Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Vapor Barrier

I am going to glue 3/8" solid wood on our first floor (BR-111 Industparque). We're sitting on a concrete slab, so I have been strongly encouraged to lay down a vapor barrier. One thing that I haven't seen explained is the process of adhearing the barrier to the slab, and then what, if any, special tricks for glueing the wood to the barrier. Any hints, articles etc?

Dan

Dan,
I'm not a pro at this, but I believe that you're going to have to lay down the vapor barrier, then concrete-nail plywood down over it for a subfloor, and THEN glue your finish flooring down to the plywood.
There are some good pros in here that can help you when they come along.
Good luck!
Mike

You need to find out if moisture is a problem in your concrete. the first step is to cut a couple of 3 Ft square pieces of 6-8 mil plastic, and duct tape them down in a couple spots on the slab. Let this sit overnight to a day or so to see if moisture condense's on the plastic. If it does, you'll need to perform a calciun cholride test to determine how much moisture vapor is present. If none develops, you're in good shape. At the last Mannington hardwood seminar, they told us that if we could strike a match on the slab, then the floor was dry enough to use their Mannington adhesive to adhere their floors. But since yours is a solid, does the maker, BR 111 suggest one?

A vapor barrier would be 6-8 mil plastic, glued down with the same adhesive you will use on the flooring, Use a 1/16" notched trowel, spread glue, layout plastic, roll out, and puncture any bubbles, then install wood. Whew! Hope this helps.

Hey Steve:

You're getting around bud:) So why do I need expensive moisture meters if a match works? Oh...it's Mannington. WARNING...Red Flags waving loudly! Great suggestions. I still have some folks that use the vinyl moisture barrier idea. I would warn if anyone does go this route to use the same adhesive for the vinyl as they would the engineered wood. Reasons being; urethane based adhesives are much stronger than regular latex ones and will likely pull the vinyl loose.

Follow the specs for installing over the wood over the vinyl as you would any other gluedown. I would suggest an inexpensive vinyl type that doesn't have a high gloss finish as well as you may get bonding problems.

Hardwood Guy,

Sorry about changing the thread topic here but I saw your Brazilian Cherry install on your website and had a question. I noticed you did a flush angled header transition to carpet, here -

http://www.floridawoodfloors.net/Tampabrazchry%20120.jpg

How did you cut this so accurately? Measure the angle, set the chopsaw, and measure each strip in place? Obviously the cut has to be very, very accurate here.

Also, how did you attach the header piece, glue or face nail?

Beautiful job by the way and a bargain to boot. A friend of mine bought a new house and got a quote from the builder for about 1200 sq ft of maple and they wanted 20k!

PS. I know I ask a lot of questions but I'm not an installer, just a curious DIY'er.

Thanks

Alex:

Thanks for the compliments. That job was a treat...cool location too. Great customers too. It's not often I get invited out to dinner either. The header board was glued to the ply subfloor with Bostiks Best and pin nailed on both sides to keep it from moving before the adhesive cured. Always use some sort of flexible adhesive otherwise you may get cracking sounds later on.

When doing something like this I always "start" those areas directly off the piece and work the other way. Sometimes you may have to change the angle cut a tad because if you get board that's not straight it will throw off the angle.

Check the new link for the current job I'm doing. Vertical carbonized bamboo over cork underlayment highrise work.

Ken Fisher