Installing real wood floors




















If you really want to get a good estimate of the cost of a hardwood floor, you should estimate the amount of hardwood you need for the size of your room. Or, you can simply calculate the square footage of your room. Just measure the length and width of your room to find out how much hardwood you need. The length and width of a room in feet multiplied together will give you the square footage of a room.

Always remember to purchase a bit more than you need to account for waste and difficult corners or crevices that make require using more wood than necessary. Consider the durability of the material when selecting a hardwood. Some pre-finished flooring options can be difficult or impossible to refinish, especially if they have a profile. Softwoods may need to be refinished more often than hardwoods since they tend to be more prone to deeper scratches.

Fasten the starter board to the floor using wood screws. Nail the first row of wood flooring against the starter board, being careful not to move the starter board when nailing. The groove of the flooring should be against the starter board. Use a blind nailer to install the remaining rows of wood flooring.

Use the nailing practices described earlier in the chapter. After installing in one direction, remove the starter board and start rows going in the opposite direction. Install a spline or a slip tongue in the groove of the board that was against the straightedge. Put wood flooring adhesive down the entire length of the groove before installing the splines. Install the spline using a blind nailer. To keep the spline in alignment for the next flooring board, use a scrap piece of wood flooring to run along the length of the spline as you nail.

Install the remaining rows in the opposite direction. At 70 Fahrenheit, a relative humidity of 25 percent gives an EMC of 5 percent, and a relative humidity of 75 percent gives an EMC of 14 percent.

A 50 percent variance in relative humidity produces an EMO change of 10 percent. How that affects wood flooring depends on which species is being used. That's a full inch over 16 boards in a floor. Over the width of a foot wide floor, that amounts to more than three inches of total expansion or contraction.

Protective coatings cannot prevent wood from gaining or losing moisture; they merely slow the process. Installers need to take those expected dimensional variations into account when installing the wood flooring. This is a tool for the wood flooring professional to calculate perpendicular movement, but not absolute due to variable conditions. These variables need to be taken into consideration when calculating dimensional change coefficients e. These figures are noninstalled boards. The following is a simple way to determine the number that will be used to calculate dimensional change coefficient for any given species:.

Coefficient is determined by taking the tangential shrinkage and dividing it by the fiber saturation point. To find the fiber saturation point, google the species. In actual practice, however, change would be diminished in a complete floor, as the boards' proximity to each other tends to restrain movement. Installation - Jobsite Conditions. Installation - Hardwood Flooring Acclimation. Installation - Moisture Testing. Our humble flooring suggestion: find a flooring installer to do it for you.

Both solid and engineered wood flooring can also be stapled to a subfloor rather than being nailed. The process is much the same as the nail-down method, but… it uses staples. What are the pros and cons of using nails vs. Well, staples have a firmer grip on your wood planks—meaning the boards are more secure.

But , nails are more forgiving with movement. But do your research. Some flooring adhesives contain VOCs volatile organic compounds , which can emit toxins in your home. Just as the name implies, click-together or snap-together flooring locks into place using special grooves in each plank. Rather, they stay in place thanks to the pressure of the planks and surrounding walls.

Floating floors. Most engineered hardwood options can be purchased as click-together flooring, while solid wood click-together products are a bit less common. But if you prefer a more rustic look, you can find that too. Kahrs , for instance, manufactures some of the best engineered wood flooring for people who want features like beveled edges and saw marks.

Good question! The biggest complaints are a squishy or hollow feeling in the floors. Additionally: a lot of hardwood floor alternatives come as click-together floating floors. Everyone knows that some types of wood flooring are more durable than others. But — and we emphasize the but —the life and durability of your hardwood floors depend most significantly on quality installation.

So: whichever installation method you go with, if you want to get the most durable wood flooring , make sure to follow these step-by-step instructions. That way, you have enough extra material in case you experience a cutting mistake or need to account for irregular shapes in the room. You have no idea how much trouble and annoyance this will save you in the long run. Trust us on that.



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