Engineered Hardwood Floor Question

[rickking22]

I recently installed a floating engineered hardwood floor in my living room (Bruce Lock and Seam) over a concrete slab with padding and vapor barrier under the floor. There are a couple of places where two adjacent planks are not level vertically. The tongue must have snapped out of the groove later on during installation. I have tried using a rubber mallet to beat the higher plank down level with the adjacent plank, but this hasn't worked. The problem areas are in the center of the room, and my base and shoe molding are already down, so taking the floor up to get to these areas and re-install would be very time consuming.

The problem areas also creek when stepped on. There is a little air space between the wood planks and the foam backing. I have 1/4 inch spacing around the perimeters for expansion and contraction. I don't think I have enough veneer thickness to sand it down and apply stain and polyurethane. I was wondering if anyone has any idea how I might fix this problem.

Thanks

[pushkins]

Unfortunately it sounds like that your in the "catch 22" situation with floating floors.
As your flooring is a floating floor and cannot be attached down to the sub floor this gives very little room for tolerances in sub floor undulations, especially in concrete.
I'm thinking what is happening in your situation is that somewhere near the problem area the concrete floor has a dip and a high point, this means that when you laid the floor and all tongues where fitted correctly then with use the one plank depressed into the low and the other didn't (sitting on the high point) this tore off the tongue. This would be supported by your comment about "air space".
The bad part is the only real way to fix this is to remove the planks, fill the low spot with floor leveler and replace the planks..........I know.....that's a whole lotta work !!!!!
Note: you need to be very careful trying the sand and re poly. engineered wood, especially as the finish almost always will not match.

[rickking22]

Thanks for the advice. Do you think it's possible to "cut" the engineered hardwood board pieces out, level up the substrate, then refit new pieces in, by cutting off the tongues and gluing them down? Or should I take up all the hardwood and redo?

[pushkins]

You cannot glue some planks and not others, this will allow an unnatural movement between glued and non glued planks as well as giving you a very poor seam, not to mention the padding and vapor barrier issues you will face.
I'm sorry to say but the removal of the planks leading up to the problem area and leveling of the floor and re laying of the planks is really the only way to fix the problem.

[walton02]

Hi,

This is an interesting perspective.

Oak Flooring is easy to clean and maintain irrespective of its color and is the perfect complement to a modern-day lifestyle as it can take the rough and tumble of the daily grind. You need not worry about careless guests or children, or playful and active pets because Oak Flooring is hardwearing and robust whilst being simple and easy to maintain.

Whereas the Engineered Oak can be fitted above underfloor heating when the correct installation guidelines are followed and the necessary levels of heat, humidity and moisture are maintained. Engineered Oak can be installed as wider boards without any ‘cupping’effect and without the need for face fixing.