I had my 45 year old engineered hardwood parquet floor removed because of a flood. Because there was asbestos in the mastic, the installers spread 2 thin layers of cement (or maybe it was concrete) over the mastic to "seal in" the asbestos. (Note, my house is on a concrete slab). They then laid a Mirage engineered hardwood plank flooring down using polyurethane glue. It's only been 5 months, and the floor is coming unglued everywhere. On removal of one of the planks, all the glue, cement, and a little of the old mastic was stuck to the plank. All that was left on the concrete slab was the original mastic.

Any ideas? They're hinting at moisture in my slab....but the parquet stuck for 45 years with no problem...
Anne

Did your parquet have a flood too? Any wood floor is going to buckle in a flood cept maybe some well nailed in 2 1/4 solid.

Its a typical installation technique where one uses Ardex skim coat to encapsulate the old adhesive and glue on top of that. Usung just a regular patch wont work. But that said it's only supposed to be done over "residue". Some installers just go right over thick layers of it. Your supposed wet scrape it down to the concrete. Thats residue.

Now there are some adhesive manufacturers that sell glue that bonds to black cutback adhesive and some have primers for it.

The parquet didn't buckle after the flood at all. It stayed firmly glued to the slab. When they removed it, they did "wet scrape" the mastic, but some mastic clearly remained. The concrete skim coat they applied over the mastic, the glue and the flooring subsequently separated from the mastic, leaving a buckled flooring mess....

Anne

You could call out the rep for the concrete patch company or ardex rep to see if it was properly applied.
I have a motto; If in doubt - isolate. In this case meaning float the floor or spend lots of money grinding off all the adhesive residue.

I never have trusted in any coating over cutback adhesive, even ardex.

Stephen,
So what can I do?? The flooring will have to be removed, as it has lifted so much that you can put your hand between it and the slab. They can't grind off the mastic, since it has asbestos. Now what do I do??
Anne

Your going to have to float the next engineered floor using a good vapor retarder/cushion like sound solutions w/vapor block and I'd also use six mil plastic under it. You can float darn near any engineered using tongue and groove adhesive.

Generally, when there is asbestos, we would float the floor. It's the safest and most reliable method. Generally, we would encapsulate the asbestos (or adhesive) with at least 1/2" self leveling mix (not 2 thin skim coats).

It sounds like the skim coats did not adhere (not a big surprise) and since there isn't a solid foundation, the adhesive for the wood did not properly adhere.

Unfortunately, you may need to start again and as others have mentioned, do a floating floor - either one that is clickable of else glue the joints.

Sorry that this has happened to you.

Debbie Gartner aka The Flooring Girl
Owner of Floor Coverings International
Westchester County, NY
914-937-2950
http://TheFlooringGirl.com

knowing there was a floor, did the contractor/installers check the Moisture content of the slab to see that is was ready for the installation of underlayment and new flooring?

how long did levelers dry before next coat than floor install?

these are important to know...the slab may not have been ready for anything,,it needed time to dry out,,sounds like they just added fuel to the fire to me...trapped moisture,,introduced more with leveler compound,,then it finally made its way through.

thats is an installer issue if this is the case.

without a moisture issue, gravity would do its job..

there a weak bond from levelet to mastic,,,then when floor glued and moisture start seeping through,,the floor pulled up..since floor was bonded well, but ardex or whatever wasn't, it ripped it right from the slab