Mystery Moisture in Slab Ruined Engineered Wood Floor. Now What?
averykc13
13 years ago
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Comments (11)We have engineered hardwood floors in our new home and everything bamamom said is exactly what we were told. We have a concrete slab, so had to go with the engineered. However, we did put it in our kitchen and half bath. Talking with the flooring people, we were told that as long as you wipe up any spills, they will be fine. I think overflowing plumbing will ruin any floor. We've been in the house 2 months and have had spills, drips and an accident or two by my old dog and the floors are in great shape. Also, as bamamom suggested, get the felt pads for furniture. They make a huge difference. Our floors are a medium brown and the installer told us that if we get a scratch, to rub in a dab of motor oil to hide them. I haven't done it yet, but am going to give it a try....See MoreEngineered wood failure
Comments (15)So here is how the problem was resolved. We had the entire side of the stone house excavated and a new footing drain installed BELOW the concrete slab. The foundation was re-mortared and sealed, insulated, rock and gravel above the slab level removed and replaced with packed dirt, which was graded to slope away from the house (and all plantings removed). Gutter added and connected to drains to carry all water far, far away. Then, $20k later, we addressed the floors. In the library we took up the engineered wood (which we donated through United Way to a non-profit) and installed porcelain tile over Ditra (an isolation membrane that should help with any moisture in the slab and also provide a tad of insulation to the tile floor). In the bedroom, we replaced the wood with nylon sisal-like carpeting after sealing the concrete slab with Ardex Rapid Moisture Control (which cost way, way more than the carpet). There was much anxiety and misery involved in removing the GLUE from the slab. You cannot use stripper or urethane because it compromises your slab for any future floor covering. It was arduous, trench warfare to scrape, scrape, scrape, and then expensive to grind the slab to prepare for anything. An alternative might have been to put plywood on top of it all and then a new floor, but changing the height of a floor is very problematic also. As for who is responsible. I think the general contractor and installer should have known better than to install engineered wood on a slab below grade where there was a history of moisture problems. Little hope of pursuing a claim, however. I just hope my experience is a lesson for others: think very, very carefully before doing a glue-down floor on your slab. Correcting your mistake (or simply changing your mind) later can be staggeringly expensive....See Moreengineered wood floors with hdf instead of plywood
Comments (11)Hi Car57, The HDF core can work...but it has limitations/drawbacks. Moisture is it's greatest enemy. The "resin" makes me scared. The waterproofing products are not "all that" because of their off-gassing concerns. Forsight is right - the HDF products should NOT BE installed slab on grade in areas where moisture in the slab is an issue. There must be some form of SERIOUS moisture mitigation going on for that type of installation. A cork floating floor is made up of HDF...which is why I know this. I've seen the "moisture resistant" cores and they are not much better than the high quality HDF coming out of Europe. The reason cork can be installed in a kitchen = it can be site finished with polyurethane. I'm assuming this engineered hardwood is NOT able to be site finished = no go in kitchens, entranceways, laundry rooms, bathrooms. The "resin" could be an issue. The HDF coming out of the USA and much of Southeast Asia are often filled with formaldehyde "resins" as binders. Anderson does NOT offer their MSDS on line, nor do they explain the thickness of the hardwood finish. The floors are 3/8" thick. this is quite THIN as engineered hardwood floors go. I would suspect that there is no way to refresh or refinish this floor. They offer a "wear through" warranty = aluminum oxide or ceramic bead finish. Either way there is no way to refinish this floor. The layer of hardwood is not very thick...which again means there is no way to refinish these floors. Maintenance states you can not use WATER to clean these floors!!! That just about says everything you need to know. Even leaving their cleaner on the floor for "too long" will damage the floor and void your warranty. Yikes. This floor CAN WORK - you need some serious vapour barrier on the slab AND you need to keep every drop of water off this floor AND it must stay AWAY from kitchens, bathrooms, entranceways and laundry rooms. The rest of the house is fine. I really don't like the "resin" idea. That screams out "chemical additives" to me. JMHO....See Morehard wood vs. prefinished hard wood vs. engineered wood
Comments (4)There are benefits to both... and cost is probably the biggest one for someone on a tight budget. When dealing with solid hardwood there is the added expense of hiring a seasoned sand and finish company. The limitations of solid hardwood make its installation much more tedious, especially when dealing with concrete slabs. Subfloors can be installed over concrete which can make it possible to install solid hardwood, but that often leads to problems with the height of the floors with respect to other features present that must be foreseen and addressed, as well as a significant extra cost. Generally i have found that the actual cost of solid flooring is comparable to a nice engineered floor (although some engineered flooring can get rediculous!) I am definitely biased because I am that experienced refinisher that I talked about above, but I always love to see someone go with the real thing. To me there is nothing quite like a custom 3/4 inch floor that has been well installed,finished, and maintained. Your talking a lifetime of top quality flooring! Now, that said, I do see the advantages of prefinished engineered hardwood flooring, and it is very "real" in the sense that it is wood on the top, and can be refinished a time or two. Plus the added ease of installation directly to the slab is an incredible advantage that engineered holds over solid. Another important factor is quality and durability of the finishes used. I hate to admit it, but site finishes just don't have the durability that factory finishes do. Don't forget though that adhesives and moisture barriers add expense that are not necessarily associated with solid floor installations. All in all I would always prefer a solid floor to an engineered one if possible. One is a Rolls Royce, the other is a top of the line Mercedes! Both are expensive... but awesome if done correctly....See MoreKhar Samson
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