Hardwood, not that hard

I just finished installing some hardwood flooring in our house, a project which was completed in phases over a couple of years. We started in the kitchen and conquered the living room and hallway in a week or so. Then, I took a break for a year and a half and did another bedroom. Finally, after almost another year, I finished the final bedroom.

Sore back and knees aside, I love installing hardwood flooring and the premium price on material is so worth it to us. The final product is stunning. Naturally I had Dale, my coach and chief accomplice in big projects such as this one where the knowledge of the approach is worth more than the material itself.

I thought I would share some lessons learned from this physically demanding but mentally forgiving process. As a Realtor, I walk though lots of houses and the ones that stand way out from the crowd often have hardwood flooring.

Plan well

Some key lessons in installing hardwood aren’t specific to the medium; whether it’s tile or vinyl plank or whatever, it’s really important to start in the right place and in the right manner. So the first step is establishing a line of sight in the area and starting dead straight. We used a chalk line snapped tight to establish a line that would be as parallel as possible to the long dimension of the house. We also selected long pieces of flooring for that first row to reduce the chance that your first row gets out of square. In our house we established the sight line along the main path through the kitchen and into the foyer of our home and every piece of flooring was installed to the North of that first row, with some exceptions (keep reading.) Had we not put a lot of time and painstaking effort into getting that first row squared up with the house as a whole, the flooring may have become progressively more and more out of square as we moved from South to North. It would have been noticeable. And one noticed, if you’re like me, you can’t un-see it…especially if it’s where you live. 

Hardwood flooring is tongue-in-groove, and the staples used to attach it to the floor is always sent into the tongue, and at an angle. The nailer for this type of work is already set at the correct angle, so it’s actually pretty hard to mess up the nailing (but it is possible… keep reading.) Because of the directionality of the flooring and always needing an exposed tongue to nail into, you will start in one direction and keep going that way, almost always. But if your house isn’t a simple rectangle, there may be a need to reverse the direction of the flooring, butting two grooves together and proceeding in the opposite direction. This works out poorly with laminate flooring and leaves an exposed seam that needs to be dealt with, but with hardwood, it can be pulled off. In our house, there were three areas “behind” our first row where we had to reverse the direction. As Dale was explaining this I didn’t comprehend it at first. It wasn’t until I had to reverse the direction myself that I did. Even though this approach works out fine with hardwood (less so with laminate,) the planning will ensure that you don’t have to reverse directions any more than is necessary; each area that is reversed is an area of flooring that isn’t going to be as well anchored to the subfloor as well as the rest. 

Waste nothing

When we were sold the hardwood flooring based on measurements that I provided to the retailer, we were sold 10% more than we actually measured, the retailer factoring in “waste” to the total figure for us (even though we didn’t ask for this.) I quickly learned the critical tricks for reducing waste from Dale. When you reach the wall at the end of a row, you need to cut some length off of the wall end of the flooring. It’s always good to plan accordingly when you are nearing the wall, such that you don’t have to cut off a section of flooring that won’t be usable elsewhere; for me, that critical length of “waste” is about 6-10”. But the thing is, that extra bit of flooring can be used at the start of the next row, on the opposite wall. We’d cut the extra length off (using a circular saw right there at the wall and on our knees- no need to stand and go to a chop saw) and slide the extra down the length of the room like a beer slid down a long bar top. In this way, we had almost no wasted material and had enough flooring left to do an extra bedroom that we hadn’t planned on flooring!

Be assertive

Another critical lesson in flooring and in life more broadly is the value of assertiveness. A floor nailer is an oversized stapler that is powered by compressed air. It’s set at an angle so that staples go into the tongue along the edge of a piece of flooring and never into the visible face of the flooring itself. The end of the nailer has a big round “button” that the user smacks hard with a hammer or heavy mallet. That sends a blast of compressed air into the nailer and drives the staple home. 

Being assertive with the swing of that hammer is critical to the proper function of the nailer. If you give it a half- measured swing, the staple will not sink all the way into the tongue of the flooring. And when that happens, you have to dig that staple out. And just for proper perspective, the staples are 2” long and stiff. Getting one out requires a lot of swearing and coaxing with pliers or some other grabbing tool. If the staple is 90% set, you might be able to tap it (not a gentle tap; more like a forceful smack) with a blunt chisel or screwdriver. This also requires swearing and involves the risk of marring the visible face of the flooring. 

So I’ve learned never to take a practice swing with the nailer, because if you tap the big button lightly, the staple will only be partially sunk. The worst is when you are close to a wall that gets in the way of a proper backswing. In this case, you have to say a little prayer before each swing and hope that even with a shortened backswing, you can drive that staple all the way in. 

Don’t be afraid

Most importantly of all, don’t decide that installing hardwood flooring is beyond reach. I’m not suggesting you fly blind; instead, get a mentor to show you the ropes first. Find someone like Dale or my dad to show you the methods, the tricks, and the common pitfalls. Have them stay with you while you learn. And then, fly. 

Materials costs alone can be enough to scare a person off from a great many home improvements. But if you commit to doing the work yourself, you might find you can afford nicer finishes because the labor will often add 50% or more to the cost. Just as long as you’ve got a good coach, you can handle this. You’ll be so glad you did!!