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You called the flooring nailer the "star of the show", but having done floors in the past, I'd claim the knee pads are the most important tool you used.
They definitely came in handy, but I didn't use them nearly as much as I would have on my laminate or vinyl flooring install. I was hunched over the flooring stapler most of the time.
@@SoEliteGamer tell me you are kidding? They may be one of the most overlooked items in a hard laborer's gear list but they are def a part of PPE and can protect your knees..
Man I can’t thank you enough for making this video. This is the exact same job I am doing tomorrow . I just started doing flooring and I’m still a little uneasy about everything. Seeing you do exactly what I’m going to be doing and talking through it step by step gave me a lot more confidence. You’re the man 🤙🏼
I think having those setbacks in this installation is very helpful for viewers because we might come across those kinds of setbacks in our installations too.
Dude! Just bought a home out here in PA. I was looking for flooring videos, came across yours. Awesome that you pointed out the roadblocks like the floor being a little off level, and how you fixed it. I hate those videos where everything goes perfectly as it never does for us in real life. Thanks!
A good video is the one that show you all the difficulty you can come across in the processes , not the one cut off all that and show you how beautiful the job came out as he brag about how good of a master he is
WHY is this a great video? Johnny actual discusses and showcases his mistakes (going through the drywall, uneven floor). This visualization will definitely make me think twice when approaching the job. ALSO, GREAT WAY TO LEVEL THE UNEVEN FLOOR WITH SHINGLES!! GREAT PACE, VISUALS AND TECHNIQUES. THANK YOU !!
I have carpet throughout my new (to me) house.. in reality it's probably a decade old.. I have been considering vinyl, but since the carpet gets some sun from my kitchen skylight, I've heard vinyl planking can fade over time. This wood flooring seems like a great idea!
So very thankful I came across this video! I must of watched 20 different HW install videos and this one was clear and right to the point. Big thumbs up for the shingles tip. One spot on my sub floor needed it. Thanks again!
Johnny Brooke . . . .WOW! Thank you so much for posting this "Hardwood Floor Installation for Dummies" tutorial. I watched NUMEROUS hardwood floor installation videos but yours was the best. I really appreciate your transparency, showing the mistakes you made (dry wall damage) and creating a level floor surface for the hardwood flooring material with shingles. I think you saved me from numerous train wrecks on my first go at this endeavor. Finally, I REALLY appreciated the tools that you utilized and / or recommended. I made a last minute run to Harbor Freights to secure some of the "other tools" that extended or enhanced my ability to do a "professional type job" on my first attempt . . . WELL DONE!👍😃👍
I have installed hardwood flooring before. I love the Flooring Jack. Next time I install hardwood floors, I am definitely going to get one of those. I think you could use it even for stubborn boards that long and just a bit warped. You could put a long 2"x4" between that far wall and the flooring jack, cutting the 2"x4" to length as you go. Every hardwood flooring board could be in tight.
Hi Johnny, I'm a brand new subscriber and I live in a Mobile Home. I've been replacing all of the subfloor, only one small bedroom left to do .😁😁🤩. I found a 8 or 10 inch channel lock pliers worked best to remove the old Staples. I grabbed the top of the staple and just pushed the channel locks over the round part and it pulled up the staple with little effort. Just another idea for anybody else to try if they have this kind of project to do. I appreciate you including your mistakes or things overlooked, so we don't have to go through the same setback during our project. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and videos Rodney
Instead of the flooring jack, you can cut a piece of flooring diagonal, keeping the groove side, and then cut a piece of plywood angled and sized to the gap to act as opposing wedges to close up the gaps. The groove protects the tongue on your board.
Hi, I work for myself, and something I had learned from a fellow contractor was to use the wide shakes of siding cedar wood shakes as spacers. The reason I am mentioning this is that having asphalt shingles in the house is not such a good idea. Because they are tar based products. And cedar is just wood and I would use this instead, for health reasons, for my installs.
You can also take a large flat head screw driver to pry the final few rows back. Just beat it into the subfloor right along the tongue of the board and pry. It might cause a little bit of damage to the tongue but oak usually holds up well.
Next month we put scraps of hardwood flooring on the roof to shore up the low spots and use carpet mats that we pulled up from the bonus room to show down the rainwater flow on the 12/5 roof.
Thanks for the video. The one thing that I would suggest be done differently, is your first row. I wouldn't offset from the sheetrock along the whole length, but mark an offset at the each end of the wall and then snap a line. I would place the tongue on the line and follow it for the first row. The sheetrock along the length of the wall can fluctuate and not be straight.
while remodeling my home i hung my electronics with "command strips" and zip ties. got everything above shoulder high and i worked underneath my crap without knocking anything down. also thanks for the tip on the shingles!
Surely putting a.plasric.sheet under solid wood is going to trap any.moisture that gets underneath? Then it will just be absorbed by your new flooring. Wood needs to breath and if you've got moisture coming up from the foundations to your subfloor you've got more problems than a plastic sheet will solve.
5:28 Interesting bit about having to get the wood pieces acclimated to your house's environment (humidity, etc), a process which can take several weeks. But that means if you contract a commercial floorer to do the job, they're just coming and installing wood pieces that haven't been acclimated (since their best interest is to just come in and get the job done in a couple days).
A faster way to step the stairs is putting some rows on the ground and then using the cuts to start the next row. Also you can use a small cut off to hit the flooring piece your installing and it gets a tight line and it's it's nearly impossible to damage the flooring because it's being hit inside the Grove. Another recommendation is getting a stainless steel prybar it doesn't have paint so it's less prone to damage the wall when removing base.
