Help - floating floor over concrete (subfloor, engineered, ceilings, furniture)

[Ninasimonejr]

Yikes. Our handyman installed an engineered-wood Mohawk floating floor over our uneven concrete floor with only minor leveling. It's not sheeting but strips. When we step on it we can feel every bump and dip in the concrete. It seems very flimsy and liable to pop under pressure.

He says there is nothing we can do because the ceiling is so low that we can't fit a subfloor. He thinks the molding and furniture will make the "movement" unnoticeable.

He's willing to do anything reasonable to fix the problem but he doesn't know what to do.

Can this be right? I've never walked on a floor that felt this awful. There has to be a better solution! But time and cost are important. What can we do?? Help!

[Narfcake]

When the floor is that uneven, you need to do a layer of self-leveling concrete first.

QUIKRETE® - Floor Resurfacer - Fast-Setting Self-Leveling

Essentially, the floor needs to come back out, level it, then reinstalled.

[Ninasimonejr]

Thanks, Narfcake!

I'm doing crash research on floating floors over concrete and two things come up: moisture barrier "Floating" wood floors over concrete and plywood subfloor How to Install Floating Bamboo Floors on Concrete | eHow.com.

Are those necessary? Is subfloor an alternative to leveling concrete or do you need both?

Also, the ehow article says 1/4" plywood for subfloor. Does that mean the total depth of the subfloor is only 1/4" - 1/2"? If that's the case, my handyman is totally misleading me - we can sacrifice 1/2" of height even with our low ceilings!

Thanks for any help!!!

ETA: We're not using bamboo, my floating/concrete search just pulled up that article.

[Albuquerque101]

We have a slab and our installers leveled the concrete first and then GLUED the engineered wood floor to it. I heard that floating floors over concrete doesn't work well.

[Narfcake]

Depending on how uneven the floor is, a sub-floor is an alternative. However, that still means you're going to have some pockets under the plywood without any support, so it might not completely eliminate that springy feeling on your floor.

Self-leveling is most probably the best solution. Then lay back the vapor barrier and flooring. Since everything is cut already, label them, so they can be reinstalled back in order.

[Ninasimonejr]

Thanks so much, and sorry, still a couple more q's.

How long after laying the Quikkrete can they put the floor back? I see it sets 3-4 hrs but is that enough time to wait?

Vapor barrier - what is best? I've read about a foam barrier. That sounds like it would help cushion the wood over the concrete. Is it a good kind of barrier?

[momule]

I have a floating wood floor(12 years old) over slab and have had no problems. No concrete leveling was done. There is some type of cushioning material is laid down on the slab.

[TempesT68]

Originally Posted by Albuquerque101

We have a slab and our installers leveled the concrete first and then GLUED the engineered wood floor to it. I heard that floating floors over concrete doesn't work well.

This is the right way to lay engineered wood floors.
For OP they are going to have to pull everything up, put down some self leveling concrete then glue the floors down to be done the right way.

[cl723]

I don`t think that gluing floors down is always the best way. Mine are floating and have never had any issues.

[Ninasimonejr]

Well, they've agreed to pull it up and do self-leveling concrete, and put an underlayment per the mfr's instructions. I'm going to hope that I'll end up agreeing with those who've had good experience with floating floors. We'll see! Thanks SO much for helping me through a scary moment.