Montgomery Decor

Hardwood floor installation takes a lot of work, but you can save yourself a lot of money by learning how to do it yourself. There are even prefinished strips of wood flooring that you can use in order to make the job easier. Whichever method you choose, the entire process of installing hardwood floors is very similar, so this article will be covering just the basics that will apply to most approaches.

You begin to install hardwood floors with only the bare subfloor. For the most part, you can choose whoever type of wood you like for your floor, but red oak is commonly chosen because it looks nice and is relatively inexpensive. It is recommended that you store your flooring in the same climate that it will be installed in, this way you do not have to worry about it expanding or contracting.

The first official step of hardwood floor installation is to lay your planks down perpendicular to the wall joists. It is a good idea to mark this by placing a reference line to indicate the end of all boards. When doing this remember to leave a gap of one half inch around the entire perimeter of the room in case you need to expand later. For the first pieces, it is important that you choose the longest and straightest boards. You will have to drill holes in the face of the planks that cannot be reached using your floor stapler using a 3/8 inch diameter bit. As you will quickly find out, it is much easier to install hardwood floors when you use a stapler.

The next step to installing hardwood floors is the actually laying down of the boards for your new floor. It will make things easier on you if you choose a location for your first board that is parallel to the reference line you made earlier. You can fasten the first board with screws if you prefer, placing the holes directly over the floor joists. On occasion you may need to cut the boards so that they will fit. Be sure to use a perfectly straight piece of flooring to make sure that your pieces are aligned. You can begin using your pneumatic stapler after you have secured the first row.

The final step of hardwood floor installation is to finish laying the boards, beginning with the second row. It is recommended that you keep the end joints 6 inches apart on rows of boards that are right next to each other. There are many different techniques you can use when laying out the boards for your hardwood floor installation which is beyond the scope of this article to cover. So before you begin, this is a topic that you will want to make sure that you have researched and are comfortable with.

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Not only can a hardwood floor add a beautiful new look to any room, it can also add value to your home. However before anyone actually begins to install hardwood flooring in their home there are a number of steps that they need to take.

1. It is important that they stack the flooring inside for a few days in order for it to adjust to the humidity levels found in the house. Unfortunately if this is not carried out then the wood may well warp and buckle after it has been laid and this will result in you actually having to take it out and then laying a new flooring in its place.

2. You should always plan to install the flooring horizontally to the floor joists. A great way of knowing exactly where each floor joist is located is by making a mark on the walls above each one.

3. You will also need to ensure that you lay asphalt felt before installing the flooring as this will protect against moisture penetration as well as preventing the flooring from squeaking.

4. Once you begin to install your hardwood flooring you will find it useful if you lay out several rows of the boards first. Also make sure that they are staggered and that no end joint is close to any other end joint in the next row. The best distance to keep each joint away from the previous rows ones is to lay them 6 inches lower than the last row.

5. You need to cut pieces that will fit at the end of each row and should be no less than 8 inches in length. You will need to also allow for a 1/2 inch gap around the room between the edges of the boards and the walls.

6. When you actually need to cut any of the boards you should use only a radial arm or power miter saw. If you are blind nailing using a hammer and finishing nails then you should not drive them in flush as any indentations will show. Instead, stop hammering when the head of the nail is projecting from the board about 1/8 inch and then use a nail set. You need to place this sideways over the upper edge of the tongue in the wood and then drive the nail home by using a hammer to tap the nail set. Then all you need to do to ensure that the nails are fully flush with the wood is to use the tip of the nail set.

If you keep these steps in mind then you will find when it comes time to install hardwood flooring in your home the task will be a lot less complicated than you may have imagined.

There are very few men who are not ego driven and believe that they are possessed with the ability to rebuild the Berlin Wall. However, if you are one of those handy housemen who question your ability to drive a thumbtack in a cardboard box then you may want to seriously consider hiring a professional for hardwood floor installation instead of relying upon sheer luck and expectations to complete this task.

Don’t even trouble yourself with taking a trip to the neighborhood hardware store to purchase some kit that claims to teach any novice hard wood floor installer the art of this craft. Installing hardwood floors requires some basic skills, but equally requires knowledge and experience in the craft. If you’ve never so much as seen a level or used a basic handsaw, then it is highly recommended that you contact a hardwood floors installation professional.

A lot of times, when men or even some women attempt to do things like installing ceramic tiles or hardwood floors, they hardly ever take into consideration the post hardwood floor installation requirements. You want to make certain that your floor is level before installing hardwood floors because an un level floor can – and will – create unwanted problems.

Have you ever pull up a carpet and found concrete under it instead of wood? Well, welcome to the world of no sub flooring. Sub flooring requires installing a layer of wood on top of the concrete in order to level out the floor before actually installing your new wood floor. That concrete is actually the initial slab that is commonly called your foundation, and not all foundations are level. Without proper leveling of the foundation, the entire floor could possibly sag.

Most older homes will encounter this problem so if your home is pushing 30 to 40 years of living, then it’s recommended that you seek professional help with installing a hardwood floor. If you’ve been living in your home for over thirty years, there’s a strong possibility you are pushing sixty years old yourself which is even more of a reason to hire a professional to install your hardwood floor.

In a nutshell, a professional hardwood floor installation requires skilled and well-trained craftsmen especially if the only form of manual labor you have experienced is moving furniture. Also, keep in mind that there are other alternatives besides a hardwood floor.

Consider laying carpet or ceramic tiles if a hardwood floor is out of the question. Installing linoleum floors is said to be lot more easier to install over sub flooring and some say installing ceramic tiles is a piece of cake on level foundation.

Take time out and rethink what you may be undertaking. Seriously consider hiring a professional hardwood floor installer instead of spending more time and money on a craft you have no experience in. It will definitely be worth your while. Let your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages or visit your favorite search engine online, and a professional hardwood floors installer will be on his way in no time.