Is It Better to Glue or Float an Engineered Wood Floor?

Most engineered timber boards can be installed either way: glued directly to the subfloor, or floated over an underlay with the boards glued or clicked to each other. Neither is wrong. They give different results underfoot, cost different amounts and suit different subfloors, and the choice is worth making deliberately rather than by default.

Direct stick (glue down)

The boards are bedded in a flexible polyurethane or MS adhesive spread over the subfloor with a notched trowel. Once cured, every board is fixed.

• Feels solid. No give, no hollow sound; it feels like a solid timber floor.
• Quieter. Less impact noise and no drumming, which matters upstairs and in apartments.
• No expansion gap at the perimeter in the same way. Boards still need a small gap, but the floor does not move as one sheet, so long runs and open-plan areas can be laid without transition strips.
• Can be re-sanded safely. A fixed floor sands more evenly than a floating one.
• Costs more. Adhesive is $8 to $15 per m² and labour is $10 to $20 per m² higher, and the subfloor must be flat, dry and primed.
• Harder to repair. Replacing one board means cutting it out and scraping adhesive.

Floating

The boards are laid over an underlay and joined to each other by a click profile or by gluing the tongue and groove, with nothing fixing them to the floor beneath.

• Cheaper and faster. No adhesive, less prep, and a room is laid in a day.
• Goes over more subfloors. Existing tiles, sheet vinyl and slightly imperfect slabs can stay, and the underlay adds acoustic performance.
• Easier to lift. Useful in rentals and for future changes.
• Slight give and a hollow sound if the underlay is soft or the subfloor is not flat.
• Needs expansion gaps and transitions. Runs over about 8 to 10 metres usually need a break, and kitchen islands and built-ins cannot sit on it.

Which to choose

• Concrete slab, ground floor, family home: direct stick, if the budget allows. It is the better floor.
• Apartment with acoustic requirements: either can work; floating over an acoustic underlay is the usual route, but a glue-down over an acoustic mat performs well and feels better.
• Timber floorboards or plywood: direct stick to a sanded, screwed-down floor, or float if the old floor is uneven.
• Over existing tiles: float.
• Rental or short-term: float.

The board itself matters too: thicker 20mm boards and wide 240mm boards are happier glued, and some manufacturers require it. Check the product’s installation guide, and see our note on the best adhesive for engineered wood. Boards for either method are in our engineered timber flooring range.

What it costs either way

On a 60 square metre floor, floating typically costs $25 to $40 per square metre in labour with no adhesive. Direct sticking runs $40 to $60 per square metre in labour plus $8 to $15 per square metre for adhesive, and usually adds a levelling and priming step. That is a difference of roughly $1,500 to $2,500 on the job. Whether the quieter, more solid result is worth that depends on how much time you spend in the room and whether you are on a slab or upstairs.

Frequently asked questions