wood floor install

[farmerpsv]

Hey all,
it never ceases to amaze me at the amount of info and expertise given in such a friendly way on this site. way to go Muhammad!!
am finishing up the new house and am going to install about 1000sqft of solid wood floor. havn't decided on whether 1/2" or 3/4" yet. the air nail guns for install rent for $50/day and sell for , what $200? i think. anyway, not sure how long would take me to install, so not sure whether to buy or rent...am also building a large two story porch in spring where this might come in handy. also, is it even necessary to have the t&g gun? can i use my staple gun or finish nailer, or is that too involved for big jobs? what do y'all think?
thanks
paul

 

[FL_Cracker]

We just finished a 1000 sf job in one of my spec houses in GA. I think you need to consider a regular floor nailer. Using a regular nail gun would be difficult to get the nail just right and even more trouble to tighten up the board and hold it tight while you nail it. The floor nailers line up the nail, and snug the board as your hitting the driver with a heavy mallet. It's hard on the shoulders but the floor looks nice. You can get an air assist floor nailer but you still have to hit it with a hammer.

 

[hazmat]

Here's a thread on cbn where MarkV gives great advice on what is involved. cbn wood floors plan B

Now that I have a couple floors under my belt - I estimate that 1,000 sq feet will probably take a DIY'er about 4 days worth of work. It really depends on how simple a shape the room is & how many walls & doors you need to trim around.

You'd be crazy to do it w/o the T&G air floor stapler/nailer. I do use my finish nail gun at the beginning and end, where the floor nailer won't fit, but I had to set almost all the nails I put thru the tongue.

I bought a Bostich floor stapler on Ebay refurbed for $350. new they sell for $475. Lots of guys buy one used on ebay & resell when done.

use 3/4" wood

 

[hazmat]

Another great link on cbn. MarkV details the actual installation in this one (other one is more on finishing) prefinished floors 101

 

[farmerpsv]

Thanks Hazmat and FL,
Hazmat, especially for the estimate on time to do the job...puts it in perspective. i have 2 large rooms, an entry with hall and two stair landings. i figured i'd do the air floor nail gun, but wanted to check others with experience.
paul

 

[JimR]

I used a hammer operated nailer to lay down my 1000+ feet of 1" x 5" red oak flooring. It worked real well. Just make sure you plan out your rooms and any connecting hallways. You don't want to be fitting in small strips unless you really have to. I started in my hallway and worked into the rest of the house from there. The guy I hired to sand and finish my floors said I had done a great job putting down this floor. Buy a flooring gun and sell it when you are done.

 

[dent8]

The air assisted nailers are great, the manual floor nailers are plenty adequate, but use a floor nailer. They tighten it up for you.
Dennis

 

[6or7dazeaweek]

I installed prefinished oak hardwood upstairs, 2 bedrooms, living room, hallway & closet. I highly recommend that you use a flooring nailer designed for T&G flooring. I would also recommend that you choose prefinished flooring if the budget allows. My flooring has a 25 year warranty on the finish..it's been down about 8 years & still looks great.
One other point worth mentioning is to purchase your flooring & bring it into the house for a couple of weeks to let it aclimate to the humidity & temperature before nailing it down.

One of my buddies hired a guy to install hardwood (Unfinished) in has spare room and the guy purchased it & installed it the same day. Big mistake....the flooring has now aclimated & shrunk to the point where there are cracks between the boards that need filling.

Take your time figuring where to start so everything turns out good when you get to the other side of the room. Make sure to measure wall to wall in a few spots to make sure the walls are parallel to each other. Once you determine that, install the rosin paper with a regular staple gun, snap a chalk line & have at it.

Whew! Forgot to mention the most important. part. Check around where you're getting your flooring from. The local lumber yard allowed me full use of their nailer for my installation project as long as I bought the nails from them.

Good luck with the project! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Richard]

Just did mine year ago. Bought air stapler refurbished, used it for month & sold on ebay for MORE than I paid for it!

