Boards are hollow, not glued down properly

Q: I built a new home last July. We have had ongoing problems with our engineered hardwood floor. Two certified inspectors state that the floor was installed improperly. 3100 sq. ft. Every single room has boards that are hollow, not glued down properly. Will these eventually pop since they aren’t glued properly? The builder says he sees no problem. Sure.. he didn’t pay for the floors!

A: I think it would depend

in part on how many of these boards with no adhesion exist and especially so if there are several together in a group. I believe Bostik has an adhesive you can inject into the floor. A tiny hole is drilled through which an expanding adhesive is applied by a tiny tube. This would take care of any random boards that are hollow beneath. If you are talking dozens of them, that is another story.

1 thought on “Boards are hollow, not glued down properly”

  1. we have a master bathroom with bamboo flooring. the exterior of the 5″ wide panels is holding up well and looks great. unfortunately, the panels seem to be separating from the subfloor. there are sections that pop up. once stepped upon they return to their normal position and will stay that way for a time before popping back up. there are 4 sections that do this. this became more apparent and exaggerated in the recent heat wave so that now when stepped on and returned flat in one section, another section pops up in response. it appears that the panels don’t have enough space to lie flat (are squeezed from the perimeter).

    can you recommend a good way to get these panels secured back to the subfloor so they stay flat?

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