How To Install Engineered Wood Floors On Concrete Slab

Installing a hardwood floor over a concrete slab.

How to install engineered wood floors on concrete slab.

Experienced professionals pay close attention to managing moisture and minimizing wood floor expansion and contraction when preparing to install hardwood floors on concrete slabs. Engineered wood flooring is a beautiful durable flooring product that offers a few different installation options. Your very first step before installing engineered hardwood floors over concrete is to let the boards acclimate to the room where they re going to be installed. Wood planks to the plywood.

Follow the flooring manufacturer s guidelines for best practices on securing nailing or stapling the engineered wood to the subfloor tighten using a mallet and wood tapping blocks. You can nail a plywood subfloor to the concrete with powder actuated fasteners but that method isn t recommended for floors with radiant heating elements. Another method is to install a floating plywood subfloor consisting of two layers of 3 8 1 2 or 5 8 inch plywood attached together with short fasteners that won t penetrate the concrete. It will extend up the wall for about 2 to 3 inches creating a bowl where your wood floor stays dry and protected.

Watch this video to see how easy it is. Follow these step by step instructions to prepare a wood subfloor. Before you can install floor tile there must be a viable subfloor that the tiles can adhere to. Next check the boards for warpage or defects and then remove any bad ones.

How to prepare a subfloor for terrazzo tile. Use these step by step instructions to install engineered hardwood floors in your home. Install the baseboard and trim products last. Wood floor over concrete details lay a plastic moisture barrier and then screw 3 4 in.

Before installing any wood floor over concrete you ll need a moisture barrier. Installing hardwood floors over concrete slab before you make any decision on flooring the first thing you need to do is contact an experienced professional. Plywood to the concrete. Typically it is sheets of plastic laid on the slab and taped at the seams with waterproof tape.

Even if your home was built on a concrete slab you can still enjoy the beauty and charm of hardwood floors. Check the manufacturer s recommendations but in most cases it s a minimum of three days with no maximum. While some products are designed for glue down application as is often used when installing flooring over a concrete slab this is typically a job for a contractor. Installing hardwood on concrete is not a do it yourself project.