How to Install a Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood floors beautify any home.

Hardwood floors can enhance any home. However, due to the high cost of the flooring and all of the work involved, many homeowners opt to hire a professional to install this handsome addition. Installing hardwood floors is a time-consuming process; it's simple to describe, much more difficult to execute. That said, it's not impossible. If you are handy, this job might be right up your alley.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Subflooring
• Chalk reel
• Screws
• Drill
• Drill bits
• 15-pound asphalt felt
• Tape measure
• Finishing nails, 1 1/2 inch
• Nail set
• Hammer or nail gun
• Saw
• Prybar
• Reducer strip

Instructions

Preparation

1. Keep the new flooring inside your home for a few days to adjust to the humidity level.

2. Mark the wall at the beginning and end of each floor joist.

3. Lay the subflooring over the joists to ensure the proper fit.

4. Make lines on the subfloor where you marked the joists. Line up the two sides and snap a mark down on the floor indicating the joist locations.

Subflooring

1. Screw the subfloor into the joists. Put one screw in each spot where the subfloor meets a joist.

2. Cover the floor with a layer of felt. Overlap each seam by approximately 3 inches. Staple the felt to the floor.

3. Mark the felt with the chalk reel to indicate the joists.

4. Make a mark in the center of the starting wall and the wall parallel to it. Start on a wall perpendicular to the joists.

5. Connect the two points with the chalk line reel and snap a chalk line directly in the center of the room.

6. Snap another chalk line 1/2 inch from the starting wall and parallel to the center line to indicate the edge of the first row of flooring.

Laying the Floor

1. Position the longest board. Drill pilot holes--large enough to accommodate the finishing nails--in every spot that touches a joist. Drill the holes toward the wall side of the board; baseboards will later hide them.

2. Hammer nails into the pilot holes and through the flooring, subfloor and into the joists. Don't hammer the nails flush into the flooring planks. Leave about 1/8 of an inch.

3. Place the tip of a nail set into the groove of each finishing nail. Hammer the wider end to finish driving the nail into the plank.

4. Nail the tongue-and-groove portion of the board (the part that sticks out of the plank) into the floor joists at approximately a 45 degree angle. Use a nail set to finish each nail before moving on to the next plank.

5. Rap each additional row with a hammer (use a short piece of flooring as a buffer to prevent damage) to tighten it to the previous row before nailing.

6. Continue laying floor planks in this method. Stagger the planks so none of the end pieces from the previous row are within 6 inches of the next row. Cut the planks to fit any of the staggered areas that don't touch the wall. Secure them before moving on to the next row.

7. Install the last flooring pieces with a pry bar and a block of wood snugly against the wall.

8. Drill pilot holes, close to the wall, where the flooring meets the floor joists. Nail the plank through the sub-floor and into the floor joists. Leave 1/8 of an inch of the nail exposed. Finish it with a nail set.

Tips & Warnings

• Install baseboards to hide the pilot holes and nailed flooring planks.

• Starting the floor 1/2 inch from the wall leaves room for expansion. If no expansion occurs, a baseboard can cover the space.

• Finishing nails have a small groove inside each nail that allows the placement of a nail set. The nail set essentially acts as a chisel for very small nails.

• If your floor causes a change of elevation to the next room, install a reducer strip.

• If you are working with a large area, a wood nailer (also called a flooring nailer or cleat nailer) will speed up the job. Angled at 45 degrees, a wood nailer drives nails home when you hit a plunger with a rubber mallet. There is no need to hold nails or to try to get that perfect 45-degree angle; just move it to the floor joist and give it a tap with the mallet.

References

• Home Tips: Install Hardwood Flooring
• "Hardwood Floors"; Don Bollinger; 1990