How to start hardwood flooring

Nail Down the First Row of Flooring

Position your first board so its edge is up against the chalk line. Then, use a nail gun to secure it in place. Continue laying and nailing boards parallel to the starting line until your first row is finished. We recommend using 2-inch flooring cleats or 2-inch staples.

Before You Install Wood Flooring

Wood floor installation requires a level subfloor and that your hardwood flooring is acclimated to the room’s humidity and temperature according to the manufacturer’s guidelines. To learn how to do this, watch Prepping Plywood Subfloors.

Solid hardwood flooring is the most difficult of all to install. It’s usually attached with a special flooring nailer then sanded with a drum type floor sander and finished.

Engineered Hardwood: Often The Easiest Wood Flooring to Install.

Keep in mind, every project and home are unique. However, on average it takes 7-10 days to install hardwood floor once it has arrived at your home. 7 days for acclimation of the hardwood and 1-3 days for the actual floor installation.

Installing hardwood flooring averages between $6 and $12 per square foot. On average, wood flooring costs between $3 and $7 per square foot for materials and $3 to $5 per square foot for labor. An estimate for installation of 1000 square feet of hardwood flooring runs between $6,000 and $12,000.

When you first have your hardwood flooring installed, you should wait at least a day before walking on your floors with socks. Avoid having pets play in the newly renovated room for two days, and keep heavy furniture out of the room for at least a week so the floor can cure.

Wait 48 to 72 hours after the hardwood has been refinished/ finished before “PLACING” furniture back in its place. Keep a steady temperature and humidity within your home. Dramatic swings in temperature will cause hardwood to shrink or to cup.

Remove all furniture and other objects and materials from the areas where the hardwood flooring installation will take place. Some installers will move your furniture, but there will be an additional charge for doing so. Before moving, you‘ll also need to empty the contents of china cabinets, closets and the like.

Mineral Spirits

Yet, a more thorough way of cleaning the fine dust particles from a sanded wood floor left behind after vacuuming or dust mopping. A rag soaked with mineral spirits, a water-free liquid solvent, commonly known as paint thinner, can be used to safely clean a wood.

It takes a full 30 days for the floors to cure, so it’s ideal to wait 30 days before putting area rugs on the surface. If you want to put area rugs back sooner, than 2 weeks is another good benchmark.

Refinishing involves sanding down the uppermost layer of the floor and applying fresh stain and lacquer over the existing wood. Resurfacing your floor involves more than just putting a layer of polish on top.

Dogs on the other had, we recommend that they stay off the floors for up to two weeks. The reason being their nails can be harsh on the new finish while setting up.

Strong Scents

The strong scent of polyurethane and stain lingers in the atmosphere for very long and can kick-start a migraine any time or all the time. Even if it’s not causing migraines, it’s still uncomfortable to live in a house where the floor is being refinished and there are strong odors in the air.

When your floors are hard to install

To save on all the cleaning, it would be best to do the floors first. If you do the walls first, you’ll end up hiring someone to clean all the floors once the wall paint is done. If your company is trying to save money, this might not be the most cost-effective strategy.

If you simply have no floor coverings yet and just a subfloor, then you will greatly benefit by painting the walls and ceiling before refinishing the floors. You can paint with pure freedom, even using a paint sprayer, and spillages rarely cause much damage.

If your hardwood floors are scratched and dull, you can bring them back to their former beauty by refinishing them. One major drawback of refinishing wood floors is the dust that is produced.

Humidity in Summer

Although hardwood floors can essentially be installed any time of the year, the cooler temperatures make spring an ideal time for you schedule your hardwood flooring installation, especially if you live in a particularly humid climate like Kansas City.

In general, it will almost ALWAYS be less expensive to refinish your hardwood floors. If you replace them, you need to pay for additional wood as well as ripping up and hauling away existing hardwood. Even if you have this, it will still be less expensive then replacing the whole floor.