Basically, there are three methods commonly used to install wood floors—nail-down, glue-down, and floating. This article explores the benefits and trade-offs of each method, examining when each strategy is most suitable for the task at hand.

Nail-down

Nailing down wood floors is the most common installation method. The process involves nailing or stapling the wood flooring material directly to a wood subfloor. Typically, it is installed by blind-nailing the material through the tongue of the floorboards into the wooden subfloor. This way, the nails are not visible after the flooring is installed.

In most cases, as the material fills the room, it will be necessary to face-nail the last few boards as the nail gun or staple gun cannot reach the tongue on the last few rows of flooring material. This installation method works for both solid and engineered wood flooring material, but only on wood subfloors.

Glue-down

1. The glue-down installation method involves using adhesive to adhere the flooring material directly to the subfloor, or to a moisture barrier installed directly on the subfloor.

There are two types of wood flooring adhesives available on the market today—moisture-curing urethane and synthetic polymer adhesives. Since each one has different application and performance characteristics, one should research to find the product that will best fit the installation. Some considerations that will have an impact on which adhesive one ultimately chooses for the installation include:

• ease of product use;
• product performance span; and
• any volatile organic compound (VOC) regulations that prevail in the area where the installation will take place.