Floor type : Hardwood glued to Concrete floor

Question:

Floor type : Hardwood glued to Concrete floor

Problem: The glue in certain places seems to have given up and hence the floor has become unglued and hence there is a hollow sound when you step on it. During warranty period the craftsman came by and drilled very small holes and injected glue and repaired some places. However I need to do the same now and need to know where I can find the equipment for such repair. Basically a fine drill for these pre-finished wood strips and a fine glue injector mechanism.

Any help appreciated. -BP

Answer:

Dear BP

There is such a repair kit called the Dri-Tac professional wood floor repair system. It is similar to what you refer to but this has larger drill bits (3/32″), as you are going to use a proven flexible rubber based adhesive. It is water based a will find it own level to fill the void. It is far more effective than the epoxy glues ( which don’t allow the floor to flex). You can contact Dri-Tac at www.dritac.com or call them directly in Brooklin, NY at 1-800-394-9310.

My favorite filler for small gaps and holes is the Le Pages brand at http://www.LePageproducts.com/ProductCatalog/detail.asp?catid=25x=56& plid=305x=687. Choose a color that is a tad darker than your floor, and make your holes if you can in the darker grained wood. Apply a drop of touch up finish ( which they provided with this expensive floor ? ) after the filler has dried overnight. Oh, be sure to wipe off the excess right away, with damp cloth, then a dry one. Else the filler will dry to a smear on the finished wood surface.

All the repairs done during the warranty period are supposed to begin the warranty period all over again. This is the standard rule for warranties. Your state may have some consumer laws on this subject. This is because this was the same or at least related problem as the warranty covered repairs. And may the manufacturer will have something to say about this. Good glues should last 30-50 years.

I will only use Dri-Tac 6200 adhesive with their 45 year “still tacky” track record with this stuff. A lot of contractors are using inferior glues recommended by the manufactures, and that’s why you may have a claim against a adhesive failure to the manufacturer. Then again if there were dips in the concrete the installer should have alerted you to this and remedied this, and not have installed the floor, until they were fixed.

If you found this information helpful, please explore the Wood Floor Doctor.com by visiting the rest of our website.

As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.