Thanks for the video. Have completed installation of about 1000 sq. ft of my home with beautiful California hardwood bamboo flooring. Two tips of advice ... #1 DO NOT NAIL boards. Boards interlock with themselves and should be floating due to expansion and contraction. I used nails on half of my house and now every time I walk on them the nailed boards screech while the non-nailed boards are silent to walk on. #2 Lay boards DIAGONALLY since no room is perfectly square. This will necessitate you buy 5-10% more hardwood flooring but the fit and esthetics are superb. Except for the screeching nailed boards, love my hardwood flooring!
Great video right to the point, no crazy music or slogans. Very easy to understand. Why did you not tape the joints with the plastic vapor barrier? Should it be done, why or why not? Im am planing a 16x18 room build over an old garage slab that has about 12 inches between the new floor joist and old slab. One more question, should there be insulation shoved between the joist or none? It is there but no sure it will "breathe" correctly. Anyway great video thanks.
Talking about the last row; You say you were extremely lucky that it was that wide. Next time you install a floor you should measure the length of the room first, so that you don’t risk ending up with a really narrow last board. Better then to cut some off the first board so you at least get a wider last board.
This was a great video for me to confirm what I was planning to do was pretty spot on. My project is a little more involved since it is a dining room, living room combination with a long hallway in the middle. My issue was that I wanted the flooring centered down the hallway so it took way more planning and measuring in 2005 build raised ranch that for some reason doesn't have any straight walls! Gotta love builders that can be off by almost 1/2 inch from one end of the hall to the other! Thanks for the video. Hoping my extra measuring pays off!
This video was good but twice as long as it needed to be. Also liked how you hit the flooring with the metal end of the hammer instead of using the safer plastic end.
A question for those familiar with this kind of flooring: I'm used to flooring that's "free floating" (interconnected boards, with no mechanical connection to the subfloor). These typically need quarter of an inch or a little more on the sides for them to expand and shrink, depending on the size of the room. If the boards for this solid hardwood flooring are nailed individuall to the subfloor, how do they expand and contract without pulling out the fasteners? And why do you need a space at the wall, if you nail the boards right next to the wall to the subfloor? They can't really move without pulling out the fasteners? Maybe I didn't quite understand what's nailed to what and the boards are just fastened together, and not to the subfloor, but if they are connected individually to the subfloor, the floor as a whole should be unable to contract and expand without pulling the staples out.
It doesn't expand or contract as much as you think, and you hold the wood back from the edge the quarter inch so that the slight expansion won't push into wall or cause creaking
@@SargentandGreenLeaf Thanks for your answer, but I'm still confused by the extend of the gap. How could that wood expand even more than a 16th of an inch. It can only be the expansion of that one floor board you nailed down right next to the wall. And actually only the part of the wood from the nails to the wall. I know that a whole "free floating" floor can contract and expand around a quarter of an inch. So the expansion of one floor board should surely only necessitate a minute gap of a 16th or 32th.
The expansion gap is really necessary, the wood swells mainly with moisture and that is what the expansion gap is for, if the product swells with no expansion gap it creates insane pressure and can actually cause the floor to buckle or cradle where it rises the middle of the room and pushes the walls out.
Dude, did 1600 sqft of 7 inch engineered hardwood recently. It was stapled and glued. The glue was my first time. It was an easy clean up but added an extra minute or so per board. Supposed to be squeak free. But it was a bear.
@@craftedworkshop It is uncommon to nail a hardwood floor, as most newer houses have screed floors (not sure if this is the correct term) and no blind floor to nail or screw into. Most hardwood floors are laid floating or maybe glued if there is an underfloor heating.
Steve Varga we do the same in the states using sika adhesive or bostic We do full spread on concrete subfloors I havent done a sleeper syatem in a long time , some architects still try
Last couple rows to the wall you need to use a big flat head demo screw driver to pound into the subfloor right up against the piece of flooring you want to staple and pull it towards the previous row. No need for a fancy tool. Great video! Thanks for sharing!
I would have put a small bevel on the ends of the baseboard where they meet the door casings. Gives a cleaner look with a nice reveal, and you don't have to worry about them being flush.
You want to get a measurement of how much your last row needs to be cut BEFORE you do the flooring, so if need be you can cut the first row too, that way you don't end up with your last row being narrow (like 1")
@Tyler Winter Either I am misunderstanding what you are saying, or you misunderstood what I said. My comment is not about the difficulty of cutting the flooring, but about looks. You don't want a 1" wide board on the floor, it would look like shit.
Quickest way to remove staples from pad is a razor scraper, When you were finish nailing your first row, do not stand right above where youre nailing ive seen alot of guys shoot themselves in the foot that way
Use a magnet to find missed staples and nails - a cheap neodymium works best (This is especially important when refinishing hardwood floors before sanding) Gloves help reduce the abrasion that causes blisters as do rubber gripped tools.
Nicely done. Another "cure" the trim on non-straight walls is quarter round trim nailed to the bottom of the baseboards. (Do not nail to the floor as it will restrict the expansion/contraction of the flooring) this also gives an extra aesthetic to the otherwise blocky look of plain square-faced baseboards. Additionally, routing the top edge with some sort of profile will add character to the room and reduce the ledge that collects dust on top of the baseboards.
The younger generation of house owners don’t like the extra quarter round as it’s looks outdated and frankly annoying to push furniture up against as it’s just the little more room you could have. It is a solution to cover up the gaps for sure though
Hi sir, looks a great job, I am a little confused could you quickly explain please, when nailing the floor down how can this allow the floor to expand? also if it expands how can it retract back, ?surely the staples are preventing this as its not a floating floor,
This turned out looking great. You can use one of your clamps as a floor jack. You would just need to flip the end of the clamp. Also, spacers and wedges can be a good option too
@@thomasarussellsr Quick clamps with handles that you squeeze to apply pressure would likely lack adequate pressure to get a really tight fit. You can do better with a clamp that has a screw-type handle. You'll apply greater pressure and you can do so carefully, really dialing in the amount of pressure.
