Installing engineered wood flooring: glue down or floating?

Engineered wood boards come with two joint types – tongue-and-groove and click – and can be installed in two ways: floating on an underlay or glued to the subfloor.

Tongue-and-groove boards are only glued down on a properly prepared subfloor. Click boards can be installed either floating or glued.

Which is better? There is no single answer. Below are the pros and cons of each method – the choice is yours.

Floating installation

Pros

• Fast: about 20 m² in 4–6 hours.
• Cheaper: no adhesive, lower fitting rates, and you can even lay the floor yourself.
• The floor can be taken up and re-laid elsewhere, or single boards replaced.

Cons

• The floor sounds hollower than a glued one.
• It cannot be sanded.
• Less stable construction, especially under uneven loads or on a subfloor that is not perfectly flat.
• Transition profiles are needed where the floor meets tiles.
• Replacing one board means emptying the room and taking the floor apart.

Glue-down installation

Pros

• Bonding to the subfloor makes the floor stiffer and more resistant to changes in humidity and temperature.
• No drum effect – a glued floor is quieter.
• A glued floor can be sanded, extending its life several times over.
• A damaged board can be replaced without dismantling the whole floor.

Cons

• Higher cost: materials (parquet adhesive, primer) plus subfloor preparation and a specialist fitter.
• The floor cannot be taken up and reused elsewhere; replacing a board needs an experienced fitter.

For glue-down installation we use elastic MS polymer adhesives such as WAKOL MS 228 and MS 230 (both in stock in Vilnius) and a primer for the subfloor. See the full range in Parquet adhesives.

Knowing these points, your own wishes and experience, you will choose easily and correctly.