The full-surface gluing of parquet forms the basis for a stable and durable floor, because the fixed connection with the subfloor provides significant advantages.

However, gluing hardwood flooring involves considerable effort. What is important when gluing parquet and which parquet adhesive is the right one, you will learn in this article.

Parquet adhesive recommendations from this article:

What are the advantages of sticking parquet?

In recent years, the parquet floor seems to have lost some of its importance.

Because many house and apartment owners prefer the floating installation of modern pre-finished parquet, which is faster and less complicated and also usually more cost-effective.

However, if you want to benefit from the advantages of a high-quality and stable floor in the long term, you should still stick the parquet.

Because the gluing of parquet has some decisive advantages:

Due to the fixed connection, parquet adheres firmly to the subfloor for decades, which also makes it easier to sand down and renovate more than once.

Furthermore, glued parquet is also quieter:

impact sound and other noises when using the floor are transmitted less.

Another decisive advantage over floating installation is particularly relevant for parquet on underfloor heating systems:

the gluing process does not create air cushions between the parquet and the subfloor, which improves the thermal conductivity It should be noted, however, that glued parquet cannot be removed so easily if the floor is to be replaced at some point.

What parquet adhesives are there?

The right parquet adhesive is of course decisive for an optimum result when laying glued parquet.

Not every glue is equally suitable for every type of parquet. When purchasing the parquet adhesive, therefore, it is first and foremost important to ensure that the product is matched to both the substrate and the parquet floor to be used.

Manufacturer’s instructions and installation instructions provide important information about this and should therefore be closely monitored.

Due to the continuous development of the adhesive industry, parquet adhesives have improved in recent years.

Most of the products available in specialist shops have not only become more user-friendly in handling and higher quality in terms of adhesion, but also pass the eco-test.

While until a few years ago the proportion of solvents and other controversial ingredients in many parquet adhesives was still very high, there are now a number of ecological products that are equally harmless to humans and the environment.

Well-known manufacturers of parquet adhesives, who are also test winners in various independent product comparisons, are, for example:

• Retol
• Ponal
• Brücol
• Wakol
• Sika
• Stauf
• Haro
• Uzin
• Ardex
• Schönox
• Bona
• Bostik
• Thomsit
• u. from above

In general, a distinction can be made between the following parquet adhesives Be:

Silane-based adhesives

The most modern type of parquet adhesives are hybrid adhesives made of MS polymer (modified silane). They are free of solvents, water and isocyanate and are also weather and UV resistant.

This is why they are becoming more and more important and are increasingly replacing solvent adhesives, which are now banned. Silane parquet adhesives are distinguished above all by the fact that they remain permanently elastic after curing and offer the parquet a corresponding scope for swelling and shrinkage. This is why MS parquet adhesives are also universally applicable and suitable for gluing almost all parquet types as well as for use on underfloor heating systems.

Reaction resin adhesives

Reaction resin adhesives also belong to the universally applicable parquet adhesives. These are available both as 1-component PUR adhesives and as 2-component PUR adhesives. While 1-component parquet adhesives remain elastic after curing and are therefore also suitable for bonding stress-bearing parquet, 2-component PUR adhesives cure inelastically and are therefore mainly recommended for shear-resistant parquet laying.

Dispersion adhesives

Dispersion parquet adhesives are also still widely used – especially for the shear-resistant bonding of solid parquet, as they do not give the floor any more room to move after curing. They are mainly water-based and use little or no solvents. However, dispersion adhesives are not quite so easy to use. When laying the parquet, for example, a certain time window must be observed in which the adhesive shows its optimum adhesive properties. It should also be noted that the water content in the adhesive may possibly lead to increased swelling of the parquet.

Powder adhesives

These parquet adhesives consisting of plastic powder or plaster or cement as well as various fillers are also solvent-free adhesives. The powder to be mixed with water is suitable for the laying of low-stress parquet types such as mosaic or multi-layer finished parquet.

Parquet glue with solvents

In addition to the above-mentioned modern parquet adhesives without solvents, there are also some solvent-based products on the market. However, these should – if at all – only be used in individual exceptional cases. In principle, the use of such parquet adhesives is not recommended.

Beware of old parquet adhesives!

Particular care should be taken with older parquet, as the parquet adhesives used at the time may contain harmful ingredients.

