$1,000 of wood floor RUINED! Bad Times: Please Read
The past few days have been extremely stressful for us. Here is the story:
I arrived on site yesterday morning to find that our beautiful floors had a cupped shape on each board. This was highly noticeable when you look at the glare of the sun on the floors. The glare isn’t smooth or glassy, instead it looks jagged and similar to an ocean ripple. In the previous post I was talking about how the installers were complaining the glue they were using was setting up too fast and very difficult to work with. Because of this, they returned all of the Urethane based glue and exchanged it for (a much cheaper) acrylic urethane latex adhesive, A.K.A. :: WATER BASED GLUE THAT DESTROYS A WOOD FLOOR UPON APPLICATION!
The floor guys told me that they used this “new” glue a million times on floors in the past and they all turned out beautiful. The geniuses failed to mention that they used the glue on engineered and laminate floors and not solid wood floors. The result of their actions is approximately $1,000 of beautiful wood floor ruined due to excessive moisture absorption!
Trusting the floor installers, I never researched the new glue and I never looked twice at the glue cans they brought on site and were using. … BIG MISTAKE! If I had looked a little closer at the glue cans, they are marked clearly on the face of the label “FOR USE ON ENGINEERED FLOORS ONLY” “DO NOT USE ON SOLID WOOD OR BAMBOO FLOORS” This raises so many questions: Did they do this to save big bucks on the glue cost and pocket the difference hoping that we wouldn’t notice? Did they forget to read the label on the front of the cans? Did they wake up that morning and forget their brains at home?
We are now faced with a more delays in completion and our floor is on back order and will take 2 full weeks to have delivered. Tomorrow is a big on site meeting to determine the best action to take on the removal of our newly purchased firewood!
A LITTLE EDUCATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE PLANNING TO HAVE A WOOD FLOOR INSTALLED: Please Read
Our floor installers laid the first 7 rows of wood floor down with the correct urethane adhesive. This floor still remains perfect and not cupped or damaged. The newly laid floor that the installers laid down with the incorrect acrylic urethane latex glue cupped approximately 8 hours after install.
The reason for instant cupping: Solid wood floor and bamboo flooring is not man made and is a natural wood product. This makes it extremely vulnerable to water damage. The garbage water based glue (Roberts 1407) has way too much moisture content to be used with solid wood and the water used to make the glue is instantly transferred to the new floor and the result is expansion of the edges. This results in wood floor cupping.
The moisture cure urethane adhesive (Roberts 1408) originally used has no water in the adhesive. In fact, it acts as a protection to the solid wood floor by detecting moisture (in the concrete slab) and instantly curing to lock the moisture out. This acts as a moisture barrier.
Summary:
When laying a SOLID WOOD FLOOR: Use a moisture cure urethane adhesive. Roberts 1408
When laying an ENGINEERED WOOD FLOOR: Use a moisture cure urethane adhesive. Roberts 1408
What to do with acrylic urethane latex adhesive (Roberts 1407): Shove it up the salesman’s ass at your local home improvement store if he recommends it to you for your floor. I care about the environment so I wouldn’t even recommend it as a boat anchor!
Solid wood floor cupped due to incorrect adhesive application
Solid wood floor cupped due to incorrect adhesive application
Solid wood floor cupped due to incorrect adhesive application
Solid wood floor cupped due to incorrect adhesive application
Solid wood floor cupped due to incorrect adhesive application
Solid wood floor cupped due to incorrect adhesive application
1407 Roberts Acrylic Urethane Latex WATER BASED adhesive
1408 Roberts Solid Wood Floor Adhesive URETHANE
Wood floor cupping and crowning
priscilla
oh my gosh, that sucks. i wonder if your installers have only ever done laminate and engineered?
casacullen
i’m so, so sorry that this happened to y’all! oh my gosh, horrible and made me really sad
i’m sad that we will all learn from this and that yall had to learn the hard way! hang in there…the house is looking GREAT indeed! you are awesome to build…we just bought pre-owned and are loving doing small projects! you will enjoy NOT having to do too much of that 
cheers
Brian N
I had the same exact thing happen to me. 400 sq ft
installed Thursday. Now it’s Saturday and the cupping has calmed down a lot, but not enough to be acceptable. DID YOUR FLOOR EVENTUALLY EVEN OUT?
Brian N
I had the same exact thing happen to me. 400 sq ft
installed Thursday. Now it’s Saturday and the cupping has calmed down a lot, but not enough to be acceptable. DID YOUR FLOOR EVENTUALLY EVEN OUT?
Did you sue the installer to replace?
Brian
shower cubicles
How long do you spend a day coming up with stuff like this?
Scott
Water-based acrylic adhesives are a good choice for engineered flooring if used correctly. I agree maybe not for most solid woods but don’t ignore them for engineered.
San
More than 800 sq.ft of engineered hardwood was ruined as the installed used roberts 1407 glue; the glue did not adhere to concrete properly; the glue container (plastic) say’s it can be used for engineered hardwood;there was no moisture in concrete. Got inspection done by a National wood board etc etc pro. but the installer is blaming glue and the product; I don’t want to sue anyone;; we are in a big mess due to this issue..will never go for a renovation project..want my share of peace of mind
danijel
I’m about to install a pre-finished bamboo solid wood using a “toung and grove” (aka floating) installation with a soundmuffler installed over the cement for mosture and sound insulation. I am planning to apply glue only in the grove and toung-as it is a floating installation and my question is whether 1408 is designed for wood to wood adhesion? I’m glad I read this regarding 1407 type -since I have that one too (I got it just because it is in a smaller bottle that can be squitred off easy-versus a bucket-but now that I read this thread, I’m not going to experiment with 1407. Thanks for you suggestions
danijel
I just talked to Robert’s Manufacturing and they did not recommened using 1408 for the wood to wood- toung and grove instalation (floating) and now I’m confused what product I need for gluing sides of the planks? Their suggestion is to check with the “bamboo wood manufacturer” and wood specialist also say “check with the glue manufacture” Help!