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What is the best glue for floors?


enchanted

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I've been reading the posts for hours now and I'm more confused at this moment than when I began. I have skinny sticks and mini-sticks to use for flooring and I have card stock cut-outs of the floors all ready but I have no clue which glue is best for this purpose. In our collection of sticky stuff we have Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky glue, the new Gorilla Wood Glue, traditional yellow wood glue, super glue and hot glue. Which of these is best to adhere the wood to the card stock and which is best to adhere the finished product to the actual house? :)

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When I make my floors with popsicle sticks or skinny sticks, I always use Aleen's Tacky glue for both (the one in the gold bottle), gluing to the cardstock and gluing the cardstock to the floor. I haven't had any problems yet. Make sure not to get glue on the tops of the sticks if you plan on staining.

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Debra, the tacky glue is probably the best bet for gluing the wooden sticks to the cardstock. I'd think about putting a little bit of contact cement in the corners and along the front when gluing the cardstock to the floor. That way, you can get it up again it you need to address wiring issues. (That's assuming any ceiling lights are wired into the floor above.)

If you need to weight down the floor to keep it smooth, a piece of waxed paper will keep any glue seepage from drying attached to the weight. Don't ask how I know this! :)

You might consider staining the wood before you start gluing to avoid the glue spots that Wendy mentions above. Stain just doesn't like glue!

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Well I started using the Aleene's fast dry tacky stuff and it works like a charm! They don't fib either when they say this stuff dries fast, truly impressed here. To avoid icky glue spots I'm using a small paint brush to 'paint' the glue onto the bottoms of the sticks, so far not even a peek of glue popping through. I read in another post that whatever color card stock/posterboard you used needed to be painted the same color as the finished floor so I opted for black posterboard tada! no show-thru once the floor is stained. :)

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When gluing the skinny sticks to the card stock put the glue lightly on the stick and then press onto the cardstock, this seems to cut down on the amount of seepage. I too only glue down the corners just in case I later decide change out the floors. Anoter tip when making your floors I draw straight lines randomly across the paper as 'guildlines' to make sure I am keeping my sticks straight. Even if the lines dont exactly match up with the edges of the sticks you can tell by looking if you are getting off track. Those sticks look staright on the edges but it will amaze you how those little fractions of difference in widths, warpage etc will throw off the floor.

Gorilla glue expands and is horrible to try and get off the places you do not want it to show. I do not use gorilla glue on my dollhouses for that reason.

The only thing I use hot glue on is little accesories...gluing flowers into a vase or something like that. Hot glue is just not reliable.

Rhonda

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Gorilla glue expands and is horrible to try and get off the places you do not want it to show. I do not use gorilla glue on my dollhouses for that reason.

Gorilla glue has a new wood glue formula that does not expand/foam like the regular Gorilla glue. I've had no troubles using it at all and the stuff holds with an iron grip. I don't have to worry about my windows or doors being blown apart in a hurricane, which is a good thing because it seems the little lady that 'lives' in my Orchid has decided she's living in a hurricane prone area.

I really wish that lady would make up her mind, she surely doesn't pay enough for all the changes she keeps making and my 'construction crew' is ready to walk off the job(ok so the 'crew' is just my 11 yr old son Jeremiah and me). It's such a joy working with him on this our first house, he gets right into the whole storytelling bit with me and it makes my heart sing. Maybe I can sweet talk or bribe my oldest son John-Michael into making a tiny suit of armor to stand in the ladies house? A girl can dream ya know...

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I was going to say I use contact cement, but that's because I glue my floorboards directly onto the "subfloor", not a card template.

I wanted to glue them right onto the subfloor but dear Hubby said since this was my first go at dollhouses maybe I should try a template floor first to get the hang of it.

Do you have any miracle tips for using the contact cement? I beg of you any words of wisdom will not go upon deaf ears or as the case may be, blind eyes.

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First I paint the plywood floor with contact cement & let it dry, then I lightly brush some on the back of a "board" and lay it in place. Every two or three rows I take my old teaspooon & use the backside of the bown to burnish the "boards" to get them to say flat. Once I have the floor laid I lay a sheet of waxed paper over it & stack old textbooks on top overnight. Next day I check & reglue any boards that popped loose, burnish them all again and repeat the waxed paper & weights for another overnight. Then I do the staining & sanding until I like the look, and I finish with either poly or wax.

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