@@idontthinkso666 great observation. Most "squeeze" type quick clamps don't get great squeeze pressure. Even the best ones depend on the user having a great squeeze grip in their hand/s. You modification of my suggestion is 99.9% accurate. I concur.
Is the stapler machine necessary? Or can it be done with a finish nail gun like you did for the row closest to the wall? I only have to do an 18 sqr ft area.
Nice tutorials. I have a question. Now my hardwood floor have a little gap between them because of the very cold temperature. What do I do? I know humidifier will help and what else to get rid of the gap?
Thank you. I am so happy I found this. { yes I see it is 5 years old but new to me = } You really did a great job explaining everything. I can build cars in my sleep but this is my first hardwood floor install and it is far from cheap to make mistakes with. God Bless.
Thanks , I did bellawood 15 years ago in my living room but didn’t know about the flooring jacks. Ordered a nice pair for $53 ea but their are cheaper ones for around $32. Doing my foyer this year. I would use quarter round along perimeter. I keep the gap at 1/2”.
Red rosen paper isn't a moisture/vapor barrier. It is a sound barrier between the movement created by expansion and contraction between floor and subfloor. Red rosen paper is best used to cover a finished floor when doing other projects that could harm the finish of tje wood floor itself. It isn't intended to go under wood flooring at all. Tar paper wether it is 15 lb or 30 lb is recommended. 15 lb needs to be overlapped and 30 lb only adjoined. Plastic coated underlayment can also accumulate condensation and ruin the wood in time.
Thank you so much for the asphalt shingle/felt paper shim idea! I was nervous about self levelling cement if I had to nail through it, if it would leak throw the subfloor or between the floor/wall, etc. Shingles are cheap (especially when people throw out extra), sturdy, and will stay in place.
Their is trick to closing up the gaps when finish nailing if you don’t have a jack. You can use a flat head or chisel hammer the screwdriver into the subfloor then pull back on the screwdriver up against the board hold into place then nail and it should close the gap it works pretty well
Just a great video. Only question I have would be how to tackle old time (125 yo) floor radiators? The only solution I have is to do it during summer (Michigan) and disconnect and remove them. Since this was your first go at this, this might be more for the community, so fire away. 750 sqft dining & living room oa and 4 floor radiators. And yeah, from what I can see, the floors have been refinished maybe twice and deeply gouged so that's not a viable option.
Closing up the gaps when you’re getting close to the end wall is quite easy. Just slice a piece from a board thats waste, put another waste board towards the wall and squeeze the board in place with a crow bar.
For removing staples quickly. Use a 4” or 5” scraper with some force. Scraper is razor sharp and cuts the staples flush w the subfloor. Scrape the the grain.
Glad I came across this video, Question though? Should you glue hardwood floors to the subfloor or is underlayment and stapling enough. I want to buy 5"1/4 x 3/4" hickory, but I keep hearing that board this wide should be glued and stapled, not just stapled. This means no underlayment then.. tks for you help and keep up the great videos.
Nice video, very informative for me as I plan on installing about 200 sqft of some surplus hardwood flooring I recently bought but that's not why I commented. Just an fyi, your Dewalt compound miter saw may be subject to a factory recall. Not sure if it's your model or not but they do have a current recall on a saw like yours. Might want to check it out. Apparently some part of the saw has a propensity for coming apart and sending shrapnel flying around creating a "laceration hazard". Like I said, may not be your particular model but shouldn't be too hard to find out if it is. Again, thanks for the informative video.
Ice pick the staples, carpet installers have to do it in a certain pattern so the pad and carpet doesnt bubble so if you follow that path youll get em all. Youll be standing as well so you save your body
The Lumber Liquidators over in Arden has the floor jacks for pretty cheap. Had to get one myself when I couldn't get those close to the wall planks tight enough. Makes things a ton easier.
Hi, amazing video. They are a thrill to watch. I have a question: is there a book I can read or a course I can take to learn the best practices for diy home projects? I feel that while TH-cam videos are very informative, I'm not getting the full picture.
i just did mine a month ago, i watched this vid and i still had a 'do-over after about ten boards were down, so not too bad boit it turned out great thsat was after leveling the concrete floor. it looke level but the wood told a different story. youd assume the walls in your home are square..nope two were not, make sure your s are and floor had no dips or bumps.
Some mistakes. Plastic barrier will definitely cause issues in the future. If you accidentally spill liquid on the floor, the plastic will hold the liquid longer before vaporizing, cause possible mold issues under the floor. So no plastic barrier. To avoid coving, use floor adhesive instead. I ‘ve used it in a few hardwood projects and the floors are holding up very well. Not sure the shingles are a good idea. You might have issues soon after, I can see the floor getting loose. Also, best and quickest way is to laydown your floors like a puzzle and leave the last piece out. This will cut your installation time by half or less than half.
Hi! First thank you for taping this .I have plans to install as well . My first question is where did you hear about the idea to use roofing shingles to level the floor this video is my first to learn of it I've more questions but got to get back to work
Can I be that guy and add a "tip" for you? ...no! ok well I'm going to tell you anyways. To close off some of those gaps in the flooring that are cause by bowing in the hardwood or variances in tongue and grove slots, you can use a chisel, or a flat bar could also work too. Something that you can drive into the subfloor with a hammer next to the edge of the plank to get some leverage to close the gaps up. Now this will puncture the vapor barrier but that shouldn't be a big deal. That is all. Thanks for hearing me out. I appreciate your videos and your impeccable craftsmanship. You really do a great job at everything you do.
Looks great, not sure what i feel about the huge trimmings. And if you want to be sure that the last piece is the same length as the first you should measure the length of the room snd divide it by the width of the room
It's because hardwood is actual wood it's gets effected by moisture and humanity levels, would leads to wood expanding or shrinkage. Expansion gaps is room for the wood in case if it does expand.
@@udomuller1542 that's why you leave out on underlayment about 1 feet or so, those rolls will be wood glue to subfloor, with 16 gauge, should secure movement and allow for expansion. He should've done the same, for the first 2 rolls Aswell.
