I have been a pro installer, lumber processor and finishing specialist for quite sometime now, 21 years to be exact and I have some interesting things to share.
Wood planks and parquet to this day are not properly dried as per industry standards. Processors and suppliers just rely on the traditional Air Drying and most often install them half dried. Worst part about this is they are expected to bond to the concrete surface and hold well using PVAC based glue. We have observed lately a reduction in quality more particularly in the bonding strength and curing properties of well known Glue brands. Add to this the issue of poor topping preparation and poor quality concrete mix. We have also observed the rapid deterioration of wooden floor joists that are normally in contact with cement. This problem is based on several factors mainly the type of wood used as floor joist and it's reaction to the Alkali emissions that occur during the cement curing process. A lot of contractors had issues with Yakal, Guijo and lately Mahogany wood w/c became common joist material after the Vacuum treated Apitong disappeared in the 90's. The quality of imported cement that has dominated the market didn't help either, contributing to rapid wood rot. If the joists and glue fail or weaken, the wood will be able to move or flex their tissue or worst shrink thus those ugly warped boards or loose wood parquet tiles.
Nowadays we use Substrates like the Americans do but our choice of material is FIBERCEMENT BOARD. With special fasteners we install these substrate directly on the concrete but we apply a special elastomeric based sealer on the concrete first to control if not eliminate moisture emission. We use 18mm thick Ficemboard and a special type of PVAC adhesive that is twice the bonding strength of your commercial known brand. We own this formula and this glue does not revert even when it gets in contact with water, say flooding or leaks. Sad part is we don't sell the glue yet as we have to pass the 10-year test of product warrants. We are however 2 years away from that reality.:)
Great information sir Willyfernando. Hopefully the problem won't happen in my ground floor wood flooring. The yakal wood are reclaimed so they must have been super dried. Hmm the akle in second floor were air dried... Fingers crossed. From experience po when problems start to show up from the day the planks were installed? I will provide feedback if ever problems arise.
I still have 3 rooms that needs wood planks installation. One in the ground floor and I like the idea of ficem board. My plan actually is to put acrybond to control moisture then PE foam and finally ipil t&g wood planks. I may invest on ficem board. Sir Willyfernando any recommendation po for an adhesive that I can use while your adhesive is still not for sale?
Posted via PHM Mobile
Re: What the best wood parquet finishing
You can still use popularly known brands but test them well. Buy a small bottle and apply on to wood test material. Wait till it dries for 5 days then see if it doesn't revert to it's soft form when submerged into water for 2-4 hours. If it stays cured then it would be safe to assume that the glue has cured properly and that the wood has bonded well w/c indicates that movement can be minimized or controlled. Test to break apart a parquet tile on a substrate that has been glued for more than 10 days and gauge how much effort or pressure had to be applied to split them. It is easy to determine if the bonding strength is weak if after the length of drying time the parquet tile still came off easily. Check also if there are wet glue remnants despite the drying time. This would indicate that the formula is adulterated with extenders w/c almost always contribute to adhesive failure. This is why we formulated our own glue as we feel we could not attach our warranty on our service contracts with inferior quality adhesives.
You can still use popularly known brands but test them well. Buy a small bottle and apply on to wood test material. Wait till it dries for 5 days then see if it doesn't revert to it's soft form when submerged into water for 2-4 hours. If it stays cured then it would be safe to assume that the glue has cured properly and that the wood has bonded well w/c indicates that movement can be minimized or controlled. Test to break apart a parquet tile on a substrate that has been glued for more than 10 days and gauge how much effort or pressure had to be applied to split them. It is easy to determine if the bonding strength is weak if after the length of drying time the parquet tile still came off easily. Check also if there are wet glue remnants despite the drying time. This would indicate that the formula is adulterated with extenders w/c almost always contribute to adhesive failure. This is why we formulated our own glue as we feel we could not attach our warranty on our service contracts with inferior quality adhesives.
Thanks sir.
Posted via PHM Mobile
