Fitting Solid Wood Flooring

In an effort to help your flooring job go really easily, we've put together a list of Best strategies for matching solid hardwood floors.

1. Acclimatization. When it comes to fitting solid hardwood floors, the procedure should ideally start before the boards even touch the floor. Because wood reacts to atmospheric changes by expanding and contracting, it is a fantastic idea to receive your solid wood accustomed, or acclimatized to its environment before you lay it.

2. In a normal setting, for example in a woods, temperatures and humidity change according to the season in addition to the weather on any particular day. This will not pose any sort of difficulty in its normal setting. Once wood is brought to the home however, despite the fact that it is protected from the vagaries of nature, it is then subjected to the changes in temperature and moisture which we choose to throw it during our daily lives. It is crucial so the wood is allowed to acclimatise before setup. Acclimatising solid wood flooring before it's installed minimises the growth and contraction of the timber, thus lowering the risk of damage. Acclimatization solid wood flooring can take up to two weeks.

3. Deciding on the best fitting method. There are essentially 3 solid hardwood flooring fitting methods in which, perhaps along with your flooring supplier or more affordable, you need to make your choice:

A. Glue-down - Glue-down setup includes the use of a bonding agent or adhesive, which can be implemented directly on to the subfloor and can be applied to either concrete or wooden subfloors. If you're placing over a concrete subfloor you will first have to put down a two part epoxy damp proof membrane to ensure no damp rises up into your brand new floor. We advocate using Kerakoll EP21. A Glue-down good wood flooring installation can be very secure when done properly, although you need to allow a fantastic quantity of time prior to walking in your own flooring. The adhesives used in this process should bond to the floor, and can be very messy if done with a less skilled installer.

One other important factor in selecting glue-down installation is your selection of sheeting as some are just acceptable for flooring up to a particular width. To steer clear of warranty issues, we supply Kerakoll Silovil Flex, which allows you to install flooring with widths up to 220mm.

B. Nail-down - Nail-down installment is the most straightforward of all solid wood floor installation procedures but is only suggested if you have a wooden subfloor. When installing over plywood, the way you decide to lay the planks does not matter. However, if you are likely to nail down a new floor over existing floorboards you must face the boards of the new flooring in the opposite direction to the present floorboards, basically making a criss-cross design. This is done in order to ensure stability and avoid the risk of warping or buckling. Nail-down solid hardwood flooring are also thicker; hence they need to be nailed down so as to stay in place.

C. Staple-down - Staple-down installation is very much like nail-down, just using staples instead of nails to attach the ground to the subfloor. In many ways, staple-down installation is easier and quicker compared to nail-down method.

4. Be safe, not sorry. Because fitting up new floorboards with old can be a total nightmare, it's for this reason it's a great idea to hold a few additional boards"in stock". If one day you've got an issue with your flooring and will need to replace a board or two, it's reassuring to know you have a small stock of replacements boards to hand. It makes real common sense consequently, to order a few boards too many so it's possible to keep them someplace safe incase one day that you want them.

5. Ensuring that you don't rush out. This trick is very important when you're doing your project on a DIY basis. There is nothing worse than realising that you are reaching the end of your room and your floors is going to run out until you finish. It is for this reason that measuring your space, and allowing a margin for wastage, is a really significant part the overall procedure.