Gluing down wooden floors is a large part of the hardwood flooring business, most of it is installed on concrete but can also be fitted over sheet timber subfloors. The most important thing to consider before using a stick down wooden floor system is that the subfloor is completely dry, and the subfloor is sound and solid.

They are installed by two main methods. The first involves spreading the adhesive with a notched trowel over the subfloor one section at a time. Each individual board is then placed one at a time onto the adhesive until the whole floor area is covered, this is called 100% coverage system. The second method is the liquid batten system, this is when 10mm beads of liquid adhesive are gunned out of a special application gun at 400mm centres across the floor, again a section a time, and the wood is then pushed into the adhesive allowing the floor to be secured, this system is similar to a timber batten but using adhesive instead of nails. Once the floor has been laid it takes about a day before furniture can be moved back on top of it.

All types of wooden flooring can be installed in this way easily, though it is recommended with the thicker type flooring that areas are weighted down where required whilst the adhesive is setting .

The main advantage of gluing a wooden floor down is that it feels more solid than one laid on a underlayment, a floating floor, which has an almost hollow feeling when it is stepped on. A properly glued hardwood floor will feel like a traditional wooden floor.
The adhesives used for these types of installation are not cheap, but using the correct adhesive is important. These adhesives are specially designed for their flexibility which allows the floor to do it natural movement due to air humidity changes without breaking the bondage between floor and wood. The adhesives come in 3 types: water based, acrylic, or urethane based with most people leaning towards the urethane option. None of these adhesives are toxic as new more environmentally friendly varieties have been introduced.