Installation Question – New Floor and a Grand Piano

Q: I am going to have my parquet floor with new hardwood floor in my living room, which houses a small concert grand piano. The subfloor is concrete, and my floor installer says that I should go for engineered hard wood strips. My question is: should the floor be floated or glued down to the subfloor? I am worried that if the floor is floated, then it could serve as another big sounding board for my piano and this will disturb my neighbors. I live in an old condo. With my current floor, my neighbors have not complained, but I need to make sure that I can minimize the transmission of sounds (it is more of vibration than impact sound).
Thank you and look forward to hearing from you.
A: My first bit of advice would be to check with your HOA for any regulations required when installing a wood floor in a condo. Usually this requires certain underlayments, typically most HOAs require cork, to absorb the sound from the floor. This being said a floating floor can be a great option as it will need underlayment; however, having a concert grand piano over this floor leaves me to worry a bit.
The best set up for such a heavy furnishing on a floor is to have it solidly anchored to the floor, so I would honestly suggest going with a glue down application. This might mean needing to glue down a cork underlayment (do not use foam based underlayments when gluing down) then glue the floor down over the top of the underlayment. Again, I stress that you check with your HOA before you proceed to ensure you meet their sound requirements. Typically, gluing down 6mm cork then gluing down a floor will meet all HOA requirements while getting exactly what you will need to place your piano on this floor.