How to Install Tongue & Groove Floor on Concrete
- 1). Spread your glue over the starting side of the floor using a notched trowel. Spread it so it covers the whole length of the room and comes out about 2 feet from the wall. Don't start the flooring on the side of the room that contains the doorway.
- 2). Lay the starting floorboard in the glue next to the wall, at one end of the floor. Set it with the grooved side facing the wall. Set shims between the floorboard and the wall so you have a space to allow the wood to move with weather changes.
- 3). Set the second board off the end of the first one, connecting them by the tongue & groove fittings at the ends. Repeat, setting the rest of the first course in the glue along the wall. Cut the last board so it fits against the end wall, using a miter saw.
- 4). Lay the second course next to the first, locking the boards together at the tongue & groove fittings on the sides. Cut the last board on a miter saw as needed.
- 5). Continue setting courses and working your way across the floor, spreading down more glue as needed. Stagger the boards so they don't line up at the ends. Continue until you run out of room to work by the ending wall. Leave the room without stepping on the newly laid floor boards.
- 6). Let the glue set overnight. Put in the final section of floor boards once you can stand on the previously laid section. Cut the boards for the final course along their lengths, on a table saw, so they fit next to the wall with a 3/8 inch gap. Floor trim will hide the gaps.
