Hardwood Floors; How to and Not to install

Hardwood floors are installed by professionals for a reason. DIY saves money but some aggrevations aren't worth it. This is a combination of instructions and lessons learned from my home's "upgrade" to hardwood flooring. Please note that I am NOT a professional and do not pretend to know all the answers. This a chronicaling of the Kuhlfolks' (mis) adventures in home improvement and passing along of information, tips and tricks we've learned along the way.

Thanks for visiting!

-Kuhldad

Updates:
June 2011, finished upstairs hallway basket weave
September 2011, updated tools and equipment, more details and prices

Step 1 Tools,Equipment, Supplies & Personal Protective Equipment

Tools & Material:
 

Nailer (a manual if fine for some woods but we opted for a kind called Patagonian Rosewood which is near the top of the Janka hardness scale at 3840 out of 4000, so a pneumatic was needed. DO NOT attempt to hammer these by hand or use a substitute when installing a wood that is high on the Janka scale, (http://www.jankahardnessscale.com/janka-hardness-scale-graph.php) Note that not all woods are listed. Our floors' wood is rated at 3840. When I tried to hand nail a board the nail bent and I had to drill a pilot hole to place nails where the pneumatic nailer couldn't reach. $150-300 USD
   We picked up the Akazuki from Amazon and those nice folks upgraded us to the professional model for FREE! This will shoot Cleat nails. (see Nails below) 

Air Compressor; look for rating of the "SCFM" (which translate to : how much air is moved by the compressor pump) of 3.5 or higher and able to reach ~ 120 PSI. More is better but the price increases with rating and size of the compressor. We got the Dewalt 4 gallon double hotdog, 120 volt. It was sufficient for the job, and allowed me to put in 10 nails in row before running low on air. $150-300 USD higher prices go with higher capacity and capability.

Table Saw, 10in blade, steel (or harder) tabletop (note: an aluminum top is okay but boards move easier across Iron or Steel tabletops)  $90-300 USD Higher prices equal more features and better quality.

Router or Dado cutter blades for the table saw to cut channels in the side of boards for custom fitted planks. I highly recommend a Router Table ($20-$30 USD) that you can set up a fence to help make the grooves easier. This becomes important when laying board in unusual patterns

Miter Saw, I have a 10in Hitachi but a 12in blade would be better for Herringbone layouts due to the depth of the angle cuts at the edges. $150-250 USD 

Saw Blades, be sure you have the right number of teeth, 60-80, for a 10 inch blade in order to make smooth sharp cuts and tipped with carbide or tungsten for longevity. It is worthwhile to mention that pitch(oils and sap)  builds up on the teeth and needs to be cleaned off occasionally. A good wire brush and a strong degreaser has worked or me. Simply remove the blade, soak it in the degreaser for approximately 30 minutes, then hit it with the stainless steel brush. When your edges of the cuts start looking rough it is time to clean it again or possibly time for another blade. $30-80 USD (shop around, price doesn't necessarily equal quality!)
  
Nails; 18 gauge nails. I have been putting them approximately 6-8" apart. They are cleat style so they are designed to be put in by a Pneumatic Nailer. Normally these are 1, 1.5 and 2 inches long and are glue together for ease of installation into your Nailer.  The length you need depends on the thickness of your planks and the thickness of the subfloor or wood below it. $12-15 USD

Wood;   We measured wall to wall, did some minor geometry, and determined we needed about 1800 sq ft. Lumber liqudators in nearby so we went on a Wednesday (less customers) and found a clearance sale on a "limited" supply of $3.80/sq ft, Patagonian Rosewood (yes that's expensive but his floor will out live my son!) . I asked what they  meant by limited supply, which turned out to be only 18,000 sq ft! I laughed until the salesman told me that this was probable going to gone by that weekend! $7000 USD

(I recommend that you have the wood delivered by the supplier. Each of our  80+ boxes was 8' x 12" x 4" and weighed 150 lbs.  Moving these inside was a workout!)

PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)
   Gloves, I prefer Framers since I like the ability to sense what I'm touching without having to look directly at it. $25 USD
   Knee pads, get quality ones, you're going to be spending a lot of time kneeling. $20-50 USD
   Glasses, get Z87+ quality safety goggles or glasses. $7-20 USD ( I am rough on glasses so I buy the cheaper and replace as needed.)
   Hearing Protection, in-ear style or over-ear just make sure it is at least 30db level. $5-20 USD depending on style and level of protection.

Drill  I used a 14 Volt portable and a compact 10 volt portable, but most any drill will work. The key is to be able to work close to a wall or confined area without damaging the wood or the surrounding area. A pneumatic hammer drill will probably be overkill!  Corded: $60 USD  Cordless $90-150 USD depending on size and manufacturer. 

Flexible drive shaft bit holder  This should fall into the, "nice to have but not necessary" category. I broke a couple of these due to excessive bending and drilling at extreme angles (Herringbone pattern up against angled walls!). Again, the better ones cost more but a reasonable price is $10-20 USD 


 

Comments

[jdege]

For those fine fitted pieces, like the fireplace surround, I'd have used a bench plane and a shooting board. You simply can't get as clean a miter with a power tool.

[kuhldad]

My garage space is pretty limited but if you can suggest a way to set up my 8x3 workbench, I'm all ears!
I still have the entire upstairs to do and my wife wants to do some artistic layout on the stair landing!

[jdege]

You can use a shooting board on a kitchen counter, it doesn't have to be a "real" workbench.