have tongue and groove. If you have a massive wood floor with tongue and groove you should always glue it to the floor with an elastic glue. Anoter option is to lay an underconstruction with peaces of wood 40cm away from each other across the room. Then with 90° you can screw the floor to the unterconstruction through the tongue and groove.
First things first. You need to test your slab for moisture that could cause a problem later. Take either aluminum foil or plastic 16 x 16 squares and duct tape them down over slab. Seal all edges tight to slab. Now wait 24hrs.then pull up squares to see if there is any moisture either on the slab or on the back of the squares. If there is - do not install the engineered wood floor. Even if you install a floating pad this moisture will eventually penetrate the foam underlayment and get into the flooring. If there is no evidence of moisture I would proceed with the floating floor system. Using glue can create problems if you should ever loose your heating system in cold weather such as from a storm. The wood and the concrete react differently to temp changes and this could cause the floor to buckle.
