Wooden Floors and Having Them Installed

For anyone who wishes to install a wooden floor themselves, it is important that they know how tough this kind of job is. On the other hand though, it will also be something that will be the source of a lot of pride if you get it right. Choosing wood as a floor covering means that not only are you choosing something which will look fantastic, you are also choosing a durable long lasting material. Although you could in theory have wooden floors all over your home, it is not really a good idea to put it in a bathroom or kitchen because these areas are prone to excessive water which could cause the floor to either lift or rot.

Tips For Installing Wooden Floors

When it comes to making it easier to install your wooden floors, the following information should help you out.

– When ordering wood it is a good idea to have about 15% more wood than you actually need. This is because it is very likely that you are going to make a few mistakes and when you have to cut some wood you are going to have pieces left that you can’t use.

– Before you actually start work you should make sure that your wood has been left sitting in the room where it is to be laid for a few days. The purpose of this is for the wood to acclimatise to the humidity level in your home.

– Moving in a perpendicular direction to the joints in the floor is a wise move when putting down wooden flooring.

– Check the joints in the floor for any squeaks before you start laying the floor. If you do find areas where there are squeaks then you should use a long drywall screw to reinforce the area.

– Before you lay the wooden floor panels, you should add sheets of moisture protection as this is very important. If you want you could use vapor barrier paper.

– It is usual to begin at your longest wall and move out from there. Always make a point of nailing down the first two rows by hand. Drilling pilot holes for your finishing nails is something that you should take care of.

– It is important that the panel joints are not close to the panel joints in the next row – aim to leave a six inch gap.

– If you want to make sure that you are leaving the correct gap between the joints in each row, then the best thing to do is to lay out multiple panels at the same time.

– You can use a small piece of scrap wood for levelling out each row. You can use this piece of scrap wood to make sure that each piece of wood fits tighter against the other by placing the wood at the side of a wood panel and tapping gently with a hammer.

– The job will become much easier if you use a floor nailer and you can start using this once you have got going.

– The last row will probably require the use of a pry bar to ensure that you get a tighter fit.

Above are just a few tips for installing wooden floors; you will also need more in-depth instructions for completing the work.