Adhesive Injection for Wood Flooring

Wood Flooring Problems

• If you have glued-down wood flooring, you may be able to use an adhesive injection kit to solve the problem. If your wood is heavily damaged, cracked or warped, an injection kit probably will not be able to help you. However, if you have a squeaking or popping board that is otherwise fine, the kit may be the least expensive repair method available. You can find the locations where the glue has failed under the floor by tapping on your boards and listening for a hollow or empty sound.

Injection Kit Choices

• There are two major kinds of injection repair kits. One is designed for engineered hardwood flooring: this is a type of flooring made from fiberboard layers with only a strip of hardwood on the surface and is usually glued down. The second type is designed for true solid hardwoods and bamboo flooring, but only the kinds that have been glued down instead of nailed or floated.

Applying Adhesive

• When you have the right kit, start by drilling small holes into your floor where you have located hollow sounds and glue problems (use a nail to create a small starter hole). Drill through the board, clean away the dust, then draw up your adhesive with the accompanying syringe. Inject the glue through the hole into the area beneath. Keep your weight off the boards and give the adhesive time to flow underneath the flooring.

Finish Work

• Keep rags handy to clean up any errant adhesive on the top of your boards. Now that the adhesive is injected and starting to dry, you are left with drill holes in your floor boards. Many injection kits come with small dowels that you can taper with a knife and then tap into the drill holes with a small hammer. These dowels are designed to obscure the drill holes, but a putty solution may also work.