How to Start Installing Hardwood Floors

Save money by installing a hardwood floor yourself.

Hardwood floors add charm and value to a home. Real hardwood floors, not laminate floors, are expensive to purchase, but you can offset this expense by installing the floor yourself. With the appropriate tools, a hardwood floor should require only a day or two to install inside a home or small office. Before getting started, remove and dispose of the existing floor covering.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Stud finder
• Chalk
• 15-pound felt underlay
• Staples
• Staple gun
• Nail set
• Hammer
• Chalk line box
• Miter saw
• Carpenter's square
• Tape measure
• Nails

1. Locate the floor joists underneath the subflooring with a stud finder. Make small chalk marks on the wall a few inches above each location where a floor joist runs across the room. These will be your reference points when you are nailing the hardwood flooring planks to the joists.

2. Lay down felt underlayment. Cut rolls of 15-pound felt underlayment to fit into the room or area without overlapping. The felt reduces friction caused by the hardwood planks rubbing the subfloor and will prevent squeaking floors. Secure the underlayment with staples from a staple gun. Set the staples below the subfloor surface, using a nail set and hammer, to produce a flush surface. This prevents wear on the hardwood planks.

3. Create lines across the felt to mark the location of the floor joists. Stretch a chalk line snugly across the floor between the marks you made in Step 2. Pluck the taut string to produce a chalk line running across the floor.

4. Lay the hardwood floor planks, starting in any corner of the room. Make sure the planks run perpendicular to the floor joists and each end sits over a floor joist.

5. Cut the planks to fit as needed, using a carpenter's square and miter saw to make squared corners.

6. Drive nails down through the hardwood floor planks and into the floor joists, using a hammer. Leave the nails sticking 1/4 to 1/2 inch above the surface of the planks. Place a nail set over the heads of the nails. Hammer the wider end of the nail set to drive the nails flush with or just below the surface of the floor planks. Nails left sticking out can injure bare feet.

7. Continue placing the hardwood planks end-to-end across the room until the entire floor is covered.

References

• Wood Addicts' Guide Book: Installing Hardwood Flooring
• Ask the Builder: Hardwood Floor Installation

Resources

• My Flooring Helper: Main Types of Hardwood Floors