Until the 1970s, for example, black parquet adhesive made of coal tar was frequently used , which can contain demonstrably carcinogenic substances such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Parquet glued in this way can be dangerous, for example because of a defective sealant:

Because the harmful substances contained therein, such as benzo(a)pyrene, enter the room air via fine cracks in the parquet surface and bind to dust.

However, it is not immediately necessary to remove the floor if there is black glue under the parquet.

However, regular and careful inspection of the parquet surface and a dust test should be carried out to prevent the release of the substance.

However, if you want to be on the safe side, not only must the parquet be completely removed, but also the screed underneath must be chiseled out completely, since abrasive of the black adhesive is not possible due to the dust formation.

In addition to PAH and PCBs, old parquet adhesives may also contain asbestos, which can be released, in particular by demolition or grinding work. Renovation of hardwood flooring with asbestos-containing adhesive should therefore only be carried out by specialist companies, which have been trained accordingly in handling harmful substances.

Gluing parquet: That’s what matters

The basic requirements for gluing parquet are a dry, clean and even substrate as well as optimum room conditions with a temperature of at least 16°C and 40 to 60% humidity.

Before actually starting to glue the parquet, the first three rows of the parquet should first be fitted without parquet adhesive.

In this way, the individual elements can be cut to size and any changes made to the direction of installation.

It is also advisable to become familiar with the application of the parquet adhesive before on a chipboard. In principle, modern parquet adhesives are easy to apply, but handling the putty requires a little practice.

When the parquet is bonded, step by step should be taken.

Since most parquet adhesives have a certain processing time (usually about 30 minutes) in which they have the optimum adhesive strength, only the section should be coated with adhesive on which parquet can also be laid during this time.

Otherwise, there is a risk that the adhesive will decrease and the parquet adhesive will have to be removed again.

What is the best way to apply parquet adhesive?

The parquet adhesive is applied fully and evenly to the respective floor section.

Applying the parquet adhesive works best with a serrated trowel with triangular teeth. Which serration the trowel should have depends on the type of parquet adhesive and the parquet to be laid.

The required thickness of the parquet adhesive and the recommended trowel notch size is normally indicated in the adhesive application instructions.

In addition, there are also generally valid recommendations as to which tooth fillers should be used for the different types of parquet.

These are as follows:

B3: Mosaic parquet, 8 mm parquet

B5: 2-layer parquet up to 60 cm length, Lamparkett

B9: Finished parquet, 10-mm parquet, multi-layer parquet

B11: strip parquet up to 120 cm long, multi-layer parquet up to 60 cm long

B12: Boarded parquet, planks up to 60 cm, multi-layer parquet over 60 cm long

B15: Wooden paving, solid floorboards from 120 cm length and 12 cm width

How much parquet glue is needed?

To calculate the consumption of parquet adhesive, the common recommendation is to calculate with 1.2 kg per square metre.

However, the exact consumption can vary considerably depending on the product and type of parquet – therefore, the manufacturer’s instructions regarding the thickness of the parquet adhesive to be applied should be checked before purchase.

A further calculation basis is to multiply the order quantity of the tooth filler by the number of square meters of the parquet to be laid.

How much do parquet adhesives cost?

Actual costs for the calculated amount of parquet adhesive also depend on the respective product. For example, low-cost dispersion adhesives are available for as low as 3.50 euros per kilo, synthetic resin adhesives cost an average of around 7 euros per kilo, while high-quality parquet adhesives made of reaction resin cost more than 10 euros per kilo.

Remove parquet glue

If parquet is laid glued, sooner or later it is also the removal of the parquet adhesive. How much effort is involved depends on the parquet adhesive used and the type of parquet.

In order to remove smaller adhesive residues from the freshly laid parquet, simple cleaning cloths with a small amount of solvents are usually sufficient.

Alternatively, the residues – possibly previously warmed with a hair dryer – can also be treated with conventional cooking oil.

Furniture polish, erasers made of natural rubber or pure orange oil can also help, as can special adhesive removers, brake cleaners, acetone or spirits.

Larger quantities of parquet adhesivecan to be sanded with a grinding machine. It is important to remove the excess parquet adhesive as soon as possible during installation, because after a maximum of 12 hours most adhesives are completely cured.

