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Wood Flooring Installation

Wood Flooring Installation

Not just food for pandas or the stuff of cheap picnic mats, bamboo is now being processed with modern techniques into beautiful “hardwood” flooring that beats standard wood floors in durability, hardness, and dimensional stability.

An added bonus to these beautiful floors is the knowledge that bamboo, unlike wood, grows quickly and abundantly, reaching maturity in five years or less. Red oak and maple, by comparison, can take decades to mature and then have to be replanted. Clear-cutting of forests also has a negative environmental impact and threatens the planetÂ’s biodiversity.

After harvesting, cutting, processing, and finishing, bamboo flooring installation is not much different from standard hardwood floor installation. The important steps in installation occur before putting in the bamboo floor. First, make sure you buy from a reputable manufacturer who is willing to back up their product with a warranty.

The next step in bamboo flooring installation is making sure the subfloor is dry, clean, and level. Dirty subfloors will not bond well with the adhesive, and subfloors that are not dry will eventually cause rot. If not level, the bamboo flooring will squeak when walked on. If you are competent in home repair and good with your hands, you may be able to complete the bamboo flooring installation on your own. In some cases, with certain types of bamboo flooring, a professional will be needed.

Bamboo flooring may be glued down using a moisture barrier flooring adhesive. After applying the adhesive to the subfloor with a trowel, the bamboo flooring planks should be immediately placed. You may also install bamboo flooring using a nail gun over plywood or particleboard. Once starter rows are secure, subsequent planks should be nailed directly above the tongue at a 45-degree angle to face.

After installing the bamboo flooring, you will care for it in a similar way to hardwood floors; frequent dusting/sweeping, occasionally mopping, and use of wood cleaners. With regular care, bamboo flooring will add a stylish, beautiful component to your home for many years to come.

Bamboo Flooring Info provides detailed information about bamboo laminate flooring, discount bamboo flooring, installation, suppliers, and more. Bamboo Flooring Info is the sister site of Hardwood Floors Web.

Installing Engineered Wood Floor – what to use to fill voids in subfloor before installation?

I’m installing an engineered wood floor in a second floor bedroom. Currently has a plywood subfloor in fairly decent shape. However there are some voids and gaps in the subfloor. What product should be used to fill these areas? Would ceramic tile adhesive work? Do the gaps between plywood sheets (maybe 1/8″ gap) need to be taped and filled?

Do NOT fill the gaps between the sheets of plywood! These need to be there to allow for wood expansion. In fact, if you don’t have those gaps, run a circular saw, set at 3/4″, down all the joints to open them up. With out this gap, if the plywood swells, it will buckle up at the joints.

Voids in the subfloor like knot holes in the top ply aren’t an issue. But dips and high spots are an issue. Make sure all the nail heads are flush (and add deck screws if there are any loose spots).

Your flooring instructions should list the maximum dip/rise in a given run. If you’ve got low spots (cr@py carpenter didn’t crown all the joists), you can cut pieces of roofing felt to fill in the void. If it takes several layers, “feather” them with progressively larger pieces, just like you’d feather a drywall joint. High spots can be taken down with a grinder or belt sander with 40 grit paper

If you’ve got a floor with a lot of dips and rises, you can use a self leveling cement to bring it level. It’s very thin, like a runny milkshake, and you spread a thin layer with a large floor squeegee. It’s thin enough that it finds it’s own level, puddling in the low spots. This is typically only needed for tile, but you could do it for wood/laminate.over a really bad subfloor