Hi,

I have had 5/8X2 1/4 Natural Maple, solid hardwood, installed in my 2nd floor condo. The floor is concrete, the underlayment is glued 7mm cork.

The only problem is, the floor is stated by the manufacturer to install the floors, when floating, using a clip system with glue on the top half of the tongue. Standar tongue and groove.

The installer said that he had over 15 years of experience and never used clips before. So instead he glued the togue together minus the clips.

Even more ironic, I searched all day long to find the clip system nightmare stories and found nothing.

Eventually I found the manufacturers website and the directions say to use the clip system but gives no warnings if clips aren't used.

My only guess from my research, is that solid boards wider than 4 inches can be floated without clips, nut the solution for narrower boards need clips.

Any help would be great.

What is the worst case scenario of having hardwood floated without clips?

Please give any and all advice.

Thanks!

Junkers is the only solid wood, clip system I know of. You better use the clips, if it is a Junkers solid wood. Don't ever just glue the T&G of a solid!!!! It will come all apart eventually, as it is not stable enough to do that type if installation with.

Why is it okay to glue other types of floating wood in that fashion?

solid will contract and expand more putting stress the joints which could lead to problems down the road.

Well then I guess I will be the Guinea Pig on this one.

The floors are already laid... my options are next to nothing I guess.

The tongues are already glued together...

I hate mistakes.

I will keep you guys informed on the separation and/or the warping.

It is all on the 2nd floor however... I wonder if that will reduce the moisture?

Keeping the temp and r/h as constant as possible will reduce the seasonal movement thus minimizing your risks. If you run your heat all winter and dry that floor down to popcorn then it will come apart and once it comes apart it will start to loosen up.

MAPLE... Do I need to say more??? YIKES

Me thinks Floorguy has it exactly correct.

Yikes, this floor WILL fail............ just don't know the exact date..

So if they do come loose... which I wonder how due to the limited gap around the walls... I guess they may just pop up instead?

Anyway, what would be the suggestion to repair the wood as it comes loose?

Could I pop up the loose piece, istall the clips, clean the glue out, re-glue and pop it back in place? As needed?

If I'm not mistaken, if you glue the floor T&G, the clips won't be able to allow the flooring, to do what the clips are designe to let it do.

Junkers doen't have just one clip. They have different clips, for different regions, and average humidity levels of that region.

Here is the wholeseller instuctions.

http://www.noblehousefloors.com/pdfs/Cl ... ant%20Heat%

They are from Noble House

http://www.noblehousefloors.com/

According to the website instructions, to float a solid wood floor, one is supposed to use the metal clips. To float an engineered floor, glue may be used in the T&G. Nowhere did it say to glue the T&G's of solids together to float. Your installer screwed up bigtime. You will see what happens over time. Planks will separate as the glue fails.

Most of the time, the glue actually holds, but the wood splits /pulls apart right at the thin groove cut. Top of the groove.

Selva Lee had some pictures of that very thing, over at a sister site.

Step #7: Apply a 1/8” bead of NobleHouse T&G adhesive to the top of the tongue on all end joints. Fully glue side and end tongues on all pieces 18” or less throughout the installation.

for

The NobleHouse Clip System:
• SoundBuff Plus underlayment
• NobleHouse Hardwood Flooring (solid products 5/8” or thicker)
• NobleHouse Installation clips (estimate 3.75 clips per sq. ft. )
• “Overlap” moldings made for floating floor systems
• NobleHouse *AW Concrete Sealer - for all cementitious subfloors
• NobleHouse T&G Joint Adhesive (estimate 1 pint per 500 sq. ft.)


Glue IS used for the solid wood T&G.

Only problem, and it's a major problem, the clips weren't used.

The installer has a 1 year installation warranty, will it fail with in a year?

Worst Case Scenario.

How would I repair the wood if it were to come apart?