I've never seen anyone work with it until today. The installer brought up a good point when I said .... "You're going to get (the hardwood) back to the control line aren't you?"

His reply went along the lines of getting complete coverage considering it's also a moisture "inhibitor" as Taylor calls it. Back in the day when I did a lot of glue downs it was spread up to about 1/4" from the line. Am I making any sense? How do you handle the Taylor? SP?

It was a different experience...

We spread it as far as our arm will reach. Lay the flooring and gogogogogo. Make sure your starter row is square and wedged against the wall and go to town.

He's doing it right, I don't go as far out past the end of the plank as he does but you want to make sure there is no concrete left uncovered along the control line. The control line is just really a glue line. I work by myself so I don't go crazy with the glue.
I'm more a Bostik Ultra set single step guy, or Sika bond T-21.

Okay. I just wasn't sure what it would be like the next day. The job was actually stopped because of product problems. I think they should have squashed the left over trowel ridges before it set up. Might be a bugger to clean out when they restart the job?

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the tongue facing out. I've never started a glue down that way. Makes it harder for a tighter fit too.

Cotton: That's a pet peeve of mine. Looks sloppy in my opinion, unless I'm reading it wrong. Nice lump of adhesive with the trowel stuck in it when you need to continue? Any control lines?

Ok, now I dont have any idea what youre talking about. If you mean wipe up the extra glue when you leave the site, yes I do that. The plus does peel away quite easily off concrete so its not a big deal if you dont. I always run tongue out so I can tap the boards if I need too.

Yeah what cottonwood said. I run a scrap along the tongue to get all the adhesive out. I also run tongue out for tapping.

Guess I'm old school eh? Taught and learned in a different time.

Of course I never used a tapping block. It's all pushing in with feet. More leverage really, less kneeling and basically easier. I have a pic somewhere. I just straddled the glue line dropped a board mm from the adjacent board, pushed 'er in. Easy peasy...tight too. Engages easier tongue into groove. No glue scooping either.

I don't think I've seen any specs with tongue out...maybe SP has?

And look. Spanking white sneakers, no glue mess.

No knee pads either, I guess you don't get on down there or trowel standing up? lol

Technically sliding tongue to groove or groove to tongue, either way you can have "scooping" Like that term, better add it to the wood digest.

On wider planks I also use ratchet clamps to pull in the planks, especially if its milled tight or bowed. Also I drop the end tongue in the opposing planks groove first, this allows me to easily engage the rest of the plank.

Not sure about who specs what leading edge to go by, I just start with the groove against the wall so I don't have to rip the tongue off, unless the walls crooked and have to scribe it or have to start with a ripped cut due to room dimensions.
Besides thats the way you nail floors down anyway, tongue out so it just seems normal.

Is that unfinished engineered?

Yes, unfinished. Owens.

Came across another one of those fancy adhesives on a job the other day. In this one the installer is leaving the slab in certain areas without that moisture protection. It more of the way I did it in the past shown above before these types became available. IE: spread to about 1/4 inch away from the chalk line.

But here we're looking at more than 1/4 inch. Full coverage over the line makes sense to me but I can't find any specs on it with Taylor. You have a link SP?

This adhesive spec clearly says spread past the chalk line. And I know you're going to ask. What hardwood is it? 10" ultra pricey French white oak with a natural oil finish. Darned thing is 13/16" thick. 4 to 10 foot lengths.

http://www.royaladhesives.com/Files/Par ... 092014.pdf

That's gonna be a problem there. Moisture vapor will wick up between the planks in those bare spots. You'll see raised joints which will look like cupping. Stop that dude!

If there is a moisture problem, right?

I think it's a bit late for this. He's probably installed about 50,000 square feet of the same product the last two years. I was actually hoping he could fit in with some video. I have a hard time trying to politely tell people they're doing things wrong. I've scared off many, but I'm not putting anything on film that shows wrong methods. I couldn't get any good installation film in Detroit because the guys were nailing three inch planks 16 inches apart. I mentioned it, they understood, but two minutes later back to the same old habits.

Here's another pic, same job. And with the above pic, look closely at the second to the last row. Regardless whether or not it's a McMansion, I can't show this kind of stuff.

It can take awhile for any visible damage to be seen. Hopefully for him those slabs are really really dry and stay that way. I've seen worst case having actual condensation droplets under the swollen joints, mold growth, discoloration of the wood etc. Fifty thousand sqft - thats a lot of potential risk.
Installers will usually call it a site condition where they claim not to be liable because it looks like cupping. Then the only an inspector would be able to call the issue by destructive site examination.