How to Start Laying Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood floors warm any room.

Nothing matches the warmth and beautify of a hardwood floor .While the planks come in many types and finishes, the most common kind has tongue and groove edges that fit snugly together to form a smooth durable floor. Follow some easy tips when you install a hardwood floor and you’ll enjoy its beauty for years.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Hardwood flooring planks
• 15-pound felt
• Chalk box and string
• Measuring tape
• Finish nails
• Hammer
• Nail Set
• Assistant (if possible)

1. Strip off the old floor covering and make any preliminary repairs to the subfloor. Pull out any nails or screws and replace damaged flooring.

2. Prepare your room to begin laying the hardwood. On the two side walls, just above the floor joists, make a mark with a piece of chalk or a pencil for easy reference later. Since you will nail the hardwood to the joists, it helps to have a guide handy.

3. Install a layer of underlayment. 15-pound felt is a good choice to reduce future squeaking and noise from the floor rubbing against the subfloor. Use a staple gun to attach the felt and make sure all the staples are below the subfloor’s surface.

4. Start on the longest wall perpendicular to the direction the joists run. This is very important since you must nail into the joists. The reason for starting on the longest side is to reduce the effect of any discrepancy in room size.

5. Have an assistant hold one end of the chalk line on top of the felt, directly below the marks you made earlier to indicate each joist. Pop a string line across the floor designating the position of every floor joist.

6. Lay the first line of hardwood strips, end to end, along the long wall. Make sure your boards are parallel with the wall but they should not touch. Leave an 18th inch gap to allow for expansion. Your baseboard will later cover this tiny gap.

7. Use finish nails on the top of the first strip of wood only at the very outside edge where the baseboard will cover. Also, nail a finish nail at a 45-degree angle, towards the wall, over each chalk line. This assures that your floor attaches to the joists, not just the subfloor.

8. Insert the nails in the previous step in the top of the tongue and be very careful to make sure each one of them counter-sinks into the wood; otherwise, your next plank will not fit snugly.

9. Stagger the ends of the planks when you put the next strip of boards on to prevent the board ends from breaking at the same point on each strip. Lay the new board down and gently tap it into place. The groove of the new board will fit snugly over the tongue of the previous board. Continue laying the strips of board across the room, trimming the ends when necessary for a smooth fit.

Tips & Warnings

• When you purchase your wood, ask the salesperson about renting a special gun that shoots pins into the tongue of each strip, making it easier to install the floor.

• Look carefully at each new strip of wood to make sure there is no gap between the boards. If you nail before the boards are snug, there will always be a gap.