There’s good news if you’re looking for a new hardwood floor that you can install yourself! “Hardwood floors” are now available that can be installed directly over existing flooring without the need for nails or adhesives. Therefore, the floor basically “floats” on the subfloor. It can save a lot of time, effort, and mess. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
At the beginning of the project, you will need to check the subfloor to make sure it is level and clean. By adding a specially formulated joint compound in uneven areas, you will be able to level the floor up to where it needs to be. Another decision you will need to make is which direction you want to lay the new hardwood floor. Taking care of these issues early on will save you a lot of time later on.
When using floating floors, you’ll love the ease of interlocking tongue-and-groove construction. To permanently adhere the boards to each other, you will need to add a glue specially formulated for bonding hardwood floors. You don’t want to use too much glue, and if any excess comes out through the cracks between the boards, wipe it off right away. You don’t want any glue to dry on the surface of the floor, as it will be difficult to remove later.
For newbies to hardwood flooring installation, the most difficult but important part of the job is laying the first three rows of boards in a straight line and keeping them snug. Unless these three rows are installed correctly, you will have problems with the entire floor. By using clamps or straps to hold the boards in the first three rows together until the glue dries, you can avoid these problems. From then on, it should be fairly easy to complete the rest of the floor.
Because hardwood floors expand and contract with the seasons, you should leave a gap between the edges of the floor and the walls. By reading the instructions that the manufacturer packaged with the flooring, you will be able to determine how large a recommended gap is. Once you have finished laying and finishing the floor, you can add baseboards or molding to completely hide the space.
You will need to allow your newly glued floor to dry completely per the instruction manual before you are ready to finish the floor. Once it’s dry, you can sand it down nicely with an electric sander and fine-grit sandpaper until it’s glassy smooth. You are then ready to apply the stain, if you choose to stain your floor, and a heavy coat of urethane to protect it. While you can certainly do all of these things yourself, you may decide you’d rather have a professional do the work for you to ensure the best possible finish.