How to Install Hardwood Floor
Things You Should Check Before Starting

Learn how to install hardwood floor - After you have decided on an interior design idea, for your room. And you have chosen your hardwood flooring. The room is empty, painted, and ready for new hardwood flooring. Before you begin learning about how to install hardwood floors. Here are a few things you should check before you begin on your hardwood flooring installation. These are important steps, that you should not overlook.

Subfloor preparation

Flatness

Check surface for flatness. The tolerance for surface flatness is 1/4" variation along a 5' radius or 10' diameter. To ensure a beautiful and flat complexion from your wood floor finished surface. Correct any uneven areas, whether they're low or high spots. Before starting your hardwood floor installation.

Use a skim coat, floor compound surface prep product like Henry's 547 uni-pro universal patch and skim coat. Make sure you follow manufacture's instructions and perform a moisture test after it has dried. A wet sub-floor will cause cupping with your hardwood flooring.

Correcting high and low spot is an important step, especially for floating floor installation and glue down flooring installation. This will allow these types of flooring to sit firmly tight onto the sub-floor. Which will help prevent the wood flooring from separating, squeaking, bouncing and many other problems. A flat surface will prevent your furnitures from rocking and tipping over and injuring someone. Learning how to install hardwood floors on a flat surface is much easier and less frustrating. Your floor boards will connect to each other with ease. Compared to bending a piece of hardwood flooring into place. We don't need the struggle or hassle. Your body will thank you for it.

Stop and Prevent a Noisy Floor

Tighten that floor, before you nail down that first piece of flooring. No one likes an annoying loose and noisy floor. Squeaks are most likely caused from a loose sub-floor. Tighten the floor to get rid of them. Screw down 2" or 3" coarse wood screws or nail 2"- 3" ring nails into the floor joist. For some peace and quiet. Once, you've installed your new wooden floor. Squeaks can be difficult to get rid of afterwards.

If, you already have existing hardwood floors installed in your home and are noisy. Try fixing it from below. As long as you have access to your floor joist. You can fix the noise by inserting shims between the floor joist and sub-floor to eliminate movement. Don't forget to add some glue to the shims

Check for Moisture: windows, doors, pipes, sub-floor, flooring and air

Moisture meter

Check for moisture - Take a walk around and inspect your doors, windows, plumbing and heating systems for any possible leaks. Any leaks should be addressed as soon as possible.

Sub-floor - Using a moisture meter, take a reading of your sub-floor. High levels of moisture will cause problems in the near future. High levels of moisture will also, create issues with your finish drying improperly. Readings should be no greater than 15%.

Flooring boards - Using a moisture meter, take a reading of several boards from different bundles. Moisture levels in your flooring should be 6% or less. This will help minimize expanding and contracting between hot and cold seasons. Flooring should be acclimated to the work space properly. Usually a minimum of 3 days. But can be up to weeks, depending on the conditions. The most accurate way is to use a moisture meter and take readings.

Hygrometer

Air - Using a hygrometer, take a reading of the relative humidity (RH) levels. Normal RH levels are between 40-50% inside finished homes. Acclimate your flooring to normal levels. And maintain your working conditions to the same RH level. If, you acclimate your flooring to high levels. When the flooring dries out, you can have unpleasing gaps through out your flooring. If, the flooring was acclimated to excessively dry air. The flooring will expand and cup during your high humid season.

Damaged subfloor

Damaged sub-floors should always be repaired or replaced. This is the surface that you are fastening your hardwood floors onto. Cracks in concrete or wooden sub-floor should get repaired. Depending, on the size of the area. You can sometimes just install over small gaps, 6"- 8" wide.

If, The sub-floor is severely damaged, consider replacing it or re-sheathing. Replace your old sub-floor with new 3/4 tongue and groove Advantech sheathing or CDX plywood sheathing. Both sheathing holds nail well. Advantech has a moisture repellant in their product. Which will help prevent more moisture problems. You can also, add a layer of 3/8" cdx plywood. This will stiffen up your existing sub-floor and fix any minor issues.

Once all these sub-flooring issues have been addressed. You will have help prevent many future headaches. You can focus more on learning how to install hardwood floors. And less worrying about whether your preparation was good enough.

"It's a good head start to a great finish."

Once, you have gone through and performed all these steps. And are satisfied with your surface preparation work. Now, it's time to learn how to install hardwood floor. Choose a method of flooring installation below. Don't forget to click the "like and share" button, so, we can bring you more tips.