DIY - How To Install a Hardwood Floor

My wife and I were unhappy with the carpet we had in the dining room of our townhouse. The front door opened onto a 4x8 foot wooden floor which transitioned to carpet in the dining room continuing down a step into the living room where there was a 3 foot wide marble slab in front of the fire place.

We liked hardwood floors we had seen and wanted to try installing it ourselves. We decided to test floor installing abilities by replacing the entrance and dining room with hardwood. If it looked ok we would continue and do the same for the living room.

You can use the following table to estimate the cost of the floor (not counting your time or tools.) I've included professional labor estimates to help you decide if it is worth your effort. (I got a local quote for around $9/square foot for an installed oak floor assuming I removed the old floor. I don't think that included new baseboard.)

My wife liked darker wood and I liked lighter wood, but with nice grain patterns. We visited several hardwood flooring places looking at several different floors. We took a one hour class at Lowes on installing wood floors. (They didn't go into great detail, but covered the basics of floating floors, nails-vs-staples underlayment etc.)

I've gotten several questions on the nails-vs-staples issue. Here's my summary:

	Nails/Cleats	Staples
Future Squeaks	Less Likely	More Likely
Holding Power	Relatively Constant	Initially Better, Long Term Less as glue ages
Splitting Tongues	More Likely	Less Likely
Gun Cost	Less than Staples	More than Cleats
Fastener Cost	More Than Staples	Less Than Cleats

Note that most of this is opinion. I've noticed that many professional installers use staples, and the floor manufacturer may have recommendations based on the floor you choose. There is rumored to be a university study on the topic, but I've never actually seen a copy.

I called lumber liquidators (which we had seen several times on Monster House (initially a great show, but got old) and discovered that they have a local showroom 20 minutes away. By going into the showroom I got several samples and learned what they had in stock, and how long an order would take. It seems like they don't know when they will get what in stock. They sometimes carry other names like Bruce.

After asking everyone we knew who had had a hardwood floor installed we found a great family run flooring warehouse/showroom near Baltimore "Wood Floors Plus". They have a terrific selection and great setup. Over half the people you might meet there are contractors who install wood floors. I was asking questions about the warranty on the finish and the salesman told me that the warranty on the finish wasn't as important because usually the floor will be damaged when you drop something and it dents the wood. Apparently the warranty only covers the finish wearing off, not dent damage. The guy behind me in line told me he was a professional installer and he agreed with the salesman. In fact he said he was surprised they were so truthful about the warranty and what really mattered. As you might guess I really like this place and the honest helpful advice.

It took us 2 long visits and several samples before we finally chose a floor. I took pictures of the samples and used photoshop to "paint" them onto pictures of our room to try and see what each would look like. This worked reasonably well, if you could get past the noticeable "repeat" pattern on the image caused by the small sample.

We ended up choosing a "mill-run" maple. It is light, but has a lot of grain including some dark coloring. (We really didn't expect as much variation, but when we got the first boxes home and opened them we were blown away by the amount of variation.)

I saw a great "this old house" show where they visited a wood floor factory and and explained the quality of the finish that can be applied/cured under the controlled factory conditions compared to a finish that can be applied in the home. (They use UV curing and several coats of extra hard finish.)

I used 3/4-inch thick by 2-1/4 inch planks of pre-finished mill-run maple from madawaska. It had a 25-year finish warranty, but since the mill was out of business I got it for a good price (a little over 3$/sq foot, but no warranty.) At first I was worried about the no warranty, but as mentioned above i discovered that the warranty only covers the finish. Most of the damage to a wood floor will come from scratches and dents, and the finish warranty does not cover those. So that long warranty sounds good, but I don't think it matters that much.

Board Width Considerations

Plank Width	pro's	con's
2-1/4-inch	Common, usually cheaper, Can make a small room look larger	More Boards to install, larger room might look too busy.
wider	Larger boards can show grain patterns better	Usually more expensive
mixed width rows	I like this and would consider it in next time	Planning/ordering becomes more complicated

Finish/Color Considerations lighter color - A cooler "feel" darker color - A warmer "feel", Shows dents and dust more

Wood Species Considerations Species Janka Hardness Cost/sf Bamboo 1410 2..3 White Oak 1360 3..5 Red Oak 1290 3..5 Maple 1450 4..6 Hickory 1820 5..7

I already owned a router, circular saw, jigsaw, handsaw and sliding compound miter saw. I bought a compressor (bostich oil-less pancake compressor combo kit which included a finish-nailer and brad-nailer from Lowes) (If I had the decision to make again I might buy a quieter senco or similar oiled compressor. I later saw one of these under an isle at Home Depot used to power a wire cutter in the closet shelving department. It was very quiet!)

I rented a "Power Nailer" brand floor nailer from the local rental center. These rent for about $30 for a half weekend. (mid Saturday through 8Am Monday.) In hindsight I wish I had bought one (new or used on eBay) and sold it on eBay when I was finished. I ended up feeling the time pressure on the rental. I think I rented that gun 3 different times for the dining room and 2 days for the living room. I ended up face nailing about six boards in front of the stairs (where there was room to use the nailer) because I didn't want to miss the rental return.