2 things I was told

1. Get the little strip of wood that allows butting to groove ends together so you can change direction if need be. (hope that makes sense)

2. I was told, to get best straight line down LARGE room, they start in MIDDLE of room (I didn't on mine, but found this interesting)

Anyways, they strike line, start in middle of room. Then work outwards to the edges. This way, all weird measurements are taken care of at the wall and not compounded by the time you go across room. The do the other side of the room by using the strip of wood as mentioned in #1.

Made a lot of sense to me, AFTER I had finished my room. Mine turned out ok anyways so it didn't matter.

Just a thought for ya.

Good luck! My respect for those that install flooring went way up during this. Not a cupcake task, but very rewarding.

 

[farmerpsv]

Thanks Dent, Daze and Richard,
for your input and thoughts. starting center makes sense. have done lots of tile work in very old ( as old as 200 yrs) houses that are often less than square, and you take a similar approach. for everyones info, HD has a bostich for $239 that also includes the mallet. they also have one for $479. I live in lumber liquidator territory, their home office and primary manufacturing plant is an hour away. will probably go there, so far their prices are best. am inclined to go with 3/4"..that's pretty much a forever floor. a couple of the old victorians i've done had one inch heart pine and no sub floor and were doing quite well 100years later.
paul

 

[Nasty135]

farmer, I would vote for 3/4" it might be a little more $ but I think it would be more forgiving during installation (meaning if you chose to sand before finishing it will still have enough strength to avoid splits from uneven sub-floor)and I would also use the proper tool , Even the manual ratchet type is good ie; If you don't get a good hit the first time the ratchet holds it where it stopped and you can just give it a second whack driving it to the desired depth.

We also put pine flooring in our home 6" T&G plank.. and after 8 yrs we still like it /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Richard]

Helped brother in law couple weeks ago put couple boards down & some "tricks" that I concocted when I did mine, came to my memory.

If need to tighten up a row, I had a couple ways to try. The first was I'd put about five rows down (off to side where nail is going), I'd STAND on those five, using the friction of them and my weight to help hold the seam snug. I'd put nail in and move on.

I would also SCREW one of those boards down so I could get a wonder bar (I think it's called?) and use that to wedge/pry the gap shut.

I'm SURE you know this, but I always used a junk piece to hammer against or pry against.

I tried to get the last piece as close to end of wall as I could. I would slide piece in if I could or if I had to go straight down and the piece JUST hit the wall, I would cut the bottom corner (rip) off the board so it might go in easier.

Don't know if all that makes sense, but was just some things I figured out on my own, to help floor go down tighter.

/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[MarkV]

Hi Farmer,
Sounds to me like the brain trust here has offered much of what I would have shared already. Just a couple of points that struck me as I was reading. Do go with 3/4 inch flooring. You will find it easier to work with and it will be longer lasting as refinishing is required over the years.

I haven't personally purchased flooring from Lumber Liquidators but I have seen their ads in my area. What you need to keep in mind when purchasing oak flooring is that there are varies grades and the prices vary considerably so you need to compare apples to apples. The most common grades you will find are #2 oak (sometime called cabin grade), #1 oak and select and better oak. For us the most commonally used is #1 oak in either red or white. The higher the grade the less variation in color from board to board and the less knots in the wood itself.

Flooring is a fairly expensive project that should last as long as the house with resonable care. Investing in a better quality of material to start with has a pretty good return when you consider how long the house will last.

I'll check in again if I can help with any specific questions.

MarkV

 

[Nasty135]

Another thing I didn't mention in the installation bag of tricks is the temperature and humidity factor in letting the wood come up to the temperature and humidity of its surroundings before installing( this was a reccomendation of the manufacturer) Also when trying to get it good and tight you can screw a wedge to the sub-floor and use it to really tighten up the floor before nailing.... Just another thought /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif