Screw down engineered flooring?

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sixfour
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2019 11:59 am
Location: Beacon, NY, USA

Screw down engineered flooring?

Post by sixfour »

I was told I should avoid nailing down the engineered hardwood floors I'm installing in my studio. But I can't find any info anywhere on installing them with screws. No one seems to do this. It seems like more of a thing with solid wood floors. It seems that if installed properly with the right nails that creaking and vibration won't be a problem. FWIW it will be installed on top of plywood which is on top of a layer of foam board. And I think I'll be putting underlayment like this between the flooring and plywood: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Pergo-GOLD-100 ... 1000094785

Anyone have experience/advice with this?
Jag94
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:04 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Screw down engineered flooring?

Post by Jag94 »

I have never seen any hardwood, engineered hardwood, or laminate flooring be installed with screws. You either nail it, glue it, or simply "float" it. The creaking comes from an uneven subfloor. So before you lay down your new floors, go around and make sure your plywood subfloor is complete flat, level, and has no nails or screws protruding. Walk around the entire floor and see if it squeaks. If it does, put another nail or screw in that area to secure the plywood to the floor joists. Once you do that, then you can put your underlayment. Whatever underlayment you get, follow the manufacturers installation steps correctly. Then you can put your flooring down.

A lot of engineered hardwood has special tongue and grooves so you can "click" them into place. This allows you to install the flooring without needing nails or glue. But you need to make sure you leave the proper amount of space around the perimeter for the wood to breathe. It will expand and contract as the temperature and humidity in the room change. If you don't leave that space, the boards can buckle.. and you don't want that. Some people glue some of the boards near high traffic areas, like a doorway. But that's not always necessary. Just make sure the floors you get are thick. You want 10mm or greater in thickness.
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