Hardwood installations are most stable when they are installed perpendicular to the joists; but if your subfloor is sufficient, a parallel installation is acceptable. There are several ways to level an uneven subfloor for hardwoods. For systemic problems, a good alternative to complete replacement is leveling the plywood or OSB subfloor using asphalt shingles.
This method relies on shingles and an additional layer of plywood to get uniformity across the floor. If a subfloor is high in a single or few locations, you can pull the subfloor up and plane the crowning joist to level the floor.
If a subfloor is low in a single spot, you can pull the subfloor up and shim the floor, using a similar approach. If you decide to plane a joist, remember that this could have an affect on the structural integrity of the floor and it is important to get the opinion of a structural engineer.
In any case, reattach the subfloor with screws and construction adhesive. With the subfloor sufficiently leveled, acclimate the hardwoods in the space where they will be installed.
Leave the hardwoods in this location for days. The best time to install hardwoods is the Spring and Fall when the humidity and temperatures are at yearly averages, but Summer and Winter installations are possible with the proper precautions.
Never store the hardwoods where they can get wet. The first board in an installation sets the tone for the remainder of the installation. Take time and do it carefully. That article covers every step precisely. If installed properly, the rest of the floor will practically lay itself. If installed unevenly, gaps will develop as you lay subsequent boards and you will be frustrated with the result. It is here that the technique known as blind nailing is first used. Continue laying hardwoods throughout the floor.
While the bulk of a hardwood installation is tedious but uncomplicated, there are a few areas that can be challenging, and we have articles to cover these situations:. When you get to the last few boards of the hardwood installation, you will need to blind nail and then face nail the wood because the hardwood flooring stapler or nailer will not fit article coming soon.
We discuss the proper place to transition in a doorway in our article on working through adjacent rooms. This involves scarf joints, inside corners which can be cope cut , and outside corners. Quarter round can be an acceptable alternative to shoe molding if you have large gaps. In fancier designs, three or more baseboard components are used, but in the typical installation only two base and shoe are installed. One alternative is to stain pine quarter round or shoe molding to closely match the floor.
For a job this large, we were happy to have DuoFast sponsor the primary tools, providing their DuoFast Floormaster S Hardwood Stapler for the bulk of the floor. In our square foot installation we fired nearly staples, or an average of just under 3 per square foot. The Floormaster S performed flawlessly, with no jams. DuoFast also provided their new DuoFast Floormaster BN finish nailer for the first and last boards and to facilitate molding installation.
Bellawood is an excellent product sealed in many layers of aluminum oxide, the best surface coating for hardwood flooring. Aluminum oxide is far superior to polyurethane; it has better scratch resistance and does not fade or yellow over time. Their site features really good deals and they can ship the product directly to your front door. Hardwood flooring is offered by several other big box retailers and can be a significant investment. They let others know that these guides are helpful!
Thanks so much! What do you think? As with all our articles on this site, help us make this better by adding your own suggestions and thoughts! I think you have a typo. Thanks for the great website! I have a sunken Living Room. It needs a bullnose from DR to LR. Meaning, lay everything so that everything aligns with the bullnose even that means trimming the 1st row so everything will line up correctly.
Hope this make sense. David, good question. I have a room with baseboard down but no flooring or quarter-round. It all depends. As long as the baseboard allows for expansion of the flooring you should be fine. Otherwise you will have problems in the future. Thanks for a thorough guide. Great article. Either way, great information. Also, do you have any tips on covering stairs with hardwood?
They are much harder and messier to remove and more difficult to install than stapled floors. However, these floors tend to be installed over a flat slab. You would use engineered wood as opposed to solid wood when gluing because it is dimensionally much more stable.
I generally advise against DIYers doing stairs. They are complicated to get them looking perfect. One of our sister blogs, Centsational Girl, has a good tutorial on hardwood stairs.
Hello, I have a problem. A water line broke in my house and the Insurance is paying for the floor to be replaced. It is glued onto a subfloor and below that are the enginered trusts. I have one contractor that wants to remove the wet wood.
Then staple and glue the new floor to the old flooring. His issue is that ripping up the old floors will damage the sub-floor and possibly the trusts. Any thoughts…. Great article — we are having harwood installed this week and even though we have hired a contractor to do it reading this will allow me to understand and follow what they are doing.
I have a sunken bedroom where we are having hardwood floor installed, my question is: How do I run the wood floor along the wall of the sunken bedroom. Teresa, take a look at the section on leveling a subfloor, and especially the method for using asphalt shingles.
