wooden flooring installation - click or glue down?

dada44

hi there,

we are installing engineered wood, over an underfloor heating system, with a concrete base.

The room is about 25m2. A lot of the installers recommend gluing as it provides a tighter fit. However, I have seen new wooden floors that smell for a few weeks afterwards. I am very fussy about these things, so would I be wise in choosing a click system (that is completely floating and doensn't use any glue)?

We are also looking to do it as green as possible.. and it is my guess that glue is not particularly green. So avoid it where possible, goes my thinking (?)

We were thinking of going with the Kahrs range.

Any opinions or comments welcome.

thanks

HappyMJ

The engineered wood boards will have much more glue and other adhesives in it that what you'll need when installing it. It's made of chipboard and glue with a thin layer of real wood so never mind about the greenness of it. What's cheaper to install?

Just looked at price of the Kahr's flooring...It's rather expensive. I just installed flooring downstairs using a reasonable quality product (not Kahr's) for a total cost of £450 for 30 square metres.

phill99

dada44 wrote: »

We are also looking to do it as green as possible.. and it is my guess that glue is not particularly green. So avoid it where possible, goes my thinking (?)

In terms of being 'Green', the glue is the least of your worries. I'd be more concerned about where the timber for the floor has been sourced from, the energy used to process it, the carbon footprint of the transportation used to get it here, the waste management strategy of the companythat sold it to you, the environmental impact of the builders doing the wolrk in your house etc etc.

Saying that cutting out glue is you commitment to the environment is like saying that having a diet coke is your commitment to weight loss when ordering big mac and large fries at Macdonalds.

SailorSam

I have bamboo flooring that just clicked together. The thing that would put me off some of the cheaper laminates that need glueing down, what happens when you come to change it. You've got a big job ahead of you.
Anything we do; everything we buy; wherever we go, it all has an effect on the environment, so i wouldn't worry about glue if you make a different choice you'll probably do just as much damage

dada44

I was also thinking from a health perspective and offgassing. Glue is likely to offgass for a couple of days and can't be too good to inhale.

The wood we are thinking of is FSC certified - the click and the glue down version.

Hintza

We are putting ours down floating on a 2mm underlay ovr (wet) underfloor heating. The floor needs to be able to move with the changes in heat in the floor.

Personally I would buy as local as possible and have them fit it. If it goes wrong you can blame them. If you lay it it will all be your fault if it goes wrong