I can't emphasize enough how much I recommend buying the nailer! Make sure you can find a supplier of the correct nails (cleats). The local Home Depot only sells the "T" cleat and the nailer I rented uses an "L" cleat. The rental store sold them by the box for around $13/1000 cleats.

Measuring the amount of wood you will need. (Allow for bad boards. Some will be too warped, or have knots and you will not want to use these. In the end after putting down almost 350 square feet I think we had less than 10 square feet of rejects. The wood we bought came in boxes of 20 square feet.

(When we did the first room, my wife carried 11 boxes in her Santa Fe. When we did the second room I made 2 trips of 5 boxes each in back of my Acura Integra. it was pretty weighed down but I managed.)

I've read that you should store the wood in the house for a week to let the moisture content in the wood equalize with the house. I guess the theory is that once the humidity in the floor and house equalize the two will expand/shrink proportionally.

Measuring the Room

I outlined the room on a sheet of graph paper using the scale 1-grid = 1-foot. There were 2 45 degree angles in the room (In fact they turned out to be closer to 44 and it mattered for the cuts.) Then I counted the number of squares inside the outline to determine how many square feet to buy. I rounded up for the partial squares to allow for warped and knotty boards that I would have to discard. After putting down 440 square feet I was within 20 square feet (1 box) on my estimate. I was able to avoid opening the final box and was able to return it for a refund less a 6% restock fee.

Choosing the Run Direction and Start Wall

In general you are supposed to run the floor planks perpendicular to the floor joists. But for halls or narrow rooms you might choose to run them with the joists. This will make the floor slightly weaker, but for short runs (ie across the hall) you will not be loosing much strength.

Once you have chosen the direction the planks will run you need to pick the start wall. The floor will be parallel to this wall so it is common to pick the widest wall to as your starting wall. Measure carefully and do not be surprised if your room is not perfectly square. You will need to account for this by ripping the final row at a slight angle.

I snapped chalk lines parallel to the start wall every 2 feet to help keep the rows straight and parallel. This was important in my case because because 4 feet from the start wall the room did an "L" jog and at that point my rows got longer, yet I wanted to ensure that the rows remained straight.

I think a 45 degree floor might look nice. You will have slightly more waste since the waste at the end will have to be re-cut (at the other 45 which means lots of saw changes, or board flips.) This might be a good solution when your joists run the same way you want to run the floor.

Use care when removing the old carpet or wood. If you need to remove the baseboard use a knife to cut the paint exactly above the baseboard. Then use putty knives to pry it away from the wall. Follow this with a small pry-bar resting against the putty knife to avoid marking the drywall.

You might be able to leave the baseboard if it is on the starting wall for the new floor. Just make sure the height of the baseboard will be level all the way around the new floor. (You will use shoe molding to hide a 1/4 inch of floor away from the baseboard.) I have seen "professional" installers use 1/2-inch quarter round for the same purpose. In my opinion the shoe molding looks better.

We hauled the old carpet and wood to the county dump/recycling center. That stuff is heavy, has sharp nails etc, and is amazingly dirty no matter how clean you keep your house.

The sub-floor beneath the carpet was dirty! There were footprints from when the house built! I must have swept it with a push-broom ten times, and I used the shop vac more than three times. We had a 3/4-inch plywood sub-floor which was nailed down. I used a rasp to clean a few rough edges of the plywood joints. Some of the nails had started to pop out so I nailed them back in.

We added 3 boxes of deck screws to strengthen the connection between the sub-floor and the floor joists. We added screws about every eight to twelve inches along the lines of the floor joists. You could actually see the sub-floor pull down in spots. Adding these screws will help prevent any future squeaks by preventing the floor and sub-floor from flexing away from the joists and squeaking on nails.

Our next step was to get the floor flat (don't confuse flat with level.) Any slight dips in the sub-floor will be visible in finished floor as distortions in the reflection, or will result in squeaks as the new wood floor flexes into the depression. The distorted reflection problem will be most noticeable at shallow angles.

I used a long metal ruler/straight edge (These are cheaply available from harbor freight.) I slid the ruler around on the floor at various angles looking for depressions. Anywhere the floor was 1/16-inch below the ruler I marked the sub-floor. I ended up with contour lines similar to what you see on topographic maps. I then laid down #30 construction felt over these depressions and cut along the contour lines with a razor knife. Note that in some places the I had as many as 3 layers of the construction felt. (Be careful with this felt, It is impregnated with tar and will leave stains on anything it touches.) Use a hand stapler to secure the felt to the floor.

After the floor is flat lay one sheet of resin paper, or #10 construction felt on the sub-floor. Use staples to secure this to the floor.

