October 13, 2008
Easy Tips On Installing Hardwood Flooring
Easy Tips on Hardwood Flooring Installation
There are different types of flooring solutions that are available in the market. To name a couple, there is carpeting, and there is hardwood flooring. Carpets are soft and comfortable and require a cleaning by a professional such as Avishay Boston Carpet Cleaners Co. to come in a clean them every so often. Hardwood flooring, on the other hand, is not as soft but is easily cleaned with a mop and provides homes an elegant and comfortable ambiance. You can always get a nice area rug to help improve the look in certain areas that you want a softer feel, but keep in mind, just like carpet, expensive area rugs require professional cleaning, like Avishay Boston Rug Cleaners to maintain its new look. Getting back to wood flooring. aside from making the interior of your home appear luxurious, it also adds more value. There are flooring companies that offer flooring installation. However, you can do this on your own. Before you start with the process of installing hardwood floor on your own, there are easy steps and tips that you have to learn.
Stacking the Materials
The first thing that you have to do is stack the flooring materials inside your home for some days. This will allow the hardwood flooring to adapt to the level of humidity within your house. If you forget to do this, the wood materials will buckle and warp after you lay them. If this happens, you will be forced to lay flooring in replacement of the ones that have been easily damaged.
Laying the Materials
When laying or installing the hardwood flooring materials, always remember to lay them horizontally to joists of the floor. If you want to know the location of each joist, you have to place the walls with marks above each other. In this way, it will be easy for you to determine where to put each flooring material.
Another thing that you have to remember is to make sure that the floor is laid with asphalt felt prior to the installation of the hardwood floor. In this way, you will be able to protect the flooring material from the penetrating moisture of the floor. This also prevents the floor from making squeaking sounds.
When you are beginning to install the hardwood floors, it is more useful to lay out the flooring boards first. Another thing that you have to make sure of is to keep the boards staggered. This means that the end joints of the flooring boards should not be laid close to each other. The most recommended distance between one flooring end joint of a certain row to the end joint of another row is six inches lower.
Cutting the Pieces
The next step is to cut the flooring board pieces, and make sure that they precisely fit the row’s end. The piece should not be lesser than eight inches. There should also be an allowance of a half inch between the walls and the boards’ edges, all throughout the room.
When you want to cut off some of the flooring boards, the sawing materials that you have to use should only consist of a miter saw or radial arm. On the other hand, blind nailing should not be done in flush. Blind nailing is done with the use of finishing nails and a hammer. Flush driving the nails will leave indentations on the board. The best thing to do is to stop hammering if the nail’s head is projecting or protruding from the flooring board. When the nail’s head is 1/8 inches from the hardwood floor board, you should utilize the nail set. You have to place the nail set sideways, on top of the wood tongue’s upper edge. Drive the nail by tapping it with a hammer. In order to make sure that each nail is completely flushed with the flooring board, utilize the nail set tip.
If you want to install hardwood floors by yourself, you have to follow these steps. This way, you will not meet any disaster throughout the laying and the installation of the flooring materials. And if you do decide to go with carpet, keep Avishay Boston Carpet Cleaners in mind for proper maintenance.
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