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I'm replacing the tongue and grove boards in a section of my hardwood floor that were water damaged. On some of the boards, I'll need to cut out the bottom edge of the female side.

On a YouTube video they recommended using a 2 part epoxy for securing the board in place. I thought I could just use a regular wood glue.

What's the best glue for securing the hardwood floor boards?

Is gluing better than just using a few finish nails from the top?

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We only use Titebond III waterproof wood glue on Hardwood flooring. You can clean up excess with water before it cures. This stuff works great and allows some flexibility for expansion and contraction.

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  • Why do you recommend the Titebond III over a Liquid Nails product? – ChrisP Sep 28 '11 at 11:47
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    Construction adhesives are solvent based, TiteBond is water based and perfect for this application. See my longer comment to Alex. – shirlock homes Sep 28 '11 at 23:20
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Use construction adhesive like this one. Regular wood glue may not be able to keep up with the amount of tramping and expansion/contraction that a wood floor takes; you want something tough and flexible.

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  • Good point - and an epoxy by contrast would probably hold up to the tramping but the floor would feel... overly firm. – The Evil Greebo Sep 26 '11 at 14:36
  • In my case, the boards are being glued in the tongue/groove joint. Does the construction glue have any advantage over the Titebond III suggested by shirlock homes? – ChrisP Sep 28 '11 at 11:46
  • In general I would defer to shirlock ;) so I'm curious to see what his response is. – Alex Feinman Sep 28 '11 at 15:14
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    Hi Guys, I noticed that the Liquid Nails adhesive is very specific that it is for subfloors only. I really think that trying to use and solvent based adhesive on T&G is going to be a problem. Any time I stitch a hardwood floor, the last row,(the one you have to take the bottom grove off) has to be nailed and glued. – shirlock homes Sep 28 '11 at 23:16
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    I use a 16 gauge finish nail and titebond. I then fill the tiny hole with a color matched hardwood filler. Some adhesive solvents will stain the wood and make urethane and stains not stick well, shift the color, or mess up prefinished finishes. Not sure about Liquid Nails, but some can only be cleaned with mineral spirits or acetone, neither is good on hardwood that needs to be finished after. So any excess on the surface can be a problem. I would encourage you to stick with a water based glue like TiteBond. Good Luck. – shirlock homes Sep 28 '11 at 23:17
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I think (but this is just a guess) that wood glue will do just fine, provided that you're bonding to wood underneath. If you're bonding to a synthetic underlayment like foam you need an adhesive that will bond to both wood and the material underneath. Personally I'd put some wood glue around the edges of the cut area as well, for added good measure.

Is glue better than nails? Well - do you like the look of face nails? If your entire floor is face nailed anyway nails are fine, otherwise they'll stick out like a sore thumb.

Reading Alex's answer, I'm amending myself - use construction adhesive like he said.

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If you aren't gluing the rest of the floor down I'd recommend face nailing the last board, Use a finish nail and set it beneath the surface and you will not notice it, especially if it's up against the wall.

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    I think the OP is talking about replacing boards in the middle of the floor due to damage, not finishing the edges – The Evil Greebo Sep 26 '11 at 15:00
  • Correct, I misread the question. – Cody C Sep 26 '11 at 15:48

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