Last minute Hardwood Floors Install Questions

[hazmat]

Thanks MarkV & Others for the previous help. Floors are going down this weekend.

A couple last minute questions:

1. How flat does the subfloor have to be? Example, between two sheets of plywood, there is a step. I haven't measured it, but what is the cutoff point at which i should get floor leveler? I'll try to screw everything up tight first.

2. Should I get a staple hammer for the felt paper, or is my hand stapler going to work OK? I have a pnuematic stapler, but the staples look too thick to use.

3. See link below for floor plan. Here's my plan: I'm going to snap a chaulk line so that the LR floor lines up with the hall floor. Then I will screw a fence to the floor & work towards the DR. I will use a spline to reverse direction to fill in the floor back towards the front house exterior wall. Is this a good plan or is there a better way to do it?

4. When I get to the pass thru to the DR I plan to keep running the floor thru the doorway. Any tips on fitting the pieces to the DR wall that adjoins the LR? I'm worried about re-establishing my straight datum & also getting the floor to align with the kitchen floor when I get to that point.

See Floor Plan Here

[pbenven]

<font color="blue">I'm going to snap a chaulk line so that the LR floor lines up with the hall floor.</font color>

You mean that flooring in the hall is going to be horizontally oriented in your plan? That's some bad chi you're gonna have there. No, I'm not a fung shwei (sp?) expert nor do I suscribe to all of the ideas, but having flooring running perpendicular to the direction of traffic from your front door does produce some weird effects.

[hazmat]

<font color="blue">That's some bad chi you're gonna have there </font color>


All ready runs perpendicular to the flow of traffic. So far no ill effects from the bad chi! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Mike_Dumond]

What kind of floor are you planning for the kitchen???

[Hank]

<font color="purple"> All ready runs perpendicular to the flow of traffic. So far no ill effects from the bad chi! </font color>

Maybe some better chi from a different design.

I do like MarkV's suggestion that the boards should run with the direction of a narrow hallway, visually more appealing, even if they are perpendicular to adjoining rooms.

[AndyF]

&gt;&gt;1. How flat does the subfloor have to be? Example, between two sheets of plywood, there is a step. I haven't measured it, but what is the cutoff point at which i should get floor leveler? I'll try to screw everything up tight first.

Try to get the floor as flat as you can. If you can feel a step you need to plane or sand it down. My experience in putting down floors is limited to ~2,000 sq ft in my previous house and the one room where I cheated and didn't invest time in ensuring a flat subfloor was the room which looked the worst.

Regarding your plan to run the flooring across the hall between two rooms and perpendicular to the long axis on the hall, like some of the other posters, I think this might be a mistake. What I did in a similar situation, was to snap a chalkline from one room to another, but laid the floor in each individually. I did the entire floor in the first room starting from the long wall and in the second room I measured from the chalk line to the long wall and ripped the first board to the right width so that when I laid the boards out to the chalk line an edge would hit the chalk line. Doing it this way is simpler, and if you measure carefully will work well, especially if you insert a break by laying the floor in the hall parallel to the long axis.

[hazmat]

Guys, maybe it wasn't clear but the floor is already laid in the hall kitchen &amp; family room. I'm just trying to align to it. The pic says "cheap O laminate flooring" but should be updated to say"poorly finished &amp; maintained oak".

I am breaking the floor between the hall &amp; LR with a couple pieces running perpendicular to the rest of the flooring. Same thing for the kitchen &amp; DR.

A picture is worth a thousand words. See attached

[hazmat]

Darn paint program has file at 3MB! I guess it is saving all the white background. I'll work on it.

[MarkV]

Hazmat,

I've been out of town and just read your questions. If you are not done by now here are my thoughts.

1. The flatter the better on the sub-floor. Of course a truly flat sub-floor is a rare item so you have some room to work. I would say anything more than 3/16 is pushing it. Often you can knock down a high seam with a belt sander or a chisel.
2. You can staple the felt down if you want. I don't bother though it may help keep things in place for you chalk line.
3. Sounds like your layout plan will work fine. There is an advantage to starting at the front of the house and using measurements to line up with the hall flooring. With your plan you will need to face nail the flooring course that will be splined. Not a big deal but it will leave some nail holes that have to be filled in the body of the floor.
4. There are no special tricks for your LR to DR transition. A little measuring will tell you what to rip you DR starter course to. That course will be face nailed and one or two more will be toe nailed before the flooring nailer will fit in. Don't hit the flooring nailer to hard on the first couple of courses of flooring so you don't move the starter courses.

Good luck,
MarkV

[hazmat]

Mark,

Timing is everything!

1. I flattened out the floor the best I could

2. I used 1/4" staples in my gun (the smallest I could find). Still needed to flatten them with a hammer. The swing hammer staplers were much more $$$$ ($60 for the bostich) than I wanted to spend

3. I ended up using your method because after checking two good lumberyards &amp; the depot, I couldn't find a spline. I guess a flooring place might have been a better place to look.

4. <font color="blue">Don't hit the flooring nailer to hard on the first couple of courses of flooring so you don't move the starter courses. </font color> D'oh. So that's why it came out 1/16" off! It was obvious when I got back to the chaulk line, but I don't think you'd see it unless you were looking for it. The key thing is that it came out parallel to the exisiting floor.

I now know why you guys charge the big bucks for installing the floor. Not overly complicated, but it sure is backbreaking work! After 20 years I'd imagine you're either in really good shape, or you can't stand up straight [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] I have a newfound appreciation for your trade.

We finished the living room, but only got about a 1/3 of the way done in the dining room. Should be able to get the rest done in a day.

Thanks again for all your advice. The floor looks great &amp; we are very happy with how it came out. The wife took a couple pics, I'll scan them in when they get developed.