How to Install Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood flooring adds elegance to any room. It makes the room look more spacious and is much easier to maintain then carpet. You can sweep and mop it and it looks like it did when it was first installed. Follow these steps to install hardwood flooring.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Coat your sub-floor in 15-pound asphalt felt. Make sure it overlaps the seams by approximately 3 inches, then staple it down using a staple gun. Mark the center of the room by snapping a chalk line.
2. Snap a chalk line 1/2 inch from the wall you're starting from and parallel to the centerline. This allows for the hardwood flooring to expand and that small gap will be covered by baseboard trim.
3. Select the lengthiest boards to use in the first row. Drill pilot holes on the side near the wall to install 1 1/2-inch finishing nails. Nail them through the sub-floor into the sleepers then recess the nails using a nail set.
4. Drill pilot holes every 10 inches and at 45-degree angles through the tongue of the hardwood flooring on the next two rows. Secure with 1 1/2-inch nails and then drive each nail using a nail set.
5. Tighten each row against the previous row by rapping it with a mallet and a short scrap piece of hardwood flooring. When installing the hardwood flooring make sure that the end joints in each adjacent row are not within 6 inches of each other.
6. Use a flooring nailer when you install hardwood flooring over a large area. Place on the tongue of the board and strike the plunger with a rubber mallet. Don't scratch the flooring when doing this.
7. Pry the final boards into place using a block and pry bar. Drill holes and face nail the boards where it will be covered with baseboard. Use a nail set to nail the boards below the surface to complete your hardwood flooring.

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