How to Install Hardwoods on an Uneven Floor
You can viably install hardwood flooring over any solid wood underlayment. However, if the underlayment is uneven--due to dips, spaces and other contours--it can cause your hardwood floor to develop gaps and depressions on the surface over time. Liquid floor leveler provides an easy way to even depressed flooring. It's a watery cement that spreads out into gaps and depressions, giving you a flat surface to start with. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Liquid floor leveler
- Felt underlayment
- Razor knife
- Stapler
- Tape measure
- Tongue and groove hardwood floor boards
- Pneumatic floor nail gun
- Miter saw
- Table saw
Instructions
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1
Pour liquid floor leveler over the low spots, and in any holes or gaps in the floor. Let the leveler spread out flat. Let it set overnight.
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2
Cover the whole floor with felt underlayment, rolling it out in courses and overlapping them slightly at the edges. Cut the ends as needed with a razor knife. Staple them down with a standard stapler.
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3
Set the first course of boards alongside the wall where you want to begin, with the grooved side of the boards facing the wall and sitting 1/2 inch from it. The boards should be connected by their tongue and groove edges. Secure them to the subfloor by shooting nails through the surface, with two nails every foot or so. Cut the last board on your miter saw so it fits against the side wall.
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4
Set the second course alongside the first course, locking them together at the edges. Nail the second course along the sides rather than the top, using a nail gun to shoot the nails at a 45-degree angle just below the surface.
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Work your way across the whole floor, course by course, nailing the boards down through the sides and cutting them at the ends as needed. Make sure the ends don't line up between courses.
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Use a table saw to length-cut the final course of boards, so you can leave the 1/2 inch gap by the wall. You'll cover those gaps with floor trim.
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References
- Photo Credit hardwood floor texture image by GoodMood Photo from Fotolia.com
