How to Install Plank Hardwood Flooring

Steps:

1. Carefully remove all furniture from the room so you can easily move around.

2. To remove the baseboards in the room, first score the caulk at the top of the baseboards with a utility knife. Use a pry bar, hammer and putty knife to pry away the baseboards, being careful not to damage them if you want to put them back up.

3. Pull the carpet up at one corner and carefully lift off the tack strips. Roll the carpet as you go along so it’s easier to remove. Once the carpet is out of the room, remove the padding. Wearing gloves and safety glasses, use a pry bar and hammer to remove the tack strips.

4. Use a floor scraper to check for any staples that were missed or nail heads that need to be pounded back into the particleboard. Scrape off any old putty with a putty knife. Check the floor for raised floorboards and screw them back down. You’re shooting for a smooth subfloor.

5. Use a handsaw to cut the doorjambs in the room. This allows you to slide the hardwood planks under the trim to create a smooth, finished look. Sweep the subfloor thoroughly.

6. Lay 30-pound felt on the subfloor (as recommended by the flooring manufacturer) and secure it with staples. Cut the felt to size with a utility knife.

7. Measure 12 inches out from the starting wall at opposite ends, make marks, and pop a chalk line over the marks. Place the starter plank against the wall and measure the distance from the edge of the board closest to the chalk line to the chalk line itself. Verify that the distance is the same at several points, and then use a pneumatic nailer to secure the piece in place.

8. Lay a second piece in place beside the first and secure it with the nailer. Although you’re floating the floor, these planks have to be nailed so they won’t shift as the rest of the planks are added.

9. Continue adding planks. Since you’re floating the floor, all you have to do is add a bead of wood glue across the top of the tongue of the planks and slide the next plank into place. Make sure the planks are snuggly seated against each other to prevent gaps. You can do this by tapping them with a hammer and using a scrap piece of wood as a buffer between the plank and hammer.

10. Leave an 1/8-inch expansion gap around the perimeter of the room as suggested by the wood-flooring manufacturer. Use a damp cloth to remove any glue that seeps through the cracks.

11. Attach the baseboards with a pneumatic nailer, with the nails going through the baseboards and into the wall studs.

12. Attach shoe mold with the nailer, making sure the nails are seated just below the surface of the wood. Fill all nail holes in the molds with painter’s putty. Run a bead of caulk along the top of the baseboards against the wall, then a bead between the baseboards and shoe molds. Finally, run caulk in all the corners.

13. Add a coat of paint to the molding.