Folks, you are failing to understand the basic concept of installing the flooring--it is nailed down on ONLY one side. The other side "floats" inside that tongue and groove joint. (Why do you think that tongue and groove joint is there?) Nearly all the expansion of wood occurs across the grain. So by only nailing down one side of each plank, the entire floor will expand & contract more or less uniformly across the entire monoloithic final surface.
Cool video , now if I need to install wood flooring over concrete surface what do you do different since there is no subfloor to nail the wood into ? Plus is the moisture barrier still needed ? Thanks
thanks for sharing. I have not done this before, but would it be easier to avoid the tight space (when you got to the other side of the room because of the wall being in the way) if you did the sides first then worked you way in towards the middle of the room?
That's a super video! I'm considering installing American Cherry in a few rooms and the information you provided is very helpful. Would you please tell me about how many square feet you installed in the video and about how long it took to layout and nail down the flooring? It looks like you completed that part of the job in a single day. Thanks again for the excellent info! Much appreciated!
Hi! Do you have to remove the trim in order to install the flooring? My house was damaged by water and my contractor knew I had to replace the floors, but already added the new trim.
Hey, great video! Thank you! Question: I will be installing hardwood for the first time in our office conference room. The room previously had carpet tiles adhered to the floor. I have removed the carpet tiles and the floor is still very sticky. Can I place the moisture barrier directly on the sticky concrete floor? Also, what might you recommend for taking care of small uneven areas where glue pulled up? There are just a few areas where using a shingle (for example) wouldn't work. Is there some sort of drywall mud for the floors? OR better yet, can I leave a small circular depression of approx 3" in diameter without compromising the integrity of the floor? Sorry no photos! Thanks for your help.
Use a scraper to get as much of the glue up and ensure even surface. If it is flat with the glue still there just make sure you can remove any pieces of rubble that might stick to it and make the floor pop. On concrete you can use a quick mix concrete patch to level the concrete. I wouldn't nail the floor through concrete. Glue it. You can also use glue to fill holes.
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Thanks for the response means a lot you just made my day
How long did this project take??? I tried to look for it in descriptions but didn't find anything.
They are only saying 10% off net 15%...how do you get the 15%???
Jesus Christ, what's you do to your arm @ 5:30 bro? Those tack strips get you? Jk, but it looks like you were out on the bike doing wheelies!
they are only offering 10%... the "other place" is still less expensive without that 15%
You called the flooring nailer the "star of the show", but having done floors in the past, I'd claim the knee pads are the most important tool you used.
Safety third!
1. Makin money
2. Lookin guud
3. Bein safe
😎👍🏻
Knee pads aren't usually for safety, they're for comfort.
I provide my guys with them, but personally never use them.
They definitely came in handy, but I didn't use them nearly as much as I would have on my laminate or vinyl flooring install. I was hunched over the flooring stapler most of the time.
@@SoEliteGamer Ofcourse pads are for safety. The difference is how fast the injury appears.
@@SoEliteGamer tell me you are kidding? They may be one of the most overlooked items in a hard laborer's gear list but they are def a part of PPE and can protect your knees..
Man I can’t thank you enough for making this video. This is the exact same job I am doing tomorrow . I just started doing flooring and I’m still a little uneasy about everything. Seeing you do exactly what I’m going to be doing and talking through it step by step gave me a lot more confidence. You’re the man 🤙🏼
how’d it go
I think having those setbacks in this installation is very helpful for viewers because we might come across those kinds of setbacks in our installations too.
Dude! Just bought a home out here in PA. I was looking for flooring videos, came across yours. Awesome that you pointed out the roadblocks like the floor being a little off level, and how you fixed it. I hate those videos where everything goes perfectly as it never does for us in real life. Thanks!
A good video is the one that show you all the difficulty you can come across in the processes , not the one cut off all that and show you how beautiful the job came out as he brag about how good of a master he is
Dude I'm in the process of buying a house in PA! where are you originally from?
Paul . . . your "perfect video" observation is EXACTLY why I posted my comment! Too funny . . . we must be very "like minded." 😉
WHY is this a great video? Johnny actual discusses and showcases his mistakes (going through the drywall, uneven floor). This visualization will definitely make me think twice when approaching the job. ALSO, GREAT WAY TO LEVEL THE UNEVEN FLOOR WITH SHINGLES!! GREAT PACE, VISUALS AND TECHNIQUES. THANK YOU !!
Dude, I feel like I can post an ad now for installing hardwood floorings, Thanks a lot for your video.
My back and knees hurt just watching this! Looks sooo much better than the carpet. Nice job!
Hah, thanks mama!
I have carpet throughout my new (to me) house.. in reality it's probably a decade old.. I have been considering vinyl, but since the carpet gets some sun from my kitchen skylight, I've heard vinyl planking can fade over time. This wood flooring seems like a great idea!
So very thankful I came across this video! I must of watched 20 different HW install videos and this one was clear and right to the point. Big thumbs up for the shingles tip. One spot on my sub floor needed it. Thanks again!
Johnny Brooke . . . .WOW! Thank you so much for posting this "Hardwood Floor Installation for Dummies" tutorial. I watched NUMEROUS hardwood floor installation videos but yours was the best. I really appreciate your transparency, showing the mistakes you made (dry wall damage) and creating a level floor surface for the hardwood flooring material with shingles. I think you saved me from numerous train wrecks on my first go at this endeavor. Finally, I REALLY appreciated the tools that you utilized and / or recommended. I made a last minute run to Harbor Freights to secure some of the "other tools" that extended or enhanced my ability to do a "professional type job" on my first attempt . . . WELL DONE!👍😃👍
Thanks a lot Michael, glad it was helpful!
