Hand scraped hardwood floors are the rage in many parts of the states now. How are they installed? Can I put them on concrete? The questions go on.
Earlier this week I visited a job site in Pelican Bay, Naples where we were installing the Greenwood Hand Scraped Hickory Pecan engineered plank by the glue together method. In the earlier days of floating floors all were installed by the glue together method. Only in the last five years have the click together systems become popular, but very few exist in hand scraped fashion today.
The product shown is an engineered floor and not solid throughout. The sub floor is concrete making it ideal for an engineered floor that is floated over a cushioned underlayment and moisture barrier. Solid products can be used, however common methods doing so call for a 3/4" plywood sub floor to be added on the concrete. More information on plywood and hardwood on concrete method..
The job is being handled by Bayside Flooring a local family run business of brothers. Like other glued floating floors, adhesive is applied to the groove portion of each plank on the end and sides, then tapped into place as shown below. An installation review on this Greenwood product was high. Mostly longer lengths that enable a more appealing look instead of other prefinished hand scraped floors that are only 12-42 inches in length. The Greenwood product ranges 24 inches up to 72"
A note about glued versus click type hardwood floating floors. Some may claim the newer versions are easier to install, but my experience has proven some click type floors are not as easy as they are made out to be. Naturally it will depend on the product manufacturer quality and sometimes the actual thickness of the product. For example, the Bruce Coastal Woodlands (soon to be discontinued) 3/8" thick version is a breeze to install compared to the thicker 1/2" product.
Most click style floors do not click like snapping an ink cartridge into a printer. Often the tap together (sometimes bang) method is needed regardless. We discovered this with our brief story on the Quick Step Laminate. It may have had something to do with the actual product line because I recall Quick Step as being a very simple product to install in the past.
A much simpler method of installing floating floors is now hitting the market. Currently the most recognised name is the lock and fold by Bruce. Other manufacturers are offering their own versions, but I find it difficult to keep up with all the new introductions and product lines. It's a darned frenzy out there. Every rep has their own great selling, ground breaking product that's going to change the world or so they almost claim.
Added: December 15, 2007 - Final pictures of this installation
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