However, if full-surface adhesive residues are to be removed after the removal of glued parquet, the procedure is much more complex.

If an existing floor covering of tiles is to be replaced with parquet, this is generally possible without removing the old tiles.

However, there are a number of important aspects to consider when laying parquet on tiles. The following article will tell you what these are.

Which parquet is for laying on tiles Suitable?

Multilayer parquet is best suited for laying on tiles.

Due to its construction in several layers, less tension is transferred from the parquet to the underlying tiles.

But also the laying of solid parquet is possible in principle. However, in this case it is advisable to use a decoupling pad (e.g. fleece) as a transition between tiles and parquet, as this reduces the voltages occurring.

The best choice for solid parquet is oak, as this type of parquet has relatively low swelling and shrinkage behaviour compared to other parquet types – even in damp conditions – and works correspondingly less.

What is to be done in the preparation of the tiled floor Note?

With the tiled floor itself, it is advantageous if it is as large, stable tiles as possible. Mosaic tiles are suitable for laying of parquet less good, as the many joints make it easy to deformations of the parquet.

Before parquet can be laid on tiles, the floor must be prepared accordingly.

It is necessary to clean the tiles thoroughly in the first step and remove all dirt and residues of care products, otherwise a separating layer may form and the parquet adhesive may not hold properly.

Furthermore, the substrate for laying parquet on tiles must be flat and solid.

Therefore, it is necessary to check carefully whether the existing tiles still adhere accordingly to the substrate.

The best way to find out is to tap every single tile. If hollow-sounding or loose tiles are discovered during this process, they should be removed together with tile adhesive seam and the resulting gaps in the floor filled with filler.

The tiled floor is then sanded and – if necessary – a 2-component epoxy resin primer is applied as an adhesion bridge. This is too smooth on its own after drying to absorb a levelling compound. Therefore the primer must be sprinkled with quartz sand directly during application. This is the only way to ensure mechanical bonding of the filler to be applied afterwards.

The final and decisive step in laying parquet on tiles is theapplication of a suitable levelling compound, with which joints and other unevenness in the tiled floor are levelled.

Only when the substrate is completely dry, flat and solid can the parquet be laid on the tiles. The prepared work requires the greatest care, so that there are no undesirable problems when laying the parquet.

It is therefore generally advisable to have parquet laid on tiles by a specialist.

Parquet on tiles: fully glued or floating Moved?

Basically, parquet can be laid on tiles both full-surface glued as well as floating . In both cases, dismantling is not possible, as the tiles are severely affected by the preceding preparations and are no longer visually appealing.

In general, experts recommend full-surface gluing of parquet to tiles using parquet adhesive, as this type of installation has certain advantages:

Due to the fixed connection with the substrate, fully glued parquet ensures a pleasant kicking feeling and also prevents sound transmission.

Therefore, in this case, footfall sound insulation is not necessary. With floating installation, on the other hand, the parquet only lies loosely on the tiles and thus amplifies the sound. Accordingly, it is essential to ensure effective impact sound insulation for this type of installation.

In addition, a vapour barrier is required for floating parquet on tiles in order to be able to absorb any moisture on the substrate.

It should be noted that the floor construction with floating laid parquet on tiles becomes considerably higher due to the required steam barrier and impact sound insulation than with fully glued parquet.

As a result, there may be unsightly height differences at transitions to other floor coverings or doors may have to be shortened.

In rooms with floor heating, floating parquet on tiles is not recommended. The additional layers have a strong thermal insulation effect and lead to a reduced thermal conductivity of the floor.

An even, firm and dry screed is an absolute requirement for the professional laying of parquet and a durable, high-quality floor. In this article you will learn what is important for the professional installation of the subfloor and how long screed for parquet must dry.

Testing of the subsoil

In principle, it is possible to lay parquet on various floors (also existing floor coverings such as PVC, felt or stone) provided they are flat, firm and dry.

The corresponding requirements for the substrate are precisely defined in DIN 18365 for floor covering work and DIN 18356 for parquet work.

If parquet is laid by a specialist, it is subject to a test obligation in accordance with these standards.

Should parquet be inserted on a newly built screed important aspects need to be taken into account in order to meet the conditions for a successful installation.