Stair Banisters, Doorway Molding, Pillars

You will need to undercut any trim that extends to the floor. This will include doorway frames, stair banisters, wooden pillar bases etc. (Anything you don't undercut will have the floor joint hidden with shoe molding or quarter round. Undercutting takes more time, but looks a lot better when done properly.)

They make a special power saw for doing this. It looks like a router, but with a circular blade spinning parallel to the floor. I've never used one of these. It is easy enough to do it manually with a good Japanese Saw. These are very thin flexible saw that cut on the pull stroke.

Place a piece of scrap flooring against the thing you want to undercut. Lay the saw flat on top of this, flexing the blade to an angle so you can work the pull stroke. This will create an undercut that is the floor height plus the width of the blade which is very thin. On these thin saws the saw kerf is the same width as the blade. Be careful not to cut your other hand! There are teeth on both edges of these saws. It may sound stupid, but it is easy to nick your hand and these teeth are razor sharp!

Laying the First Row

Start the first row tongue out from the wall. The nailer will position the floor cleats diagonally at the base of the tongue on each board. You will not be able to use the nailer on the first two rows, but should have room for it by the 3rd row.

Choose the longest and straightest boards from all your boxes for the first row. Any "untrue" boards here will ripple across the entire floor. The first two rows will need to be "face nailed". You can do this with a finish nailer, or with a regular hammer and finish nails. If you use a hammer you should drill pilot holes slightly smaller than the nail to prevent the boards from splitting. The second row should also contain long boards, and make sure the end seams are as far apart as possible for strength. Later you can put seams closer but these first two rows need as much strength as possible.

Racking the Wood

It is a good idea to arrange several rows ahead of where you are actually nailing. This helps you plan so that you don't have joins too close to each other. I've heard 12 inches is a good minimum space for joints from row to row. (My wife also arranged the boards according to grain patterns which took forever, but had an interesting effect on the finished room. Most people would never notice but our color variation and grains are run in natural patterns.)

Laying Middle Rows

Pick a direction (I used left to right in the progressing front.) When you get to the end of a row you will usually have to cut the final board. Make sure you cut it so that the end will be hidden under the baseboard or shoe molding.

Don't worry about trying to get a close fit before you make the end cut. You can use the discard as the start of the next row. That will almost totally eliminate any waste wood.

The floor nailer has a "shoe" that rests on the top of the boards and fits against the tongue. (I placed duct tape on the bottom of the shoe to prevent scratching my new floor. I don't know if this helped but I didn't see any scratches.) The back of the shoe has a spot where you can "tap" the nailer with the mallet to push the board tight against the prior row. I used a light tap before I drove each nail. I placed the nails about 8 inches apart and tried to stay more than 4 inches from any end joint. (Don't be surprised to occasionally see sparks if you drive nails above the nails/screws into the floor joists.)

Dealing with warped boards

There are two directions wood can be warped. Bowed out in the middle, or Bowed in the middle. The latter is easier to use. For long warped boards start the first nail at the first end. Go 4 inches from the final end and use the "tap" trick mentioned above to try to pull the floor in and straighten the board. You will have to stand on it to hold it in place after the "tap" and you may have to "tap" more than once. Once you get it tight nail it at that position. Go back and add the other nails every eight inches.

Boards with the middle warped out are harder to straighten. Start with nails 4 inches from opposing ends. Then try the "tap" trick in the middle. If it straightens enough you can nail it. If not you will need to nail/screw a scrap "brace" board parallel and several inches away. Use a pipe clamp configured to expand braced against the scrap and push the warped board flush against the prior row. It neither of these method works remove the warped board.

Signing Your Work

We took pride in the job we did on the floor. We picked our favorite board in each room and signed the bottom of it. That way we always know There is a special place in each room with our signatures and the date. I think it is a nice touch.

Laying Final Rows

Once you get within four rows of the final wall you will no longer be able to use the floor nailer. At this point you will have to return to face nailing. (Note my dad came to help with the second floor and was good enough with the finish nail gun that he could toenail a finish nail right into the tongues of all but the final row. I had to use a brace board and a pry-bar to keep the boards tight since we couldn't "tap" them with the nailer. You may be able to do this, but it you don't do it perfectly you will have to use a nail punch to sink the nails or the next row will not fit correctly.)

We painted the new baseboard to match existing sections that we didn't remove. Then we added the maple shoe molding. I coped all the inside joints on both the baseboard and shoe molding. This makes a tighter joint and as the wood expands/contracts the joint will not be as visible.

You will have holes where you face nailed the first and last rows. They make wax color sticks you can buy that match your floor. Rub these over the hole and the wax will fill the void. Wipe the excess away with a cloth and the hole will disappear.

If you didn't get close enough to the walls consider using quarter round instead of shoe molding. It is larger and hides more of the seam.

Use wood putty to fill any cracks along joints you cut. (It will work above tongue joints, but works better on saw cut joints. Cover the filler with clear polyurethane sealer.

Here is a finished picture of the first room. We thought it turned out so well that we bought more wood to finish the second room. (You can see it stacked in the background.

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