I have installed hardwood flooring before. I love the Flooring Jack. Next time I install hardwood floors, I am definitely going to get one of those. I think you could use it even for stubborn boards that long and just a bit warped. You could put a long 2"x4" between that far wall and the flooring jack, cutting the 2"x4" to length as you go. Every hardwood flooring board could be in tight.
Hi Johnny, I'm a brand new subscriber and I live in a Mobile Home. I've been replacing all of the subfloor, only one small bedroom left to do .😁😁🤩. I found a 8 or 10 inch channel lock pliers worked best to remove the old Staples. I grabbed the top of the staple and just pushed the channel locks over the round part and it pulled up the staple with little effort. Just another idea for anybody else to try if they have this kind of project to do. I appreciate you including your mistakes or things overlooked, so we don't have to go through the same setback during our project. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and videos Rodney
Rodney Widger or a scraper way easier and faster
Instead of the flooring jack, you can cut a piece of flooring diagonal, keeping the groove side, and then cut a piece of plywood angled and sized to the gap to act as opposing wedges to close up the gaps. The groove protects the tongue on your board.
You are a man of patience and precision! Awesome job man
Hi, I work for myself, and something I had learned from a fellow contractor was to use the wide shakes of siding cedar wood shakes as spacers. The reason I am mentioning this is that having asphalt shingles in the house is not such a good idea. Because they are tar based products. And cedar is just wood and I would use this instead, for health reasons, for my installs.
when removing doors i find its handy to leave in 1 or 2 screws in the top hinge until last to avoid the door from pulling on the bottom hinge
For the flooring jack you can take one of your parallel clamps or quick clamps and flip the bottom piece so it pushes out
Why didn’t I think of that?
You can also take a large flat head screw driver to pry the final few rows back. Just beat it into the subfloor right along the tongue of the board and pry. It might cause a little bit of damage to the tongue but oak usually holds up well.
Next month we put scraps of hardwood flooring on the roof to shore up the low spots and use carpet mats that we pulled up from the bonus room to show down the rainwater flow on the 12/5 roof.
Thanks for the video. The one thing that I would suggest be done differently, is your first row. I wouldn't offset from the sheetrock along the whole length, but mark an offset at the each end of the wall and then snap a line. I would place the tongue on the line and follow it for the first row. The sheetrock along the length of the wall can fluctuate and not be straight.
I seriously love and appreciate the flow of your videos. Always informative, entertaining to watch, and overall just great quality. Kudos, dude!
Thanks a lot Kevin, really appreciate that!
while remodeling my home i hung my electronics with "command strips" and zip ties. got everything above shoulder high and i worked underneath my crap without knocking anything down.
also thanks for the tip on the shingles!
Surely putting a.plasric.sheet under solid wood is going to trap any.moisture that gets underneath? Then it will just be absorbed by your new flooring. Wood needs to breath and if you've got moisture coming up from the foundations to your subfloor you've got more problems than a plastic sheet will solve.
Tip for the carpet pad staples: flathead screwdriver. Beats the strain on the hands of the pliers
5:28 Interesting bit about having to get the wood pieces acclimated to your house's environment (humidity, etc), a process which can take several weeks. But that means if you contract a commercial floorer to do the job, they're just coming and installing wood pieces that haven't been acclimated (since their best interest is to just come in and get the job done in a couple days).
Yeah but they probably do a killer job.
2 days is plenty
A faster way to step the stairs is putting some rows on the ground and then using the cuts to start the next row. Also you can use a small cut off to hit the flooring piece your installing and it gets a tight line and it's it's nearly impossible to damage the flooring because it's being hit inside the Grove. Another recommendation is getting a stainless steel prybar it doesn't have paint so it's less prone to damage the wall when removing base.
Thanks for the video. Have completed installation of about 1000 sq. ft of my home with beautiful California hardwood bamboo flooring. Two tips of advice ... #1 DO NOT NAIL boards. Boards interlock with themselves and should be floating due to expansion and contraction. I used nails on half of my house and now every time I walk on them the nailed boards screech while the non-nailed boards are silent to walk on. #2 Lay boards DIAGONALLY since no room is perfectly square. This will necessitate you buy 5-10% more hardwood flooring but the fit and esthetics are superb. Except for the screeching nailed boards, love my hardwood flooring!
Is the bamboo holding up well (scratches, warping, etc)? Considering that instead of oak. What company did you buy from? Thanks!
How many man hours are spent to convert this room? What is the sqft of it?
Great video had no idea about the asphalt shingle trick. Looking to do my floors very soon found your video very helpful with your tips and tricks.
Next time you do the rip next to the wall, set your table saw on a 7-10 degree bevel, you can get the edge of the wood closer to the wall.
I wish someone had answered this. 🤔
@@politicallywhat5630 It just gives a cleaner and finished look
I'm just now thinking about doing this in our home. Your video was very helpful in giving a heads up to potential problems I might encounter. Thanks!
Only thing I do different is using felt instead of vapor barrier. I like to use vapor barrier for laminate jobs. You didnt cut any corners, nice work.
Vapor barrier for naildown, plastic foam for laminate.
For the door frame if you cut the boards at a 45 degree angle you have a finished side all the way arround.
Great job and video! Very thorough without being too long winded.
Great video right to the point, no crazy music or slogans. Very easy to understand. Why did you not tape the joints with the plastic vapor barrier? Should it be done, why or why not? Im am planing a 16x18 room build over an old garage slab that has about 12 inches between the new floor joist and old slab. One more question, should there be insulation shoved between the joist or none? It is there but no sure it will "breathe" correctly. Anyway great video thanks.
Talking about the last row;
You say you were extremely lucky that it was that wide. Next time you install a floor you should measure the length of the room first, so that you don’t risk ending up with a really narrow last board. Better then to cut some off the first board so you at least get a wider last board.
