How to Lay Your Own Hard Wood Floor and Save Money on Labor Costs

If you want to get rid of old carpeting and the many allergens that get trapped within them, then choosing to replace it with hardwood flooring is a lovely and economical way to enhance any room or house. If you are on a budget like our family, you will want to be able to install the flooring yourself. While this may seem difficult, if you follow some simple tips, you will be able to do this in any room of your home. We did our entire 1700 plus square foot house. Here are the simple steps to follow:

Step Number One: First we must prepare the ground for the flooring
Before you start to lay your flooring down, tear out the old carpet or flooring that is underneath, unless it is a very flat surface, as you do not want to have problems with warping later on. Believe me when I tell you that you will be saving yourself a world of time, expense and frustration by preparing the surface properly beforehand! Clean up any debris that may be left underneath what you remove. I highly recommend sweeping with a vacuum, mopping thoroughly and then after it dries, go over it one last time with a vacuum cleaner.

If there are any base boards that are loose or rotted, now is the time to either replace them or adjust them properly. In order to keep moisture out of the floorboards be sure to use barriers and overlapping them is wise, as it will keep leaks from occurring. Be sure that you blue any barriers in place and use spacers! This will help to prevent contraction and expansion of your floor pieces, which could be detrimental to all of your hard work!

Be sure that your flooring is sitting in the room to be done for a couple of days so the materials it is made of will adjust itself to the humidity and temperature in the room! This will ensure that your flooring will stay in the condition that it arrived at your home in! Now you are ready to go! It is time to start laying your floor!

Have a few basic tools on hand to make your job easier, like a hammer and nails. I like to use a chalk line. It can be very handy as you will see. A pneumatic nailer is something you will want to have on hand as well, and a few cloth rags that you can throw away later.