Engineered & Prefinished Hardwood Floor Installation in Atlanta

Common Questions About Engineered Hardwood Installation

Is it better to glue or float an engineered wood floor?

Neither method is better for every floor: the manufacturer’s instructions set which methods your product allows, and the subfloor and its moisture readings decide which of those the site supports. Glue-down bonds each plank to the subfloor across its full area. Floating applies where the product is built for it, over an underlayment, and NWFA’s installation guidelines hold the subfloor to the same flatness as a glue-down: 3/16 inch in 10 feet or 1/8 inch in 6 feet, unless the flooring manufacturer specifies otherwise. Over concrete, NWFA calls for testing the slab either way; above 80% relative humidity, the installer waits for it to dry or installs a Class I vapor retarder, and under a glue-down NWFA has the adhesive manufacturer set the moisture limits and the moisture control. Our documented slab installations are glue-down: Chateau Elan in WAKOL MS 260 over two coats of WAKOL PU 280, which WAKOL rates to 98% relative humidity, and Atlantic Station in WAKOL MS 230 over an acoustic underlayment.

What type of subfloor is best for engineered hardwood floors?

Engineered hardwood can be installed over concrete or over a wood panel subfloor, and NWFA’s installation guidelines allow it on, above, or below grade, so the best subfloor is the one prepared to the flooring and adhesive manufacturers’ requirements. On concrete, NWFA calls for testing every slab; above 80% relative humidity, or 3 lbs per 1,000 square feet per 24 hours by calcium chloride, the installer waits for the slab to dry or installs a Class I vapor retarder per the adhesive manufacturer. On a wood subfloor, the panels have to meet the flooring and adhesive requirements, and for a glue-down they are held to 3/16 inch in 10 feet or 1/8 inch in 6 feet, unless the flooring manufacturer specifies otherwise; NWFA treats particleboard as unacceptable for a nail-down and normally not recommended for a glue-down. We test concrete with an RH in-slab probe to ASTM F2170 and wood subfloors with a moisture meter: at Chateau Elan the slab read 55 to 65 percent, and at Canton the plywood read 6.0 percent against the flooring’s 5.5.

Can I glue down engineered hardwood flooring directly on plywood?

Yes, where the flooring manufacturer allows glue-down over wood. NWFA’s installation guidelines call for the plywood to meet the flooring and adhesive manufacturers’ requirements, for the adhesive to be tested for compatibility with the panel, since some adhesives don’t bond to some high-performance OSB, and for a flatness of 3/16 inch in 10 feet or 1/8 inch in 6 feet; on a single-layer subfloor, the flooring runs perpendicular or diagonal to the joists. Fasteners can supplement the adhesive where the manufacturer allows it, a nail-assisted glue-down, and NWFA sets no nailing schedule for that method because the fasteners only supplement the bond. At Canton we primed the plywood with one coat of WAKOL PU 280 and installed 7-1/2-inch prefinished engineered white oak in full-spread Bona R851 with 1-1/2-inch cleats; on the upper level of the Savannah penthouses, the herringbone was glued to a 1/4-inch plywood overlay fastened over the existing subfloor.

What is the best adhesive for installing engineered hardwood floors?

The best adhesive is the one the flooring manufacturer approves for your product, matched to the subfloor and to any moisture retarder under it. NWFA’s installation guidelines require every wood flooring adhesive to be elastomeric, so the bond moves with the wood; over a retarder, the retarder and the adhesive must be compatible; and the trowel is the one the adhesive manufacturer specifies. Unless the adhesive manufacturer says otherwise, NWFA calls for more than 95 percent transfer on engineered flooring where the adhesive controls slab moisture, and at least 80 percent where it bonds only. Which product is a job decision: WAKOL MS 260 at Chateau Elan, WAKOL MS 230, a silane polymer, at Atlantic Station, MAPEI Ultrabond ECO 995, a moisture-curing urethane, on the Woodstock estate, and Bona R851 at Canton.

What thickness of engineered hardwood is best?

For how long the floor lasts, the thickness that matters most is the wear layer, the real wood above the core, because it sets how many times the floor can be sanded and refinished; the overall thickness is set by the product and by what the manufacturer approves for your subfloor and method. NWFA’s sanding guidelines generally advise against sanding below about 3/32 inch (2.4 mm), and engineered wear layers can sit shallower than the tongue, so a 4 mm wear layer leaves room for sanding. We verified 4 mm on a leftover box before refinishing a prefinished engineered basement floor on an Atlanta project, and the factory micro-bevels sanded fully out. A 2 mm wear layer, like the one on the Canton floor, sits below that line, so its maintenance route is recoating as the flooring manufacturer directs. On a Buckhead residence, the existing engineered floor had already been site-finished twice, with no wear layer left for a third cycle, and it was replaced.

How much does labor cost to install engineered hardwood?

At Classy Flooring ATL, engineered and prefinished installation starts at $4.00 per square foot for labor on projects of 1,000 square feet and up, so a 1,000-square-foot floor starts at $4,000 in installation labor; smaller projects, such as a single 12-by-12 room, are priced by the job. Material is purchased separately. Preparation is what carries a project above the starting figure, and each item is measured and itemized in the written estimate: removal of an existing floor starts at $4.00 per square foot; subfloor correction is priced according to the condition of the subfloor, $1.00 to $4.00 per square foot; self-leveling compound, where the floor needs it, is $110 per bag, material and labor included; and WAKOL PU 280 is $1.00 to $2.00 per square foot, one coat on plywood and two coats on concrete.

How long does it take to install 1000 sq ft of hardwood floor?

On a prepared subfloor, the installation itself takes days, and the preparation sets the rest of the schedule. On a 26th-floor condominium at Atlantic Station, about 800 square feet took about five working days, including slab grinding and a 72-hour cure between the acoustic underlayment and the floor. In Canton, a three-installer crew installed roughly 2,740 square feet across two levels in four days on site, with all of the plywood preparation and priming inside those four days. Where a slab calls for grinding, moisture mitigation, or self-leveling, that work gets scheduled and cured ahead of installation and carries its own line in the estimate.