There is nothing wrong with a thin board at the end of the install , you cut the last foot of plastic/roofing paper and ad liquid nail + finish nails
This was a great video for me to confirm what I was planning to do was pretty spot on. My project is a little more involved since it is a dining room, living room combination with a long hallway in the middle. My issue was that I wanted the flooring centered down the hallway so it took way more planning and measuring in 2005 build raised ranch that for some reason doesn't have any straight walls! Gotta love builders that can be off by almost 1/2 inch from one end of the hall to the other! Thanks for the video. Hoping my extra measuring pays off!
This video was good but twice as long as it needed to be. Also liked how you hit the flooring with the metal end of the hammer instead of using the safer plastic end.
A question for those familiar with this kind of flooring: I'm used to flooring that's "free floating" (interconnected boards, with no mechanical connection to the subfloor). These typically need quarter of an inch or a little more on the sides for them to expand and shrink, depending on the size of the room. If the boards for this solid hardwood flooring are nailed individuall to the subfloor, how do they expand and contract without pulling out the fasteners?
And why do you need a space at the wall, if you nail the boards right next to the wall to the subfloor? They can't really move without pulling out the fasteners?
Maybe I didn't quite understand what's nailed to what and the boards are just fastened together, and not to the subfloor, but if they are connected individually to the subfloor, the floor as a whole should be unable to contract and expand without pulling the staples out.
I have the same question.... doesnt wood expand and shrink? Would nailing affect in some way?
It doesn't expand or contract as much as you think, and you hold the wood back from the edge the quarter inch so that the slight expansion won't push into wall or cause creaking
@@SargentandGreenLeaf Thanks for your answer, but I'm still confused by the extend of the gap. How could that wood expand even more than a 16th of an inch. It can only be the expansion of that one floor board you nailed down right next to the wall. And actually only the part of the wood from the nails to the wall. I know that a whole "free floating" floor can contract and expand around a quarter of an inch. So the expansion of one floor board should surely only necessitate a minute gap of a 16th or 32th.
The expansion gap is really necessary, the wood swells mainly with moisture and that is what the expansion gap is for, if the product swells with no expansion gap it creates insane pressure and can actually cause the floor to buckle or cradle where it rises the middle of the room and pushes the walls out.
1/2 in
Great video. I'm tackling my first HW flooring project this weekend and this was one of the best installation videos out there.
Dude, did 1600 sqft of 7 inch engineered hardwood recently. It was stapled and glued. The glue was my first time. It was an easy clean up but added an extra minute or so per board.
Supposed to be squeak free. But it was a bear.
I need a good handyman like this in my life!!
I find it quite interesting how different this is to how wooden floors are installed here in Germany.
How do you guys do them? That is interesting!
@@craftedworkshop It is uncommon to nail a hardwood floor, as most newer houses have screed floors (not sure if this is the correct term) and no blind floor to nail or screw into. Most hardwood floors are laid floating or maybe glued if there is an underfloor heating.
@@EarMaster55 we glue down engineered flooring (basements or slab homes)
Steve Varga we do the same in the states using sika adhesive or bostic
We do full spread on concrete subfloors
I havent done a sleeper syatem in a long time , some architects still try
@@EarMaster55 every company have variations in chicago . A few things he did are wrong in my company , but the video states for beginners not pros
Last couple rows to the wall you need to use a big flat head demo screw driver to pound into the subfloor right up against the piece of flooring you want to staple and pull it towards the previous row. No need for a fancy tool. Great video! Thanks for sharing!
I would have put a small bevel on the ends of the baseboard where they meet the door casings. Gives a cleaner look with a nice reveal, and you don't have to worry about them being flush.
You want to get a measurement of how much your last row needs to be cut BEFORE you do the flooring, so if need be you can cut the first row too, that way you don't end up with your last row being narrow (like 1")
@Tyler Winter Either I am misunderstanding what you are saying, or you misunderstood what I said.
My comment is not about the difficulty of cutting the flooring, but about looks.
You don't want a 1" wide board on the floor, it would look like shit.
@@SoEliteGamer I understood you.
LOL. the hand held saw is much quieter than the oscillating saw. I'd say about a thousand times quieter and more accurate, too. Well done video!
Quickest way to remove staples from pad is a razor scraper, When you were finish nailing your first row, do not stand right above where youre nailing ive seen alot of guys shoot themselves in the foot that way
Use a magnet to find missed staples and nails - a cheap neodymium works best (This is especially important when refinishing hardwood floors before sanding) Gloves help reduce the abrasion that causes blisters as do rubber gripped tools.
Nicely done. Another "cure" the trim on non-straight walls is quarter round trim nailed to the bottom of the baseboards. (Do not nail to the floor as it will restrict the expansion/contraction of the flooring) this also gives an extra aesthetic to the otherwise blocky look of plain square-faced baseboards. Additionally, routing the top edge with some sort of profile will add character to the room and reduce the ledge that collects dust on top of the baseboards.
Thanks! I personally am not a fan of quarter round and wanted a clean, square profile, but those are great options.
The younger generation of house owners don’t like the extra quarter round as it’s looks outdated and frankly annoying to push furniture up against as it’s just the little more room you could have. It is a solution to cover up the gaps for sure though
Hi sir, looks a great job,
I am a little confused could you quickly explain please, when nailing the floor down how can this allow the floor to expand? also if it expands how can it retract back, ?surely the staples are preventing this as its not a floating floor,
Thanks man, just started my own flooring company and EVERYONE wants hardwood, I've done lvp and carpet for about 8 years and this is helpful!
Glad I could help!
This turned out looking great. You can use one of your clamps as a floor jack. You would just need to flip the end of the clamp. Also, spacers and wedges can be a good option too
Many people don't know that "quick clamps" have reversible jaws to be used as spreaders.
@@thomasarussellsr a lot of parallel clamps have the same option
Good call!