You may be able to run shingles close to the wall to get it level. Feel free to ask some more questions on that page. I have a question. What is the best wood floor material that does not stain when you spill water on it?
That is really my problem on my old wood floor. The LR is stepped down about 8 inches from the DR. How do I transition the baseboard and concave shoe molding from the DR down to the LR and going around the bullnose. Greg, this really depends on the room itself. Can you send me a picture at fred oneprojectcloser. I just got done installing a maple floor in our office and I referred to the information in this article extensively.
Thanks for a thorough, well documented tutorial — it made my job much easier! I would have to think that 6 and 7 are the most important parts of the floor.
Most anyone can get the floor down and make it look nice. However, to finish it off nice and make it look professional is another thing. Looks like you guys did a fantastic job on this one. Nice work! Great information Fred and what a beautiful floor you installed. Very professional looking too. The pink stuff. We had some tar paper left over from another project so instead of discarding it we used it.
My hubby started with the upstairs hallway which has right angle turn. We both agreed it would look best if the boards ran the length of the hall in both sections so I suggested making the corners like a log cabin quilt. We laid the boards in the Library at a 45 degree angle. Our Floors. I love that log-cabin design in the corner — its something we considered on our first floor until I got intimidates with the work. I was thinking about running a perimeter around the whole floor and then laying the wood inside of it… never got there, just seemed too hard!
Hey Fred. Glad you liked the floors. My hubby is amazing when it comes to trying new things since we started to build our home. He said the log cabin corners were quite easy. However he was intimidated at that thought of making bookcases for our library.
The bookcases are coming long beautifully. Love this post. In our new home, I am trying to decided whether to keep the carpet around or not. Have you ever left one particular room carpeted and done the rest of the floor? So, when you stand in the dining room, it looks like it extends to the kitchen, or family room, etc. Likewise, when you stand in the kitchen, it looks like it extends into all the adjacent rooms.
If we want to have a cozy area, we simply get a thick rug and put it in that room! Overall, fantastic guide.
I have about 6 tabs open right now going through the details of all the steps. At some point in the next few years the wifey and I are gutting the kitchen, taking out a wall or two, and then hardwood throughout the kitchen, dining, living room, and stairs.
You mentioned it in Step 8. Online search yields that some call a mitered spline joint a kerf joint. A spline fits in the kerf left by the table saw or router. One of my future projects is making sled for the TS to do both straight splines and dovetail splines for decorative boxes.
I found those too, looks like a good way to make a miter joint stronger like a poor mans biscuit joiner. And I knew about that one too and for some reason never fixed it.
Also, the suggestion of cutting baseboard a little long applies all the time, the compression at the ends is good and keeps everything tight. Joe — two good tips. With slight variations, red oak is red oak and knotty pine is knotty pine. While it is true that runs of natural wood will vary, it is still possible to find a close match. Even if a close match cannot be made, staining the wood can help bring two different floors into close alignment.
But since laminate is a branded, man-made artificial product, it has a color and texture that is all its own. Once you buy a certain brand of laminate flooring, the only acceptable replacement is from the same product line. Laminate flooring cannot be stained or otherwise altered to align it with the appearance of another type of laminate flooring. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content.
Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights.
Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Issue Solution Moisture Water is laminate flooring's worst enemy. Eventually, water will find its way to the core. The right floor will enhance the functionality of your home and appeal to future buyers.
But before you do the work of ripping out the old floors and placing the new, you need to prepare. Not sure which steps to take to get your kitchen ready for flooring installation? The kind of flooring you choose will affect what you have to do prior to a renovation. Research professional installers in your area, get several quotes and pick the right person for the job. Having a contractor lined up to install your new floor will give you an idea for timelines and will help you prepare for the work ahead.
With your chosen floor in mind, measure your kitchen to see how much material you need to order. Measure several times, as any savvy carpenter would do, to ensure your numbers are accurate. Ordering slightly more than the amount needed to cover your kitchen is wise. Extra flooring tiles or boards also can replace damaged ones in the future and give you a surface to test cleaners and sealers before using them in the entire kitchen.
If not, rent a dumpster or make arrangements with a junk removal company. Everything will flow together seamlessly giving your new kitchen a complete look. If you have more questions, please write them in the comments below. We will be glad to help! Hi Mona — No insulation is needed between the island and the hardwood flooring. You would install the island directly on top of the hardwood flooring. If you have anymore questions, please feel free to reply yo this comment!
I am glad I bumped into this article. You cannot go wrong with hardwoods underneath cabinets. Thanks for writing!
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