Thinking about doing your own hardwood flooring? Before you learn how to install hardwood flooring, you need to choose the type of flooring you want first. From traditional hardwood flooring to flooring that just snaps together, you have dozens if not hundreds of different options.
The nice thing about laminates and snap-together hardwood flooring is that they come with installation instructions. However, traditional hardwood flooring is more involved. Here are some steps to help get you started.
You need to put down the flooring base first. You want the subfloor to be dry, clean, and level. Before you begin, remove the baseboards.
Now, regardless of whether you’re picking up the flooring yourself from a home improvement store or having it delivered, you want to time it so that the wood will be stacked in your house for a few days before the project. Unless you let the wood adjust to your home environment, it won’t fit properly. This is because wood reacts to different humidity levels and temperatures by expanding and contracting.
When you’re considering how to install hardwood flooring, you must determine the direction in which the floor joists (supports) run, and mark their position at the base of the walls for reference. Get some 15-point asphalt felt and layer it down on top of your subfloor.
You’ll muffle the creaks and squeaks this way, and your floor will be protected from moisture. If you’re installing the hardwood floor in your bathroom or kitchen, this step is especially important.
To indicate the position for your first board, mark the centerline of your room. Leave a 1/2 inch gap at the walls as you’re installed the flooring.
Make sure to use a nail set to finish each nail you put in by hand, so the hammer doesn’t leave indentations. To prevent shifting, be sure to nail the first three boards or so by hand. You should do this even if you’re using a pneumatic flooring nailer.
Learning how to install hardwood flooring isn’t all that difficult. However, it takes time and requires precision.
Make sure to visit How to Install for more tips on everything from How to Install a Toilet to How to Install Granite.
- Christine Julianne
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 6:07 am and is filed under Finance, Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
