These products are not to be used for sealing concrete floors if you plan any glue down direct application. Yes, they can be used for floating floors that do not come into contact with the concrete, but we recommend the use of sheet plastic (visqueen) moisture barriers regardless.

Older Moisture Sealing Methods

Up until the early part of this century many us never saw sealers that were manufactured in tandem to be used with actual hardwood flooring adhesives. Prior to that period, if any high moisture readings were present, solutions were typically the installation of sheet vinyl before the actual glue down installation. While vinyl is still used today, if you plan on using the system, it is vital to be aware of the hardwood flooring adhesive properties.

Before the wide spread use of urethane adhesives, vinyl moisture barriers could be installed with a common adhesives used to install any vinyl floor. Urethane adhesives changed that because of their strength. Using an ordinary latex adhesive in this scenario with a urethane based wood glue will likely result in de-bonding of the vinyl from the concrete.

Proper Sealers For Concrete

Today, manufacturers such as Bostiks, Mapei, and Sika to name a few, offer their own sealer variations to Bostiks MVP. Moisture Vapor Protection be used in conjunction with their own urethane wood adhesives. Ordinarily a 24 hour waiting time is required after the sealer application with any new glue down installation. Some sealers also provide sound deadening properties.

Installation procedures call for either troweling (depends on manufacturer) to the subfloor similar to applying the wood floor glue, or applying with a paint roller. Products do not come cheaply. The actual wholesale cost of the Bostiks MVP (shown right) runs round $ 145.00 per five gallon containers. Add in the dealer markup and one can easily be spending $ 225.00. Each five gallon container covers approximately 200-250 square feet.

See The Bostiks MVP Video