Flatness

Only a flat surface ensures an optimal result when laying the parquet floor.

Therefore, the flatness of the screed should be checked. This works best with a straight object, such as a straightening bar, a measuring wedge, or a water scale.

If the subfloor does not comply with the standard, the screed must be repaired accordingly before laying parquet.

Strength

In order for the underbody to achieve the necessary level of load-bearing capacity, it must have the appropriate strength.

In particular for the full-surface bonding of parquet using parquet adhesive, a solid screed is the decisive criterion for proper installation.

The condition of the substrate is checked by means of a lattice-scratch test.

For this purpose, diamond-shaped lines are carved into the screed with a pointed object or a special scratching device. There must be no eruptions or seds, otherwise it is not firm enough.

Drying time of the screed

Too much moisture in the subfloor is quite likely to cause damage to the floor covering sooner or later – regardless of whether it is hardwood flooring, vinyl flooring- or cork flooring.

If a new floor is not laid sufficiently dry, it can lead to increased swelling behavior, especially for wooden floors or coverings with support material made of wood fibreboards.

Unattractive dents and bulges, especially in the impact areas, are the result.

Caution is also required with barrier primers, as although moisture penetrates more slowly, it still remains in the house.

Receipt maturity of the screed

Careful procedure, sufficient drying time and exact residual moisture measurement are therefore basic requirements for the readiness of the screed for laying – only then is the subfloor suitable for laying parquet.

Screed is available in various versions, which are reflected in their composition and their drying time. Among the most common species Count:

Cement screed

The most commonly used cement screed consists of sand, cement (as binder) and water – and is therefore one of the flow screeds.

Supplied as a dry mixture, flow screed is mixed directly on site with the addition of water and introduced via a screed pump.

Cement screed is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use due to its moisture resistance and has stable strength values.

During installation and during the drying phase, the ambient temperature must not be below 5°C, draughts and humidity must be avoided – otherwise the surface may become uneven or even cracked.

When is cement screed accessible?

After 2 to 3 days the cement screed can be walked on, after approx. 10 days it can be fully loaded, the readiness for laying is reached after approx. 4 weeks drying phase.

Anhydrite screed

The anhydrite screed, which is also one of the flow screeds, is also enjoying increasing popularity, as the contained binder anhydrite shortens the drying phase.

Due to its good thermal conductivity, anhydrite screed is ideally suited for underfloor heating systems, but on the other hand it is not suitable for outdoor use, as the screed becomes unusable on contact with water.

Dry screed

There is no drying time when dry screed is used. Prefabricated panels made of plasterboard, wood-based material or cement-bound chipboard glued or screwed on the raw floor. Unevenness or too low construction heights must be balanced with granules or be piled up.

In addition, there are other, less common screed screeds such as magnesite screed, cast asphalt screed or synthetic resin screed.

Residual moisture determination

When drying ledges, approximately 1 cm of screed per week is generally considered to be a guideline.

If the screed is over 4 cm thick, two additional weeks should be taken into account, as it has an extended binding time.

In the case of underfloor heating, it is also recommended to heat the screed completely afterwards.

For this purpose, the flow temperature of the underfloor heating system is increased to two thirds of the heating load in 5°C increments and then lowered again. A detailed heating protocol should be kept for control.

After the drying or heating phase, an exact test of the residual moisture is necessary.

Measuring points that have already been set when the screed is applied facilitate the process and ensure a reliable result. Fast binders can affect the values and should therefore be disclosed.

The permissible residual moisture depends on both the type of as well as whether or not underfloor heating is available. Depending on the screed, the standard values are as follows:

• cement screed: 2 % without floor heating / 1.8 % with floor heating
• anhydrite screed: 0.5 % without underfloor heating / 0.3 % with underfloor heating
• magnesite line: max. 4 %

Some parquet adhesives are already approved for higher residual moisture. However, the manufacturer’s information should always be treated with caution.

Moisture measurement with CM method

For residual moisture determination, the measurement is recommended using the CM method (calcium carbide method).

For this purpose, the pressure pressure of a crushed and shaken with calcium carbide is measured with a special device and determined as a value for the residual moisture using a conversion table.

Since the measurement is in principle very complex – and also the only approved test procedure for the publisher’s stiffener – it is recommended to contact a specialist.