@@thomasarussellsr Quick clamps with handles that you squeeze to apply pressure would likely lack adequate pressure to get a really tight fit. You can do better with a clamp that has a screw-type handle. You'll apply greater pressure and you can do so carefully, really dialing in the amount of pressure.
@@idontthinkso666 great observation. Most "squeeze" type quick clamps don't get great squeeze pressure. Even the best ones depend on the user having a great squeeze grip in their hand/s. You modification of my suggestion is 99.9% accurate. I concur.
Is the stapler machine necessary? Or can it be done with a finish nail gun like you did for the row closest to the wall? I only have to do an 18 sqr ft area.
Nice tutorials. I have a question. Now my hardwood floor have a little gap between them because of the very cold temperature. What do I do? I know humidifier will help and what else to get rid of the gap?
You will jus af to fill it whit kokin that matches it
Insulated underlayment
2 years later but thanks bruh!! Your very thorough instructional and educational video really helped me!!👍👍
Great video! Try a long handle shovel for removing the tack strips. A lot quicker than a hammer and pry bar
Thank you. I am so happy I found this. { yes I see it is 5 years old but new to me = } You really did a great job explaining everything. I can build cars in my sleep but this is my first hardwood floor install and it is far from cheap to make mistakes with. God Bless.
love this video, and its prepping me for replacing hardwood floors to all my bedrooms and office
Thanks , I did bellawood 15 years ago in my living room but didn’t know about the flooring jacks. Ordered a nice pair for $53 ea but their are cheaper ones for around $32. Doing my foyer this year. I would use quarter round along perimeter. I keep the gap at 1/2”.
When I did my office floors, I stuffed all my internet stuffs in a cloth bag, and hung it on a nail from the wall.
Brilliant!
Don't you hate it when people come up with good ideas AFTER you've completed the work 😎
*stuff.....nobody thinks you're cute when you type like that.
Red rosen paper isn't a moisture/vapor barrier. It is a sound barrier between the movement created by expansion and contraction between floor and subfloor. Red rosen paper is best used to cover a finished floor when doing other projects that could harm the finish of tje wood floor itself. It isn't intended to go under wood flooring at all. Tar paper wether it is 15 lb or 30 lb is recommended. 15 lb needs to be overlapped and 30 lb only adjoined. Plastic coated underlayment can also accumulate condensation and ruin the wood in time.
Use a long scrapper to scrap staples and also you can pop the tag stripes with the scrapper Aswell.
Thank you so much for the asphalt shingle/felt paper shim idea! I was nervous about self levelling cement if I had to nail through it, if it would leak throw the subfloor or between the floor/wall, etc. Shingles are cheap (especially when people throw out extra), sturdy, and will stay in place.
Nailing tge shingles wont hurt
I’ve used shingles and tar paper to shim up studs when placing drywall and concrete board also.
Best hardwood floor installation video
Their is trick to closing up the gaps when finish nailing if you don’t have a jack. You can use a flat head or chisel hammer the screwdriver into the subfloor then pull back on the screwdriver up against the board hold into place then nail and it should close the gap it works pretty well
Just a great video. Only question I have would be how to tackle old time (125 yo) floor radiators? The only solution I have is to do it during summer (Michigan) and disconnect and remove them. Since this was your first go at this, this might be more for the community, so fire away. 750 sqft dining & living room oa and 4 floor radiators. And yeah, from what I can see, the floors have been refinished maybe twice and deeply gouged so that's not a viable option.
Closing up the gaps when you’re getting close to the end wall is quite easy. Just slice a piece from a board thats waste, put another waste board towards the wall and squeeze the board in place with a crow bar.
As a 10 year installer we put plastic then felt paper to reduce all moisture
For removing staples quickly. Use a 4” or 5” scraper with some force. Scraper is razor sharp and cuts the staples flush w the subfloor. Scrape the the grain.
It’s not razor sharp lol
What a great video , Love to see this type of videos where you learn so much planning to buy my own house
Great JOB! I think one added step could have been to screw down the subfloor before putting on the plastic.
Glad I came across this video, Question though? Should you glue hardwood floors to the subfloor or is underlayment and stapling enough. I want to buy 5"1/4 x 3/4" hickory, but I keep hearing that board this wide should be glued and stapled, not just stapled. This means no underlayment then.. tks for you help and keep up the great videos.
Did you get and answer? I'm in the same situation.
The bedroom with 2 murphy beds and desk is beautifil. Hope you share the project! Thanks for the videos!
Nice video, very informative for me as I plan on installing about 200 sqft of some surplus hardwood flooring I recently bought but that's not why I commented. Just an fyi, your Dewalt compound miter saw may be subject to a factory recall. Not sure if it's your model or not but they do have a current recall on a saw like yours. Might want to check it out. Apparently some part of the saw has a propensity for coming apart and sending shrapnel flying around creating a "laceration hazard". Like I said, may not be your particular model but shouldn't be too hard to find out if it is. Again, thanks for the informative video.
Ice pick the staples, carpet installers have to do it in a certain pattern so the pad and carpet doesnt bubble so if you follow that path youll get em all. Youll be standing as well so you save your body
You can drive a nail set into the subfloor and use it to pry the pieces together. Ive never used a jack personally
The Lumber Liquidators over in Arden has the floor jacks for pretty cheap. Had to get one myself when I couldn't get those close to the wall planks tight enough. Makes things a ton easier.
Got mine there as well along with the staple set, which works MUCH better than a nail set!
Hi, amazing video. They are a thrill to watch. I have a question: is there a book I can read or a course I can take to learn the best practices for diy home projects? I feel that while TH-cam videos are very informative, I'm not getting the full picture.
A flat headed shovel makes really quick work of tack strips. Plus it keeps you off your knees.
Good tip!
