How to Go about Hardwood Floor Installation

In Orlando, hardwood floor installation is a project that you may choose to do yourself or that you may choose to hire out to a flooring installer.

Preparation

Any trim that runs around the walls near the floor needs to be removed because the flooring will be installed very close to the wall. The presence of trim will interfere with installation. Roll out, cut, and staple vapor barrier down to the subfloor.

Starting the First Row

The first row of flooring should be started along a wall that runs perpendicular to the joists that support the subfloor. The first board should be very long and straight. It should be set on the subfloor approximately 3/8 of an inch away from the wall. It should then be face nailed through the subfloor and into the joists underneath. There is a tongue on the short and long ends of the board. There is a groove on the opposite ends. The next and following boards should be set on the subfloor and snugly fitted into the short end of the preceding one. All of the boards on the first row will be set down end to end and will be face nailed into joists.

Finishing the Floor

The boards for all of the rows that follow should be cut so that the ends don't line up with the ones on the preceding row. There should be at least six inches of overlap between ends. The first few rows might have to be face nailed because there won't be enough wall clearance to use a flooring nailer. Ensure that the long end of each row fits closely against the one that precedes it. Once a board has been properly placed, it can be nailed down. Once there is enough room to use the nailer, the work will go faster, and the boards will be nailed in such a way that nail holes won't show on the face. The boards for the very last row might have to be cut in width to fit with 3/8 of an inch clearance between the board and the wall. The nails that were face nailed into the flooring need to be set with a nail set, and the nail holes need to filled with wood filler or putty in a color that matches the flooring. In Orlando, hardwood floor installation is a fairly straight forward task once the steps required for installation are known.