DIY hardwood flooring tips wanted..

[heehaw]

i have been told not to nail the hardwood flooring into particle board: when you remove the carpet, if its not plywood underneath, i would remove the particle board, should be plywood, or if the house is older, 1x6's on a 45degree angle, which is even better..
heehaw

 

[2manyrocks]

If 3/4 gap seems big, you can always use a prybar to remove your baseboard and put it higher up on the wall so your shoe mold and baseboard will cover that gap. Work carefully and use a so called japanese flat bar to get it started with the thin edge in conjunction with a wonder bar to get the baseboard off.

I'm working on a kitchen install. I used a Harbor Freight multifunction tool #67256 that's on sale now for $34.99 to undercut the cabinets and door trim. Much easier than using a backsaw and much safer than using a toe kick saw. Plus, I can use the sander function to sand corners where I can't get the flooring sander. Cheaper to buy, too.

I have two questions myself.

Is there any way of assessing the moisture levels for the installation without buying a $100 moisture meter?

Any tips for lining up the joints in the existing hardwood flooring in the adjoining room with the new joints in the hardwood flooring to be installed?

 

[/pine]

I know you said you were going to leave the baseboards but if you decide to remove it (for a better looking job IMO)...here are a couple of tips...

First....be sure to cut the calking at the top of the baseboard where it meets the sheetrock...a sharp utility knife works best...this prevents the paper on the sheetrock from tearing when the baseboard is removed...

...second...Use a good set of pliers and pull the old nails out through the back of the baseboards (if they are to be re-used)...usually gripping and rolling the pliers does the trick....this leaves the face of the baseboard smooth without old nail holes and checked chips to re-putty/paint...

 

[2manyrocks]

/pine is absolutely correct.

Don't be afraid to pull the baseboard especially if it's a stock baseboard that you can still buy at your home supply store if you happen to break a piece of it. Since you are moving the baseboard up, you should be able to cover the place where it is being removed from the wall.

 

[thatguy]

Thanks for all the tips/suggestions.. I am still trying to grasp everything, but luckily I have some time to let it digest..

thanks

brian

 

[thatguy]

<deleted text> I used a Harbor Freight multifunction tool #67256 that's on sale now for $34.99 to undercut the cabinets and door trim.

<deleted text>

Any tips for lining up the joints in the existing hardwood flooring in the adjoining room with the new joints in the hardwood flooring to be installed?

thanks for the tip on the HF multitool.. I will look into that..

I went with 5" flooring because I didnt want to even try to match the current 3" flooring.. The 5" will look similar but yet different enough..

i really wanted 4", but the Mfg only had 3 and 5"..

brian

 

[2manyrocks]

I forgot my drywall router today and used the HF to cut out for some electrical boxes. It cut quickly, with a cleaner edge and with less dust than the router. I also used it to square up the edge of the existing hardwood that stopped at the kitchen door and that had formerly been covered by a piece of aluminum trim as a transition to the kitchen vinyl I'm replacing with hardwood. I am usually wary of any electrical powered tool from HF, but this one has already paid for itself.

Spent the whole afternoon drilling pilot holes in the oak subfloor/joists and then screwing the old subfloor down. I could see the screws pulling the subfloor tight to the joists. Afterwards, the whole floor felt tighter.

I tried to nail off the subfloor with a framing gun, and the nails only went about 1/4 in. That's why I ended up drilling pilot holes and screwing the old subfloor down. Over the 40 something years of this house, the subfloor nails had kinda loosened up.

Now I'm wondering what's going to happen when I start trying to staple the finish oak floor to the subfloor with a pneumatic flooring stapler? I hope it works....

 

[chopped]

There is alwasys this tool...
Search results for: 'flooring nailer'

 

[thatguy]

Picked up the flooring today and it looks great - a LOT of charactor..... We arent going to do the install until the mid/later part of February though..

I think I got a great deal on it - Mohawk (not from lowes) 5" natural hickory (tax and shipping included) was not quite $5/sq ft..

im excited and cant wait to get it down..

b

 

[BrentB]

I've always questioned the need for a 3/4" gap all around the floor to allow for wood expansion because:
1. In my experience wood never shrinks along the grain (the length of the board )as much as it does across the width of the board.
2. if the expansion/contraction occurs in each board then the nails holding the boards near the edges are going to rip right through the tongue, and I'd think the boards would try to ride up the nail.

Nonetheless, I cut out the drywall and did provide the gap because I wasn't going to risk a bad floor just to prove a theory!

Other thoughts...
I installed my floor in the winter when everything was at its dryest, and the boards are still as tight as they were 10 years ago. My coworker who installed in the humid summer has gaps in the winter. So it seems to me to better to install in the winter. Of course I never open up my windows and so my humidity is probably well regulated. This might be a huge factor, and maybe it is better suffer some gaps than have it buckle.

The flooring store installer told me that he thought manual nailers provided a better finished product because you swing much harder and force the boards tightly together.

As someone else said, a day of bending over installing flooring leads to a very sore back!

Regards,
Brent