If you have decided to update the floors in your home, and have finally come to an agreement that you will use timber flooring, then you might be considering installing it yourself to save yourself some money. You are already out the cost of the flooring and you would like to cut down on your expenses by trying to put it down yourself. You are to be commended for trying to do this, but in most situations, you would be best letting your timber floor supplier do the job for you. When they do the job, they guarantee the work and you can be sure that they will do it right the first time.
Some much needed tips
However, if you feel that this is something that you can do and maybe you’ve seen it done well by someone else, then this article will try to explain how to do it properly, and hopefully you will end up with the floor of your dreams. In the event that things are not going as smoothly as you thought they would, you can always call in the experts and get them to finish it off for you. Here are a few tips to help you install your solid wood flooring, but before we begin, it is important to tell you, that you should allow your timber to acclimatise itself to the environment in your home. The advice then, is to let the wood breathe for at least a couple of weeks before installation. You can buy all the wood that you need from your local industry-leading timber floor suppliers, who would have an extensive selection if timer species at affordable prices.
- Remove the base board – This should always be removed before installing your hardwood flooring. Many people discard the old baseboard and replace it with a new one. Once you’ve done that, you need to prepare the subfloor. The vast majority of your time will be spent doing just this. Once that is done, you can do your final subfloor preparation. Check for anything that will make the floor uneven and remove it.
- Lay a moisture barrier – Most people use a paper underlay to stop the wood from sliding around. Now, you can start to lay out your floor, and remember not to let the joints touch or be too close to each other. Take your time doing this, and lay out the rows for the whole room, if it’s not too big.
- Install your wood – The nailing or stapling is a very important part of the installation, and it is recommended that you use a pneumatic tool to do this. This makes the job a lot easier and quicker. Once you have all of your floorboards in place, you can put your old baseboard back, or install a new one. You may need to do some touching up here and there, and hopefully at this point, you have the floor of your dreams.
You have made an excellent choice in deciding to install a wooden floor in your building, and you will wonder why you didn’t install it much sooner than you did. As you begin to use the floor and walk on it, it actually starts to look better and in 10 to 15 years from now, it will look amazing.
