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Hardwood floor installation...

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Lifer
I've never installed hardwood floors (but I've accomplished many other projects, deck building etc..). I'd like to replace my livingroom carpet with hardwoods. Any advice? It's aprox a 20x20 square room with excellent sub-flooring.
 
It is not that hard of a thing to do actually. You HAVE to rent the proper equipment though, which amounts to a nailer and rubber mallet. A table saw is a good thing to have as well. The hard part is the last few boards. The best way to do it is to rip out the current baseboards and replace them after laying the floor.
 
First, if you intend to keep the house for any significant length of time, get real HW flooring, not that laminated stuff.
It's pretty easy, rent one of those nail guns that you smack with a mallet, and an air compressor if neccesary. Small pieces you may need to pre-drill & use finishing nails, especially between forced air vents & the wall.

Don't be stingy with the nails or you may have sqeaky floors. If you can, check the floor from below to see if there are any wires/pipes/etc. withing about 1/2" of the bottom of the subfloor. The nails will likely penetrate.

Friend of mine, myself, and two other guys (for abot 4 hours) did his kitchen/dining/bathroom/hall room ... about 20' x 15' with lots of cuts, island, angled counter, closet etc. in one long saturday + a few hours on sunday. Looks great!

Chop saw is nice, plus a tablesaw for ripping. You can use a radial arm saw, but I hate ripping hardwood on em.

Don't run the flooring tight against the walls ... leave maybe a quarter inch all the way around and cover it up with molding. If you run it tight, humidity changes can make it buckle.

Get the materials and let them sit inside your house for about two or three weeks prior to installation so you're sure they've come to an equilibrium with your local humidity levels. Install it to wet, you'll get gaps when it dries, to dry, and it could buckle when gets wet.

Its a pretty easy project as those things go, and is one of the few home improvement projects that you can probably add the cost of it directly onto your homes value when its done.
 
I stand by what I said, but ergeorge has added mucho good info - especially the bits about spacing and keeping the wood in the room.
 
I did our family room and it was hard work but the results were worth it. If you think that there is a possibilty that you may be laying more flooring in the future you may want to purchase the nailer rather than rent it. They run about $240.00 at Home Depot which is fairly pricey but it all depends on the rental fee and amount of time you will need to complete your project. I was fortunate to have a co worker that had one to lend me so I did not have to purchase one but I will eventually be hardwooding our 3rd floor and judging from the amount of time it took me to do the first project I will buy one before I start.

When I did mine the first few courses (rows) were fairly tedious since I had to drill and face nail the first course and drill nail holes in the tongues of the next few courses until I was far enough from the wall to use the nailer. At that point it was all pretty straight forward until I got to the point at the opposite side where once again I had to face nail the last few courses.
 
Thanks for tips everyone! My neighbor is a carpenter so most of the equipment is available (I work on his computer...fair trade..hehe). He may not have the nailer specific to this job, so renting one may be needed. I have a chop/miter saw.

 
Good tips here. I don't have much to add except to really consider using a pneumatic nailer, especially if you're using wood harder and more dense than oak. With the manual nailer... oye, such a hassle. With the pneumatic stapler, one good thwack buts in the previous piece to the next and staples in a nice 2" or 1.5" staple.

Oh and for the ends, I use a prybar to butt the ends to each other and make them flush.

After that, sand down, cover liberally with polyurethane (your preference of oil or water based; I like oil-based better), buff and put in a final coat and you're done.

Remember to cut off the ends of the door jambs if you'll be going to where doors are so the hardwood fits.

Let me reiterate my preference of a pneumatic stapler. Good luck with the project. Post some pics? when you're done?


Cheers ! 🙂
 
Yea, pneumatic nailer is a must, I think everybody mentioned that.
Good tip on the prybar, I forgot about that one.
I'd get prefinished though, finishing floors is a bitch.
 
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