How to Install Wood Floors With Alternating Boards

Alternating widths adds variety to a wood floor.

Wood floors add charm and beauty to your home. With proper care and maintenance, they can last the lifetime of your home. Installing wood floors is a project most do-it-yourself handymen can tackle. One way to make the hardwood floors in a room stand out is to alternate the widths of the rows of flooring. When ordering your flooring, order enough of each width to finish the floor with about a 10 percent waste factor.

Things You'll Need

• Carpenter's pry bar
• Hammer
• Nail set
• Power screwdriver
• 2 1/2-inch wood screws
• Builder's felt
• Carpenter's stapler
• Tape measure
• Chalk line
• Finish nails
• Miter saw
• Flooring nailer
• Dead blow hammer

Instructions

1. Remove all the furnishings from the room in which flooring will be installed. This makes it a lot easier to install the flooring and helps keep the cleanup manageable.

2. Pry the baseboards away from the wall, using a carpenter's pry bar. Number the pieces to make it easier to reinstall them after the hardwood floor has been installed.

3. Walk around the room and inspect the subfloor. Look for exposed nails or screws and countersink them below the surface of the subfloor. Additionally, listen for any squeaks that indicate loose subfloors. Screw these down to the floor joist, using 2 1/2-inch wood screws. A power screwdriver works great for this.

4. Roll out a layer of builder's felt to cover the entire subfloor. Staple this down to the subfloor with a framing stapler. The builder's felt helps quiet the subfloors and acts as a vapor barrier.

5. Measure the width of the room, using a tape measure, and divide that number in two. Snap a chalk line on the marks to indicate the center of the room. Measure from the center to the wall where you will start laying the flooring. Subtract the width of one row of flooring plus 1/4 inch. The 1/4 inch is your expansion joint. Mark the dimension on the floor at the two ends of the wall. Snap a chalk line between these two points. This will be your reference line to lay the first row of flooring.

6. Lay one of the longest pieces of flooring along the reference line. The tongue will face away from the wall. Pre-drill holes for finish nails on the groove side of the flooring plank. Drill these about every 12 inches along the width. Nail the plank to the subfloor with finish nails. Countersink them, using a nail punch, so that they are about 1/8 inch below the surface. Repeat this step until you reach the opposite end of the room. Cut the last piece to length, using a miter saw. Leave a 1/4-inch cap at the end of the board and the wall for expansion.

7. Place a piece of the next widest floor plank at the start of the last row. Tap it into place, using a tapping block. A tapping block protects the tongue and groove of the flooring when you need to make a tight joint. It is made from a piece of scrap flooring. Nail the plank in place with a finish nail at 45 degrees through the tongue and into the subfloor. All the flooring must be nailed at 12 to 16 inches along the length of the boards. Continue laying the floor planks to the other end of the wall. Make sure no plank has end joints that line up with each other.

8. Lay a different width floor plank to start the next row; you can repeat a pattern or pick them randomly as you go for the appearance you want. You should be able to start using the flooring nailer to set a flooring nail into the tongue of each plank at 45 degrees while forcing the plank tight against the other row. Repeat this step until you have laid the entire room's flooring. Pre-drill the last few boards and set the nails again when you cannot use the flooring nailer anymore.

9. Reinstall the baseboards.

Tips & Warnings

• Use thick kneepads to protect your knees as you work.

• Wear safety glasses when operating power tools.

References

• Home Tips: How to Install a Hardwood Floor
• Hardwood Installer: Floor Preparation for Hardwood Floors
• Hardwood Flooring Talk: How Do I Level My Subfloor?