How to Lay New Hardwood Floor

Hardwood floors add a warm, classic beauty and modern-day value to your home. It is a fairly involved process, but we can walk you through it.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Hardwood Flooring
• Chalk Line
• Combination Squares
• Common Nails
• Hammers
• Power Floor Nailer
• Saws (power Or Manual)
• Hammers

Dry Fitting for Layout

1. Run the new flooring at right angles to floor joists. There needs to be a 3/4-inch space left open along all edge of the room. A straight alignment of the first course is important.

2. Place a mark 3/4 inch plus the width of the flooring (3 inches for 2 1/4-inch flooring, 4 3/4 inch for 4-inch flooring and so on) on the end wall near the corner of the starting wall.

3. Place similar mark at opposite corner, and snap a chalk line between the two marks.

4. Lay the first strip tongue edge out from the wall. Nail the first strip 1 inch from the grooved edge (6d or 8d galvanized or screw-shank flooring nails work best).

5. Drive nails straight into the top surface of strips and countersink with nail set (face nailing). Position nails over supporting joists and near ends of strips. (Predrilling nail holes will prevent splits.)

6. Keep the starter strip aligned with the chalk line.

7. Blind nail starting strip through the tongue as well. The first two or three runs of flooring strips will have to be blind nailed (nails go into the tongue edge at about a 40-degree angle and must be countersunk with a nail set) - from there on nailing can be done with the power floor nailer.

8. Lay out seven or eight rows of flooring end to end in a staggered pattern with end joints at least 6 inches apart. Find or cut pieces to fit within 1/2 inch of the end wall. Watch your pattern for even distribution of long and short pieces and to avoid clusters of short boards.

9. Dry fit them first to make sure you are happy with the layout.

Preparation

10. Determine the size of the room in which the floor will go. Make some exact choices on the size and kind of hardwood flooring you want to use.

11. Consider plank width, whether it will be prefinished or unfinished to be sanded and finished in place, among other details.

12. Find a dealer in your area to help you pick a style and color that will suit your taste and budget - the dealer can also help you order the proper amount of material.

13. Consider renting a power floor nailer - laying the floor can be made a great deal easier and quicker by using this tool.

14. Clear the room of all furniture, baseboard trim, door trim and thresholds. Old linoleum and hardwood floors can be resurfaced with new hardwood, but old tile and carpet must be removed. Concrete must have a subfloor (plywood) type surface laid over it.

15. Start by checking for loose nails and sweeping the subfloor clean.

16. Mark location of joists on perimeter walls so that starting runs and finishing runs, which require face nailing, can be nailed into joists.

17. Cover subfloor with a good grade of 15-lb. asphalt felt/building paper, lapped 2 to 4 inches along the edge seams. This helps keep out dust, retards moisture movement from below and helps prevent squeaks in dry seasons. (There are some new vapor barrier/sound deadening/insulating products on the market, but builder's felt works almost as well in most cases at a fraction of the cost.)

Laying the Floor

18. Make sure that each tongue-and-groove joint is tightly seated together before nailing.

19. Continue installing across the room, ending up on the far wall with the same 3/4-inch expansion space as on the beginning wall. Make sure all joints are tight.

20. Ripping (sawing lengthwise) one row of flooring strips may be necessary to get a proper fit.

21. Avoid nailing into a subfloor joint. Position flooring strips so that they do not meet over subfloor joints. This adds to the overall strength and will reduce the chance of squeaky floors.

22. Blind nail by hand where the nailing machine cannot be used. Face nail the last runs when unable to blind nail by hand. With a 2 1/4-inch strip, face nailing is required the last two or three runs and in a ripped piece of a strip if one has been used. Use a pry bar or lever device to tighten these last face-nailed runs all at once before face nailing (be sure to protect the wall from the pry bar).

23. The floor is now ready to be sanded and finished to your personal taste.

Tips & Warnings

• The gap between flooring and the wall is needed for expansion space and will be hidden by baseboard and shoe mold. Keeping the boards well-mixed according to length makes for a much better overall look. Watch your layout carefully. One good method is to sort out the flooring according to length and rotate through each pile to make sure there you maintain an even distribution.
• Remember to countersink all nails that are hand-driven.
• Getting started on a straight line is vitally important factor so take your time on the inital layout phase.
• When baseboard is replaced, shoe molding should also be used to hide the expansion area around the perimeter. The shoe molding should be nailed to the baseboard not the flooring.

[samuelsmith10]

on 7/18/2009 Check out this website it provides a very helpful guide on how to install a hardwood floor yourself.
www.oakfloorinstallation.com