Learning how to easily lay hardwood flooring for the first time is not that hard. Have you ever looked at someones floor and wished that you could do that as a do it yourself project?
Well you are in the right place because in the video below you will learn exactly that.
It is not as hard as you might think. Yes it takes some work but what good project doesn't, right?
Check out the information below and take it as a challenge for you to complete and make that positive change to your life and home you can be proud of.
Supplies Needed
Handy Nail Puller Pry BarGel Cushioned Professional Knee Pads
Staple Gun
Staples
Nails
Floor Scraper
16 gauge Nail Gun
Table Saw
Rubber Mallet
Flooring Nailer
Floor Accessory (metal & Rubber)
Small hand saw or Japanese Pull Saw
Step by Step Instructions
To start things off you first need to go to your local lumber or flooring store and pick the type of flooring you want to install.You have the choice of many types of wood, width’s and thickness.
In the video she picks a 3/4 inch pre-finished solid pine floor.
The first thing to do is bring your flooring home and lay it out on the floor in the house either in the room you are going to install it or a room right beside it.
You need to spread the wood out to for seven days to let it get acclimatized to the temperature in the building to prevent shrinkage problems in the future.
The room size in the video is around 430 square feet, so she brought home 470 square feet of flooring which is what she needed plus 10%.
Prepping the room is important and the first thing is to remove the existing base boards that are there.
Use a flat bar and take your time so you don’t break peices because you want to put them back on after the floor is installed.
Next is removing the carpet if there is one and they are held in place by tack strips.
You can easily pull up the carpet and then also cut the carpet into strips making it easier to roll up and remove.
You won’t believe how heavy carpeting can be.
Next is removing the foam or underlay which is usually held down by staples or adhesive usually on the outer edge of the underlay.
If you have staples you need to remove every one of them before proceeding.
Then go over the floor carefully looking for any loose nails or squeaky spots and hammer them down or add more to fix the squeak.
After that remove the tacks strips with a flat bar and hammer. Be very careful here as there are a lot of tacks and they can be nasty.
Make sure you use the flat bar to lift up the wood every few inches instead of pulling it up from one end. It will break if you do this and that will cause a lot of undue stress and anxiety.
Then use a floor scrapper to clean up any remaining foam on the floor.
Next clean the entire room by sweeping and vacuuming leaving no dirt which might hinder in a level floor when installing.
Rolling out your underlay is next and you should start at one end of the room using a staple gun to staple it to the floor as you go. Try not to have creases or bubbles in the underlay.
Once that is done on the entire floor you can start laying the flooring.
In the video she starts working around some tile. In your case this might not be the case. If not you can just start at one end of the longest wall.
In the video she rips down a flooring board to fit against the tile to use as a transition piece to the floor.
Here she cut off the tongue and left the groove. She did this so it would fit snug against the tile and also then the tongue would accept the next piece of flooring.
She uses a 16 gauge nailing gun to nail the piece to the floor.
Now start laying the floor. Use long boards on the first row to give it more strength to start off.
You must leave an expansion gap between the wall and your first board. She leaves a three eights gap because her base board id 1/2 inch thick and will cover the gap once installed.
Because she has that tile she needs to measure how far away from the wall the edge was and then cut the first board off so the following rows eventually match up perfectly to the edge of the tile. Then each row after that will just continue on smoothly.
She uses her nailer to nail the first row in place and she places the board on the floor with the tongue facing the middle of the room so the next row will fit in together.
When getting to the end of the row you will need a table saw to cut the last piece to length so it will fit. Remember to leave that three eights expansion gap there as well.
On the second row and so on you can use the full width boards which in this case are 5/1/8 inches wide.
Here you can also begin using a flooring nailer which you can purchase or just rent from a rental place near you.
The flooring is 3/4 inch thick so she uses 2 inch long cleats to nail the floor down.
When she gets to the edge of the tile her boards fit together because she has the tongue facing out which fits into the groove of the next board.
Always think ahead if you have any kind of these situations.
Make sure your pieces connect together tightly without any gaps before nailing them down. Use the rubber hammer to tap boards into place.
You don’t want to damage the tongue and so you can use a rubber accessory with a lip on it to hit it into place.
Make sure when laying the floor you stagger the seams to add strength and as well gives the floor a great look.
You might bring in a few boards and lay them out first to see where the seams are and then change the lengths to make it look random and more pleasing to the eye.
This project took four days when considering one day to prep the floor and three days to actually lay the floor.
This is because she took her time figuring things out and making sure she was doing everything right.
It might not take you as long depending if it’s you’re first time or you have done this before.
There might be a bow in a board and to make sure there is a tight fit she screwed down a scrap piece of wood close to the flooring board and then with one hand using a flat bar to pry the piece in place while with the other hand and one foot nail the board in place.
When you get to the end of the room you need to go back to using the hand held nailer because there is not enough room.
If possible shoot a nail diagonally into the tongue. Face nail when at the last row again.
Use a metal flooring accessory to pull the pieces for the last row into place.
You might find that the room is not square and so you might have to rip some pieces to size so they fit properly without a gap at the end.
In a bigger room you should start flooring in the center of the room so if it is not square you actually cut the space in half because you will use both ends of the room to absorb the space it is out.
If the flooring continues into a closet you must cut the first row narrow again like you did at the start with the groove facing in so the next row will then match up and flow seamlessly together with the larger room. Always make sure you still have the expansion gap in place.
When cutting off the last board in each row be sure to cut off the groove and then use that same board to start the next row withe smooth end against the wall.
You will come to the end and you need to place the floor under the door jamb for the best and cleanest finish.
To do this take a scrap piece of flooring, lay it down against the door jam and use a hand or Japanese Pull Saw to cut the bottom of the door jamb nice and straight.
Now the flooring piece fits under the jamb and looks great.
The last pieces might take the longest to complete but be patient because you are almost done.
It is important to pick a thickness of the flooring so it will match nicely when matching up with the floor of an existing and adjacent room.
When finished you can stand back and admire you’re work and just know you have improved the look and feel of the room and your home.
Because you thought ahead and bought the right materials you have made the job so much easier and more enjoyable and you have accomplished a project you never thought you could do.
Congratulations. You can be proud.