How to Install Hardwood Floors

Hardwood is a classic flooring choice for many home owners. It gives floors a naturally beautiful finish that few man made materials can match. If you want an immaculate, uniform floor, consider spending more to get one of the premium grades. If you want to add character and warmth to a room, the common grades are good choices.

Materials

•   Hardwood

•   Modular porch system kit

•   Wood putty

•   Vapour barrier paper

•   Pneumatic flooring package

Tools

•   Nail set

•   Staple gun

•   Drill bits

•   Hammer

•   Tape measure

•   Pry bar

•   Chop saw

•   Table saw

•   Ear protection

•   Safety goggles

•   Chalk line

•   Variable speed drill

Instructions

Choosing the boards and measuring the room

1.      Choose the hardwood species and board widths for the room installation.

2.      Measure the width and length of the room and multiply for the square footage.

3.      When ordering hardwood flooring, allow 10-15% extra for irregular boards and any cutting mistake.

Checking for a squeaky floor

1. Check the sub-floor. Minimum requirements are a ¾” plywood sub-floor. Make sure there are no squeaks in the floor. If there is a squeak, screw a long drywall screw into the sub-floor and joist where the squeak occurs.
2. Remove shoe moulding from the room; sweep and clean thoroughly.

Rolling out the vapour barrier paper

1. Roll out strips of vapour barrier paper, allowing at least a 4” overlap and staple securely to the sub-floor. Use 15 pound tar paper or felt which is relatively inexpensive at approximately $12 per roll at a home improvement store.
2. Mark with a pencil along the baseboards where the joists are located.

Starting installation and placing boards

1. Start the installation at the longest unobstructed wall. Remove the shoe moulding, and snap a chalk line 3/8” out from the baseboard. This allows for expansion in the hot, humid weather and contraction in the colder, drier weather of the hardwood flooring.
2. Begin placing boards by selecting a long board to start the first row. Pick one that is straight and align the edge of the board with the chalk line and drill pilot holes down through the hardwood plank and into the sub-floor and joist.
3. Face nail each board at the point of every joist and set the nail with a nail-set. Face-nail the entire row and remember to keep the beard lengths random. It is important to face-nail the first row because the pneumatic nail can’t get down in there. It will hit the wall and the force would push the wood against the baseboard, which would lose the 3/8” expansion and contraction.
4. It is important to lay the first boards perpendicular to the joists which are underneath. This is important to achieve a solid anchor.
5. Inspect the sub-floor to see which way the nails and seams ran. Try going underneath the crawl space to see how they run.

Hand nailing the rolls and stapling the boards

1. After the first few rows have been installed, drill pilot holes down into the tongue of each board and hand-nail the rolls until there is enough clearance for the pneumatic nail gun.
2. Using the pneumatic nail gun, place the gun lip over the edges of the board and strike firmly with the mallet, driving the staple into the tongue of the hardwood plank.
3. When installing up to a threshold, it is not critical to make exact cuts. Return to it after the floor has been installed and use a circular saw to cut across for a precise cut.

Cutting the baseboard and filling the gaps

1. When cutting along the baseboards, select a piece that will fit in there and leave 10 to 12 inches more then cut it off.
2. Use the other piece on the beginning of the next row.
3. Be sensitive to the way the ends fit together. One end has a tongue and the other end has a groove–this is called end matched.
4. Ensure to always cut the wall end of the wood so that you do not cut off the groove that fits to the tongue. If that happens, it would result in a big gap. Find a piece and lay it alongside the hole and flip it over.
5. Ensure when you make the mark to cut off the wall side, not the room side. When you make the mark, butt it up against the baseboard and then mark the end of that tongue. That will leave a 3/8” gap for expansion and contraction when installing the piece.

Working around clearance issue

1. As you near the opposite wall, clearance for the pneumatic nail gun again becomes an issue. Drill pilot holes and hand nail the boards until there is no longer clearance for the drill and hammer.
2. Now, drill pilot holes down into the top of the boards and face-nail the boards, remembering to set the nails with a nail-set.

Fitting the last board into place and filling holes with wood putty

1. If there is a narrow gap for the last board, take a measurement and rip (cut length wise) the last board to fit into place. Remember to leave a 3/8” gap at the end wall for expansion and contraction space.
2. Replace shoe moulding in the room and putty all of the nail holes that have been face nailed. Be sure to get wood putty that matches the floor.
3. Fill the hole and wipe off the excess.

Tips and warnings

• Lay out a box of hardwood boards ahead of the installation to visualise lengths, wood grain and colours of boards. When laying out the boards, keep in mind to never have the ends of board in adjacent rows line up with each other. Keep the length random and at least 6” in length.

• Before nailing, ensure to put at least two nails in every board. The rule of thumb is to place a nail every 10” to 12.”
• Use a pry bar and a few extra scraps of flooring to firmly seat the hardwood plank as your nail.
• Maintenance is easy for a pre-finished hardwood floor. Keep grit off of the surface by sweeping regularly and use an alcohol based floor cleaning kit to spray the board then wipe off with a damp cloth. Hardwood floors also help cut down on dust mites.