Installing Hardwood Flooring

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Sanding is the

riskiest of flooring jobs for the first-timer to tackle.

If the walls are more than 3/4" out of parallel, you'll have to average the difference by moving the base line toward the center of the room at the wider end; onehalf the distance of the discrepancy is all you'll need. The wall gap, of course, is for expansion, and will be covered with base shoe molding when the job's complete. Select the longest and straightest pieces for starting and finishing the floor. Lay the first strip in the left-hand corner (it's easier for right-handers to work from left to right) 1/2" from the wall, tongue on the line and endgroove to the right. Starting at the midpoint of the board, handdrive an 8d nail into the face of the strip, 1/2" from the grooved edge. Continue to nail left and right into each joist or screed, and sink a fastener between joists as well.

With hardwood, it helps to predrill the nail holes with a 1/16" bit; some professionals even use screws here because they'll be hidden anyway. Be sure to countersink whatever you use. Go on to complete the first course in the same manner, snugging up the end joints before you nail. The second and third courses are blind-nailed by hand—that is, the nails are driven through the tongue at a 45° angle and sunk with a nail set. Arrange your strips so that no two end joints come within 6" of each other, and distribute long and short pieces evenly throughout the runs, saving the longer ones for entryways. Look for, or cut, strips to fit within 1/2" of the wall at the end.

Loose-laying the floor several courses ahead of your work—a process known as racking—lets you plan the best layout, and avoids crosspull—the stair-step separation of wood strips that occurs as the subfloor settles over time. Once you're away from the wall a bit, the power nailer will come into its own. It fits over the forward edge of the board and draws the strip up tight as you whack its plunger with the hammer. Sometimes, a crooked piece requires coaxing from a homemade lever (Fig. 7), which you can make with some 2 X 4 scraps.

A sadly distorted board might be worked with a hand plane, but is often best just set aside. Strip and plank flooring should be nailed every 8" to catch the joists. Avoid nailing into a subfloor joint, and don't let the strips end over a joint. When nailing to screeds, fasten the strip to each part of a side lap if no subfloor's being used (Fig. 8). Take care not to allow more than one joint of consecutive runs to fall over the same space between screeds. Plank flooring may have specific manufacturer's instructions, but blind-nailed tongues with intervals of countersunk and plugged face screws are common.

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