Mark the center of each wall on the subfloor. Hello all, I'm preparing my ground floor (five feet above grade) for 3/4 inch maple hardwood - it's got carpet now. Remember: Flooring requires at least 72 hours to acclimate to your home’s temperature and humidity levels prior to installation. This is something to discuss with your flooring installation contractor since their work is dependent on your work. Floating Sub Floors. How to Prepare a Wood Subfloor for a Hardwood Floor Installation Wood subfloors are the preferred type of subfloor for solid hardwood flooring installations. Place the door among the others, stacked in a different room, with each door separated by a blanket to prevent scratching. Healthy flooring is built upon a healthy subfloor installation. A floating floor (laminate or locking hardwood) shouldn't be installed over a wood subfloor that's adhered to a concrete slab. If your subfloor is less than perfect—if there are dips or other flaws—you can do some prior work to fix its imperfections. Aren't … It provides you with a level surface to lay tiles on. A better appearance can be achieved if you remove the moldings entirely, which allows the installers to fit the flooring boards tightly around the door frame. Why do anything that the floor installers can do? How to Remove a Full Interior Wall (Non-Load-Bearing), Prefinished Hardwood Flooring Review: Pros and Cons, How to Install Shoe Molding or Quarter-Round Molding. The shoe moldings can be reused if they are in good shape, although many homeowners simply install new shoe molding at this time. Step 1 – Lay the Plywood. Instead, they typically cut the bottoms of the moldings in order to slip the new flooring beneath them. Depending on the type of the baseboards in the room, it is usually best to remove either the entire baseboard or the shoe moldings that line the bottom edge of the baseboards. Unroll any required underlayment and moisture barrier in long strips, joining each row with tape. Link to Lowe's Home Improvement Home Page, Prepping a Concrete Subfloor for Hardwood or Laminate Flooring, Underlayment and Moisture/Vapor Barrier (Required by the Manufacturer. Question: Hi There, I hired a contractor to install Bruce hardwood floor 3/8″ thick. Laminate is a budget-friendly, attractive alternative to hardwood flooring. Using the new figure, measure along the parallel centerline to each end of the starting wall and make a mark. Remember that a good flooring installation starts with a correctly prepared subfloor. Be sure to read the flooring manufacturer’s instructions carefully. Should you do anything ahead of time or should you just wait for them to come and take care of everything? Few, if any, flooring installers will remove these moldings. Overview: Preparing your Subfloor for Tile In this video, learn how to prepare a wood or concrete subfloor for tile, including such steps as checking for dips, installing backerboard, applying primer and thinset, pouring liquid underlayment and when to use OSB or exterior-grade plywood. Do this by multiplying the room’s length by its width. Whether you're installing a hardwood floor on the first or second floor of a building, you need a solid subfloor that won't sag and that will hold nails. Nail-down or floating floors may be installed over existing vinyl as long as it's no more than two layers thick. Don't just turn down the thermostat. More importantly, you'll focus the floor installers' efforts more on floor installation and less on peripheral activities like taping up plastic or turning off your heating system. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself, Lowe’s installation services may be the easiest way to handle your hardwood or laminate installation. Only after wood has acclimatized to the jobsite is the installer ready to install — and on… Clear floor of any staples or nails. You'll need to know how to level a floor: Just sand any high spots and fill the low spots with leveling compound. When you buy, add 10% to the total. Question 1: Is the subfloor thick enough? Hardwood flooring provides long-lasting beauty and durability to a home. Have a partner help you. Some homeowners may choose to go so far as to tear out the old flooring themselves and lay an entirely new subfloor—or at least install a thin plywood underlayment to smooth over the subfloor. The subfloor is made of particle boards. While the partner holds the door in place, remove the hinge pins and set them aside. Compare the results against the manufacturer’s specifications for moisture limits. Can You Add Padding Under a Hardwood Floor? A hard work surface, such as a concrete patio or garage floor, Protection from the elements; a garage, patio cover, or carport is ideal, Warm conditions if the temperature outside is cool, Close access to an entry door to the home. Hardwood flooring will not stabilize the OSB subfloor, so all movement must be remedied prior to hardwood installation. So, carefully consider all angles of this before doing it. Some homeowners like to take this opportunity to install new baseboards after the flooring has been installed. Is the subfloor rigid or strong enough to support your hardwood flooring? Before you start to install your hardwood floor, you must ensure that your subfloor has been properly prepared and is ready for the installation process to begin. Plywood and OSB subfloors over joists are most common in newer homes and new construction, typically in homes with basements or crawlspaces. Georgia Pacific a well known manufacturer of plywood and OSB Oriented strand board panels has issued application recommendations for each.. GP takes into consideration such factors as reaction to moisture, seam … Yet installing hardwood flooring is a big project often best left in the hands of professional wood floor installers. Preparing a Concrete Subfloor for Luxury Vinyl Flooring Concrete is a common subfloor material, and in general, it’s easy to prepare for a luxury vinyl flooring installation project. Most flooring installers spend little or no time working on the subfloor unless this was discussed beforehand and negotiated as part of the price of installation. They are easier to work with, but still provide a solid foundation to support your hardwood floors for years to come. They were going to glue down the hardwood. Pull up the current floor. Plywood is a common underlayment, with better structural strength and water resistance than particleboard. Structural guidelines require some flooring be installed perpendicular to the floor joists. Removing baseboards will give the installers enough room to install the flooring planks as close to the walls as possible. Flooring installers will remove the doors. Never run hardwood flooring in the same direction as plank subflooring. It supports your decorative floor finish, whether it’s carpet, hardwood, vinyl, laminate or tile. Many hardwood floors last for decades with proper care. Floating sub floors for solid hardwood installations generally consist of two layers of plywood, or allowing enough wood for a 1 ½ inch flooring cleat to hold effectively. If you are working with wood subfloor, and you find that there are some extremely uneven surfaces, you may want to apply new plywood over the top of the subfloor. Laminate planks snap together and “float” above a subfloor, which means tiny subfloor imperfections are okay although again, a level subfloor will help prevent damage. Check that your moisture barrier, underlayment plywood and plank fit under your door casing and door. Preparation for installing floor tile depends on the type of subfloor in the room you are tiling. Removing baseboards can be a huge project if the baseboards are stuck to the wall with multiple coats of paint or if the baseboards are extensive. This article provides detailed instructions for leveling a subfloor based on our project. While the look will be more uniform and polished, removing and reinstalling the door trim is an extreme measure since homes typically have many interior doors. To level a subfloor for installing laminate, follow the directions above to remove high and low spots. Floor Prep - Wood Sub Floors . Your goal is a subfloor that is perfectly flat and smooth and firmly secured to the floor joists. Weather permitting, dust and debris are greatly reduced if the flooring installers have a suitable nearby outdoor location to cut the flooring. Check the manufacturer’s instructions for specifics on acclimation periods. OSB Subfloor Preparation. Prices, Promotions, styles, and availability may vary. Why You Should Prepare For Floor Installers, How to Hire Hardwood Installers and What to Expect, How to Get Cat Urine Odor Out of Wood Floors. Why You Should Prepare For Floor Installers. The key to a beautiful, long-lasting hardwood or laminate floor is a well-prepared subfloor. Dust is the number one problem for homeowners during wood flooring installation. If your home has tall, built-up baseboards, it is common practice to remove just the small base shoe moldings or quarter-round that cover the seams between the baseboard and flooring around the perimeter of the room. There are various types of subfloors, including wooden floorboards, concrete, screed, plywood, chipboard, bitumen and asphalt. What type of subfloor is better for hardwood flooring? 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