Installing wood flooring may disguise imperfections.

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As better methods for taking care of wood flooring, often known as hardwood flooring, become available, it is once again becoming a popular flooring option. Wood floor installation should not be done lightly if you want your floor to look great for years.

Unlike laminate flooring, a floating floor that can be installed over any existing surface, wood flooring must be nailed down to the subfloor during installation. Floors should be swept, mopped, and vacuumed thoroughly, with particular attention paid to the edges and corners, and any cracks or uneven spots should be repaired.

Wood flooring is installed by nailing or gluing individual planks or strips of wood to the subfloor. The next step is a meticulous sanding and coating process. Sanding merely creates a lot of dust, and if you don’t know what you’re doing with a drum sander, your hard work on the floor will be rapidly and irreparably damaged. Hiring an expert installer can prevent this from happening. Pre-finished planks are available for purchase but must be installed with special care.

The subfloor must be covered with asphalt felt before the wood can be installed. This prevents the timber from being ruined by moisture down the road. Reduce the size as necessary.

You can find out if your room isn’t quite square during the wood flooring installation. If this is the case, ripping boards will be necessary to address the issue. To make a precise and equal cut, a table saw is required. When making cross-cuts, any standard circular saw will do.

Tacking down boards requires multiple rows to be laid up first. This ensures that the boards are spaced out evenly. A gap of at least six inches is recommended between adjacent boards to preserve the natural beauty of the wood and prevent them from warping. If you want your rows to stay there, the planks at the ends need to be at least eight inches long. Keep a half-inch gap between the planks and the wall using spacers. When installing new baseboards, you’ll need access to the spacer to remove them quickly.

Care must be used when nailing the floor down during wood flooring installation to avoid damaging the wood. Do not hammer the nails in until flush with the wood, and be careful not to hit the nail. Get the most out of every swing. Hitting the wood will leave an indentation that can never be removed and will permanently make the wood look less stunning. Use a nail set held at an angle to drive the nail home, leaving the head protruding from the board by about a quarter of an inch. Drive the nail flush with the tip and try again.

Remember to tap each row of boards tight to the previous row before nailing it down with a little piece of spare flooring and a hammer during wood flooring installation. You may easily replace the damaged plank with the spare by laying it next to it and tapping it firmly with the mallet. This ensures that the boards will remain flush with one another.

After the floor has been sanded and finished, the baseboards may be replaced, and you can stand back, stretch, and take in your hard work. You could finish this up with a few extra hands throughout the weekend.

If you take your time, measure carefully, and don’t mind living without the room for a few days, you can enjoy a stunning wood floor for decades. If you want to employ a professional crew, the work will be completed in less than a day, and the resulting mess won’t be as bad. After all, they’ve probably done something similar hundreds of times before, so they know the best way to approach the task. The price is negligible when weighed against the time and may be rented equipment you will spend otherwise.

Sears Home Improvements’ Search Marketing Manager is named Shawn Hickman.

Check out our Flooring page for further details on installing wood flooring in your home.

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