How To Start A Floating Wood Floor

They must be absolutely straight and laid without gaps or bends.

How to start a floating wood floor.

Engineered flooring goes down over a thin foam sheet which provides cushioning and sound dampening. First out with the old. Properly laying the first three boards in a hardwood flooring installation is essential to a quality install. Read on to see how to install a floating engineered wood floor.

Putting in your own pre finished hardwood flooring costs less than having a professional install it. Start the installation at the longest unobstructed wall. Installing one might appear to be a frightening task but with proper preparation and planning any home improvement diyer can do it. The type of installation you choose will depend on your subfloor budget lifestyle and the type of wood flooring you select.

Before you start the project you ll need to get the room prepared. The first three boards set the tone and direction for the floor. Floating floors are an easy mess free way to install new flooring without necessarily having to remove the existing flooring. A floating floor is simply a floor that does not need to be nailed or glued to the floor underneath it.

Since wood is a dimensionally imperfect material this can be a challenge to get right but the extra effort is worth the time investment. Remove moldings wall base and shoe trim. For example concrete subfloors can work for engineered wood but because it cannot be nailed into it will not work for installing solid hardwood floors. For instance solid hardwood flooring is typically nailed down during installation while tongue and groove engineered flooring is usually clicked together or completely glued down.

Floating hardwood floor overview illustration by gregory nemec. The new flooring may add height to the floor. Remove the shoe molding and snap a chalk line 3 8 out from the baseboard this allows for expansion in the hot humid weather and contraction in the colder drier weather of the hardwood flooring. In that case you ll need to undercut casings and jambs where necessary.

This may be a good time to update molding with something that complements your new floor.