Hardwood installation basics

If you are interested in engineered hardwood or if you already have it piled up in your residing room, you probably would like some tips on engineered hardwood installation. Please learn on to learn about installation via the floating, glue down, and staple down methods. First, a couple of basic suggestions:. The floating method consists of laying the engineered hardwood over a subfloor and connecting planks by clicking and locking them together.

This is considered the easiest installation technique as it requires no gluing or nailing. It takes precision just like other methods; however, the preparation is less time consuming and the room for error is larger. As long as the subfloor is dry and flat, installing a floating flooring is a fantastic option. The glue down method is relatively straightforward as well. It is ideal if your subfloor is made of concrete. A flooring adhesive has to be spread throughout the subfloor and the engineered hardwood planks are applied over the adhesive to maintain position.

Some adhesives instruct planks to be applied when the glue is still wet, whereas others say to apply them when the glue has dried. Frankly, the former is more reasonable as you can finish applying the engineered hardwood installation faster, without having to wait for the glue to dry.

If you do choose to apply the flooring over wet glue, consider spreading the adhesive two ft at a time. Planks are literally stapled into the ground, about six inches apart.

And mistakes can really throw a project out of whack, especially one as long-term as placing a brand-new floor. Give Flooring Source of Texas a call at for hardwood purchase and installation.

First, a few general tips: Let the flooring sit in the installation room for at least 72 hours. This allows it to acclimate to room temperatures. Mix planks between packages to ensure different shades when installing. A mixture of shades will give your engineered hardwood floor flavor and flow. Check for warped boards. Obviously, you do not want to use any subpar planks in installation. Gather necessary tools: Cutting saw, painting tape, pull bar, rubber mallet, tapping block, trowel, spacers, wood cleaning substance.

Floating Floor The floating method consists of laying the engineered hardwood over a subfloor and connecting planks by clicking and locking them together. Installation basics It is wise to layout the first two rows of planks before forcing them in place.

Visualize the beginning of the engineered hardwood installation and draw a chalk line at the end of the second row. Also, leave about a half-inch gap between the first row and the wall. The use of spacers will secure the first row and maintain the half-inch gap. Be sure the tongue of each plank is facing the wall.

All planks should be staggered six inches to avoid pattern repetition. Solid hardwood flooring is sometimes face-nailed down through the face of the planks and into the subfloor, though this is more common with softwood flooring. More often hardwood flooring planks are nailed down diagonally through the side tongue as each plank is installed.

This allows the nails to be completely hidden as the groove on the next plank covers up the previous tongue.

Pro flooring crews use specialty nailers that snug up the planks at the same time they drive the nails.

Other than this, ordinary carpentry tools—table saws, power miters saw, jigsaws, and circular saws—are used to cut the hardwood planks. There are more options with engineered hardwood flooring, as they can be laid with nails, staples, or glue. Or, they can be "floating" floors in which the planks are secured together with a proprietary type of "click-and-lock" variation of tongue-and-groove joinery.

Glue-down types of require notched trowels and other specialty tools, and floating floors may require an interim layer of thin foam underlayment over the subfloor Engineered flooring planks are also cut with ordinary carpentry tools. Cost variations are dictated by the type of hardwood used, and some unsual woods can run higher than these averages.

Cost variations in engineered hardwood are dictated by the type of surface hardwood veneer and its thickness.

Thicker veneers cost more than thin veneers. Much of the success of any hardwood flooring installation depends on good preparation of the subfloor and underlayment.

Professionals follow several common practices when installing either solid hardwood or engineered hardwood flooring planks:.

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