Living Room Remodel - Installing Hardwood, Day 1

The living room is shaping up. Following a delightful evening of scraping the concrete slab, we began to install the new wood floor. This solid-wood floor is a distressed, hand-scraped, stranded bamboo plank, tough as nails. The salesman actually beat on a piece with the butt end of his utility knife and didn't even mark it. "Kid proof!" (Kid resistant?) Sold! We brought home 6 cases of it for the 160 sq. ft. space.
We've had the flooring sitting in the house for the requisite 72 hours to acclimate while we prepped and painted the room. The options to install this particular material is either nailing or gluing; no floating application is allowed, for some reason. Since we're on a concrete slab, gluing it was our only choice. We chose the premium grade adhesive which would act as a vapor barrier and offer sound deadening. I'd seen some concern about bamboo online, but we bought the solid (stranded) type, and moisture really isn't an issue here in the warm, dry Sonoran desert.
Initial layout for fit
Laser line for the first 4 rows
The sticky, icky adhesive going down.
Laying the planks.
John @ AZ DIY Guy
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 3 comments
  • Edward Cogan Edward Cogan on Mar 09, 2014
    Hi John - nice work. I wonder why the manufacturer recommended against just floating the floor? I am in the northeast, and would like to add hardwood floor over a concrete slab family room. I am told that I can't use solid hardwood, but instead engineer wood. Any thoughts?
  • Kathleen Reynolds Kathleen Reynolds on May 15, 2014
    Moisture can pose problems when using hardwood over a concrete slab. Engineered hardwood doesn't require the extensive work to create vapor barriers and slab prep.
    • John @ AZ DIY Guy John @ AZ DIY Guy on May 17, 2014
      @Kathleen Reynolds I've heard that, that's why I used the adhesive that doubles as a moisture barrier. "Luckily" moisture is generally not an issue, here in the arid, desert southwest :)
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