Should you float or glue down your wood floor?

A common consideration from customers buying a new wood floor is whether to have the floor glued down, or have it floated over the subfloor. Sometimes, people are not sure of the difference when buying. So, should you float or glue down your wood flooring?

What does floating a wood floor mean?

Floating a real wood floor is an installation method usually done with flooring that is built with a click system or a traditional tongue and groove system. Either way, each board slots together like a jigsaw piece, and is laid over the subfloor without any glue, over some underlay. It’s that simple. Each plank goes down, clicking together, until the whole floor is complete. The weight of the flooring is what holds it in place.

Benefits of a floating floor

If you choose to float your new wood flooring, there are many benefits to this choice. Firstly, floating a wood floor is far easier and less time consuming to install the flooring. It can be done either by a professional fitter or as a DIY job, and is not hard to learn how to do. If you choose a fitter, this will be cheaper than having them glue it down for the same reasons, it takes them less time and resources to do it. As they would need to buy flooring adhesive to glue it down.

Floating floors are easier to conduct spot repairs on. This is because if a plank gets damaged, or you need to lift the planks up for whatever reason to get under the flooring, you can just take a few planks up and click them back together afterwards. This also makes renovation easier, so if you change the floor, taking the old flooring up does not take much time or any professional equipment.

When floating wood flooring, expansion gaps are left under the skirting boards for the wood to move naturally under fluctuating environmental conditions. This is because wood never stays still, when it gets hot or colder, or more humid or less, the wood will expand or contract as the environment changes. Without being held down by glue, engineered wood flooring can move naturally with the expansion gaps, reducing the risk of warping or buckling. 

Cons of floating a wood floor could be that it is more likely to creak or make noise underfoot, especially if the subfloor is unlevel or it has not been fitted properly. Proper fitting and underlay should largely reduce or erase this problem, but there is always a chance since it is not glued to the subfloor. 

Gluing down a wood floor

Gluing down a real wood floor is the process of using a flooring adhesive to glue the wood floorboards to the subfloor. The process can be done in different ways, and the result is largely the same. The boards are glued down tight to the subfloor. This removes the need for underlay, and helps prevent the natural movement of the wood under different environmental conditions. This is why it is better to glue down a solid wood floor, because solid wood moves around a lot more, and could potentially cause damage if it is floated and not fitted properly. 

The flooring adhesive also acts as a moisture barrier, removing the need for underlay.

Advantages of gluing down a wood floor

The main benefit of gluing down wood flooring is that it creates a more stable floor. There is less likely to be any creaking or noise underfoot as the flooring is securely bonded to the subfloor. This is good for areas with high foot fall, and also areas with heavy objects such as a kitchen. Though it is not generally advised to put wood flooring in a kitchen, if you do, then it would be better to glue it down. 

Using adhesive to glue down a wood floor comes with its drawbacks. One such drawback is that it is harder to take up. If one plank gets damaged, it is not an easy task to simply lift it up and replace it as you might with a floating floor, or if you want to renovate, then ripping up the whole floor will require a lot more time and specialist materials to ensure it is done right.

Summary

• Glue down floors are more stable and secure than floating floors

• Floating a wood floor is easier as a DIY task and costs less

• Floating floors are easier to repair and rip up for renovation

• You do not need underlay if you glue down a wood floor