Hardwood Floor Installation - Basic Facts To Remember Before Installing

Today, the houses, offices and buildings all over the world prefer advanced, stylish ways of flooring. And hardwood floors are one of the most desirable forms of flooring preferred by many. But, there are certain point s to keep in mind before one goes ahead with the idea.

Basic requisites to be fulfilled before installation - subfloors

The first thing needed before hardwood floor installation is a proper sub-floor to secure the hardwood flooring to. This is necessary to protect the newly installed wooden floor from moisture and to make the area to be installed an even surface. The subfloor can be a properly prepared concrete floor or slab, a conventional raised plywood subfloor or a floor joist/battens. They also can be pre-existing floors with a layer of insulation provided against moisture.

Deciding on the type of hardwood to be laid: Solid wood or Engineered wood

Well, before choosing whether to choose solid wood or engineered wood, it is necessary to find out the level of humidity present in the area where the floor has to be installed.

If the area has a lot of moisture, solid wood floor should be certainly avoided. One can still install wooden floors, but an engineered wooden floor is a better option as they hold up relatively low levels of moisture without being damaged. Engineered wood flooring is less expensive and easier to install, but the best part is that they come pre-finished. A floor of engineered wood is much stable than a floor of solid wood as it is made up of layers of wood sandwiched and bonded together. Solid wood floors have a tendency to expand and contract with changes in temperature and humidity, whereas engineered wood is more resistant to such changes.

For areas like kitchen and bathrooms, where spills are most common, Laminate flooring is best suited. Such floors have an appearance or finish of wood, but the underlying plies beneath the surface are made up of Melamin resin or Fibreboard. Laminate flooring is gaining immense popularity, chiefly because it is easy to install and also to maintain.

Adopting techniques for hardwood floor installatio

The three common methods of hardwood floor installation are:
A) Floating installationr
B) Glue down installationr
C) Nail down installatio

Now, how does one know which type of installation needs to be adopted? There are two things to consider before doing this; the type of subfloor available and the type of flooring material used. The floating installation technique is the easiest and used where the flooring material is engineered wood.
The glue down method is perfect if you want solid wood floor, irrespective of whether the subfloor available is a concreted one, one made of plywood or is joisted. This type of installation is also used for engineered wood, if the subfloor is either of concrete or ply.
The nail down method is usually used for laying solid wood floors over concreted or plywooded subfloors.