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The simple response is yes. Hardwood flooring installations can be performed by anyone with the proper tools, expertise, and adequate motivation. Yet, far too many zealous do-it-yourselfers have discovered that installing hardwood floors involves more effort and time than they thought possible. For them, employing a professional installation technician is usually the ideal option.
Let us assume, nonetheless, that you are motivated to handle the job on your own. You realize there’s a lot of work ahead of you, and you are excited to move forward. In this post, we will present a few of the difficulties some other property owners have confronted when putting in their wood flooring. This isn’t designed to be an installation “how to” manual. Instead, the subsequent will give you a fair understanding of the effort (and frustration) involved before starting the job.
Tools Of The Trade
In the past, the wooden boards were nailed or stapled physically. It was exhausting – even back breaking – work, even for smaller sized bedrooms covering less than 200 square feet; that approach has largely been abandoned for pneumatic nailers and staplers. They’re simpler to use and need far less hands-on labor. Each could be rented at most home improvement outlets.
You will furthermore need nails or staples. The steel nails that were frequently utilized 20 years ago have been replaced for cleat nails. These have a slightly hooked end that digs into the subfloor, and makes their support even more secure. Staples are created with a resin on the tip; this glue, when heated, has a similar effect, securing the hardwood floors to the subflooring with an adhesive quality.
Lastly, you’ll need a floor mallet. One side is constructed of metal and the other side is made of rubber; this tool comes in specially handy for aligning crooked or bowed planks.
Thickness Of The Planks
If you’re preparing to install strip flooring, bear in mind the optimum breadth of the strips is 2 1/4 inches. Contrast this with planks that might have widths up to 8 inches. Lots of do-it-yourselfers fail to realize that installing strip flooring might require a minimum of twice as much time and effort as plank flooring. Even when equipped with a pneumatically-driven nailer or stapler, the difference in workloads is substantial.
Dealing With Difficult Wood Planks
One of the largest frustrations for property owners installing their own hardwood floors is that the boards are frequently blemished. It’s worth noting that wooden strips and planks aren’t designed the same. A few are milled better than others
The ones that are milled poorly might appear twisted or bowed, making them challenging to work with. Even with a mallet to help straighten them, establishing the planks straight against each other is challenging.
Predictably, this problem is likely to occur quite often with inexpensive planks. This is a persuasive motive to steer clear of being lured exclusively by price
You might conserve a few dollars in advance, but may well be setting the stage for plenty of frustration later on.
Consider The Room’s Layout
The simplest space in which to install wood flooring is one with a square layout. In such areas, it’s fairly effortless to make sure the installation has a straightened appearance. The issue is, plenty of areas will have odd layouts that complicate the installation. For example, the strips and planks could run into an surrounding hallway or another space. Even a “minor” alignment issue could induce the floors to seem off-balanced as it runs through the additional areas.
Another concern is that the space in which you’re putting in the hardwoods might have moldings around the perimeter; this could be problematic, depending on the structure of the moldings (t-moldings may be specifically problematic). You will need to steer clear of cracking the surface area, or breaking them with the pneumatically-driven nailer or stapler.
To review, it’s feasible to install your own hardwood flooring and do a pro job. But it requires a lot of work
Collect the necessary resources, invest in high-quality materials, and be well prepared for unanticipated difficulties along the way.
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