Parquet flooring problem

[Jim Mc Namara]

Here's the situation - I laid 32 sq. ft. of 12" x 12" parquet flooring tiles this weekend. Mfgr's instruction stated it needed to be glued (I used the appropriate glue and trowel). It also stated to leave a 1/4" gap around the walls which I did for expansion. Don't understand how it would expand if it was glued down - but I did it anyway. I laid this same floor in my master bedroom 4 weeks ago and no problems. It is tongue and grooved on all sides. I woke up this morning and have a ridge down the middle of the floor which buckled and raised almost an inch. I'm thinking the wood expanded alright . . . now how to deal with it. My first thought since I can stand on it and it lays down okay was to make an attempt to inject glue into the bottom somehow and weight it down. However, if it really is expansion, it will happen again somewhere else. What do you think? Take my circular saw set at a very low depth and make a relief and then glue back down? Need some suggestions from my experienced wreckers.

Thanks

Jums

[Bay Area Dave]

could you have used way too much glue, thereby introducing a ton of moisture to the wood? If it happened overnight, sounds like the most likely culprit.

also, did you acclimate the wood to your house before laying it?

dave

Jim Mc Namara wrote:

[Jim Mc Namara]

I was being very careful about the glue Dave since it was finished on one side and bare on the back. It's a possibility . . . . I let the tiles sit in the house in opened packages for 4 days prior to installation.

Jim

[Jim Mc Namara]

Yup - concrete and I primed it as per the recommendations. I'm thinking if I cut a kerf down the seam - I should be able to relieve the stress, take a syringe and drop a little adhesive down there and apply some weight to hold it flat. Like I said, I installed the same stuff in the master bedroom and no problems at all. This has me baffled. I'm going to wait on my info from anyone else who has some ideas. Thanks

Jim

[Bay Area Dave]

did you try their customer service number? Their tech support may have heard of your problem many times before...

dave

Jim Mc Namara wrote:

[Jim Mc Namara]

West coast number - goota wait another hour or so.

[Bruce Rowen]

Not exactly a fix for your problem but...

I had set down about 1200 feet of laminate flooring over slab and had one area where the slab was slightly low. The floor was springy there and noticeable when you stepped on it. Looking for an easy cure that did not involve cutting, I decided to drill a 1/4" hole through the flooring at the low spot. I then "injected" a tube of liquid nails into this hole and plugged the hole with a plug cut from an identical scrap piece of flooring. I weighted the surface with some bricks overnight and now it is flat and happy, the hole plug matches great!

It may be one way to consider gluing down your ridge without cutting but you may need a series of holes along the seam. I think if you cut a relief kerf the flooring will always have a gap or uneven ridge at the cut line since the tongue and groove are gone.

$0.02

-Bruce

[Jim Mc Namara]

I was considering drilling the holes and injecting the adhesive, Bruce rather than cutting the T & G out. I don't know if the missing grooves would make much of a difference since the glue would then hold it all in place, but making the cut could be tricky.

I finally got a call through to the manufacturer who recommended removing the tile and starting over to replace the tiles. This is in the middle of the floor! No way - going back to woodworking basics and it looks like the drill and inject method will be implemented (unless there are any other ideas floating around.)

Thanks

Jim

[Jim Mc Namara]

I appreciate your information, but now that all that has been said and done, do you have any recommendations for fixing what has already taken place?

Jim

[Jim Mc Namara]

The 1/4" is still there . . . each 12" square is glued in place. They won't move but it's buckling in the middle. The edges are flat as is most of the floor.

Jums

[Jim Mc Namara]

This is in my living room Leon. Dry - all the right conditions. I think I'm going to drill some small holes and fill with adhesive and apply overnight pressure to the areas. Yup - there are now 3 places. What a PIA! The bedroom never did this.

Jim

[Ernie Jurick]

...Take my circular saw set

The very thought of a circular saw blade encountering flooring advesive makes my skin crawl....

-- Ernie