Yeah, grind an edge on it and you can pop out Staples fast too
Great video! I'm about to install hardwood in my master bedroom and this helped a lot! I need to go tool shopping hah.
rent the tools
i just did mine a month ago, i watched this vid and i still had a 'do-over after about ten boards were down, so not too bad boit it turned out great thsat was after leveling the concrete floor. it looke level but the wood told a different story. youd assume the walls in your home are square..nope two were not, make sure your s are and floor had no dips or bumps.
Fencing pliers are great for staples and a ton of other uses. I always have a pair in a toolbag.
Yea, I need to pick some up!
As a carpet fitter in the UK, we always use a small hand scraper to get the staples up, by far the quickest way
I slide my pry bar on the floor. It’s heavy enough to pull the staple out very easily.
Some mistakes. Plastic barrier will definitely cause issues in the future. If you accidentally spill liquid on the floor, the plastic will hold the liquid longer before vaporizing, cause possible mold issues under the floor. So no plastic barrier. To avoid coving, use floor adhesive instead. I ‘ve used it in a few hardwood projects and the floors are holding up very well. Not sure the shingles are a good idea. You might have issues soon after, I can see the floor getting loose. Also, best and quickest way is to laydown your floors like a puzzle and leave the last piece out. This will cut your installation time by half or less than half.
Aquabar
what would you suggest instead of shingles?
hi!how many boxes did you use? i’m preparing myself (both in the process & financially) for when i tackle a similar project. just curious!
Hi! First thank you for taping this .I have plans to install as well . My first question is where did you hear about the idea to use roofing shingles to level the floor this video is my first to learn of it I've more questions but got to get back to work
Can I be that guy and add a "tip" for you? ...no! ok well I'm going to tell you anyways. To close off some of those gaps in the flooring that are cause by bowing in the hardwood or variances in tongue and grove slots, you can use a chisel, or a flat bar could also work too. Something that you can drive into the subfloor with a hammer next to the edge of the plank to get some leverage to close the gaps up. Now this will puncture the vapor barrier but that shouldn't be a big deal. That is all. Thanks for hearing me out.
I appreciate your videos and your impeccable craftsmanship. You really do a great job at everything you do.
Looks great, not sure what i feel about the huge trimmings. And if you want to be sure that the last piece is the same length as the first you should measure the length of the room snd divide it by the width of the room
very nice. based on this, would you say it's possible to install hardwoods throughout an entire house one room at a time?
Why do you leave room for expansion and nail down the hardwood flooring? Do nails allow expansion? 😎 or does the subfloor move instead?
Honestly I don’t get it either. It’s just what is required when installing hardwood, so that’s what I did.
It's because hardwood is actual wood it's gets effected by moisture and humanity levels, would leads to wood expanding or shrinkage. Expansion gaps is room for the wood in case if it does expand.
D Tango i agree. But the wood got nailed down less than 1/2 inch off the border and a nail is the worst thing to allow for movement of the wood.
@@udomuller1542 that's why you leave out on underlayment about 1 feet or so, those rolls will be wood glue to subfloor, with 16 gauge, should secure movement and allow for expansion. He should've done the same, for the first 2 rolls Aswell.
Folks, you are failing to understand the basic concept of installing the flooring--it is nailed down on ONLY one side. The other side "floats" inside that tongue and groove joint. (Why do you think that tongue and groove joint is there?) Nearly all the expansion of wood occurs across the grain. So by only nailing down one side of each plank, the entire floor will expand & contract more or less uniformly across the entire monoloithic final surface.
Cool video , now if I need to install wood flooring over concrete surface what do you do different since there is no subfloor to nail the wood into ? Plus is the moisture barrier still needed ? Thanks
You'll need to screw timber battens down first
Hi man. What size nails are you using on solid timber? Also, which type of Dewalt nail gun do you recommend?
thanks for sharing. I have not done this before, but would it be easier to avoid the tight space (when you got to the other side of the room because of the wall being in the way) if you did the sides first then worked you way in towards the middle of the room?
It's been a while since I saw a how-to flooring video that didn't have the phrase 'This is the first time I..' in the introduction
That's a super video! I'm considering installing American Cherry in a few rooms and the information you provided is very helpful. Would you please tell me about how many square feet you installed in the video and about how long it took to layout and nail down the flooring? It looks like you completed that part of the job in a single day. Thanks again for the excellent info! Much appreciated!
Definitely not one day. That's movie magic!
No not gonna be a day especially if you have under a 4.5 inch width plank
Just a word of advice: don't hang your guitars in a wall facing the outside, they get the most susceptible to humidity changes.
Good point!
or, walking by, see that Les Paul up their? Next to the Strat? You wont see them for long.
Shut the fuck up
@@TEXAS_REBEL no.
@@acoffeewithsatan who asked bitch
Is it industry standard to level the slab/foundation after total reconstruction before putting in a new floor?
Shingle scraper took our moulding and tack strips out a lot faster and easier. Long handle was nice.
THANK YOU very much for this video. This is incredibly helpful.
Hi! Do you have to remove the trim in order to install the flooring? My house was damaged by water and my contractor knew I had to replace the floors, but already added the new trim.
Hey, great video! Thank you! Question: I will be installing hardwood for the first time in our office conference room. The room previously had carpet tiles adhered to the floor. I have removed the carpet tiles and the floor is still very sticky. Can I place the moisture barrier directly on the sticky concrete floor? Also, what might you recommend for taking care of small uneven areas where glue pulled up? There are just a few areas where using a shingle (for example) wouldn't work. Is there some sort of drywall mud for the floors? OR better yet, can I leave a small circular depression of approx 3" in diameter without compromising the integrity of the floor? Sorry no photos! Thanks for your help.
Use a scraper to get as much of the glue up and ensure even surface. If it is flat with the glue still there just make sure you can remove any pieces of rubble that might stick to it and make the floor pop. On concrete you can use a quick mix concrete patch to level the concrete. I wouldn't nail the floor through concrete. Glue it. You can also use glue to fill holes.
Thank you for that. I’m going to do my floors as well, your tutorial is indepth