Hardwood Laminate Flooring - To Glue Or Not to Glue

Recently I installed bamboo hardwood laminate flooring also known as a floating floor in a one bedroom unit I was about to move into. I was faced with the decision of whether to get the snap in variety that doesn't require glue or the hardwood laminate flooring that does require you to glue the boards together. So I rang a friend of mine who had installed laminated boards several years before. I vaguely remembered that he had used glue with his flooring, so I wanted to get his opinion as to how easy it was to go in that direction. Upon ringing him, he told me that what he liked about the glued boards is that he could knock them together tighter than the glueless ones, and as such they were slightly better for wetter areas such as kitchens that are prone to spillages.

By being glued together, the floor had a higher resistance to water seeping between the boards. It is still important to wipe up any spills quickly from a laminated floor to guarantee that they do not absorb the liquid and eventually buckle. To install them, he laid three rows of boards, gluing each board to the next one. Then you let them dry for a while. Then you do three more rows of boards. And continue like that until you've finished. A damp cloth is also needed to wipe off any excess glue that has squeezed up between the boards. It's important to make sure this is cleaned regularly so that you are not wiping the excess glue all over the surface of the flooring. If it turns out that this has happened to some extent, then a glue cleaner can be purchased that will remove this dried excess glue. One of the things I wasn't sure about was whether the boards are also glued to the floor, but apparently they are not. This makes sense as the floor as a whole can expand with humidity hopefully without buckling.

As it turns out I ended up taking the other option. I liked the idea of not having to deal with glue and the tongue and groove system that was used on the floor boards I was purchasing, pulled the boards together tightly anyway. They worked by requiring one board to be lifted on one side before it could be slid into the next board, and then it was dropped back level to lock it in. I also wasn't using the boards in a kitchen or bathroom, so spillages were not really an issue.

I sincerely hope you enjoyed this article. Bamboo has headed up 6 household renovations over several years. Read more about Bamboo's building and do it yourself experiences, particularly in the area of bamboo hardwood laminate flooring.