Now a day’s most of the people are installing wood flooring at their homes. They use timber wood flooring. There are also experts available in the market for installing wood flooring but most of the people like to install by themselves.
Guidelines for installing timber wood flooring:
These are some guidelines to be followed for a successful timber wood flooring installation.
Onsite product handling
On receiving the product, it depends upon you that how to handle the product before installation. The packing is generally made to sustain a long journey. They easily tend to wear out and if exposed to moisture can damage the floor installation material. Though timbers are highly hygroscopic, so one must take care to keep it away from atmospheric moisture. The materials should not be stored in tarpaulin.
Conducting a visual tour on the floor to be installed
A visual tour should be conducted before installation. It has to be made sure that the floor on which the timbre flooring installation shall take place is perfectly free from any strong chemicals, metal shavings, wood shavings, excess sand or dirt. Along with it moisture capability should be tested from concrete floor.
Tools required
All the required carpentry tools are a pair of gloves, hammer, glue, nail gun and other materials one may find personally necessary. A four hundred and fifty mm joist span, and a three hundred mm central joist span is required. For sanding and smoothing finally, one will require a sanding paper.
Installation Procedure
- Laying the timber boards –
It should be started by sorting out the sizes starting from small boards to the large ones. A large workable area is required. Then fix the surface area with the polyurethane gum and after that gently put the timber floor slabs on the working area. It must be made sure that the process is done with minimal disturbance to the glue. Also, when installing on a damp concrete, a waterproof coating must be done.
- Nailing the boards –
Gently fire the nail on a corner of the wood with the nail gun. One may use a hammer. The nails must be at an angle of 45 degrees with the present board on the ground. If done on a concrete floor, the floor should be glued first; a board to be laid over it and then the timber flooring installation should be conducted. This ensures longer life of timber flooring.
- Installing Mickey pins –
Mickey pins are a must in the installation. These pins are to be used at the end of the installation. The pins will hold the floors together and the adhesive action of the gum will be enhanced to a great level.
Sanding and Finishing
The importance of sanding and finishing at the end of timber flooring installation is to provide a robust look and ensure safety. In order to give the good look to the floor, one should polish the floor after drying out of the glue. Then any polishing agent can be used to polish the surface. Also the rough edges should be sanded out to perfection such that no rough edges may catch the skin and tear it causing an accident. The Mickey pins may be removed at the end.
Points to note
- One should use hot dipped galvanized or stainless steel nails.
- Each joist should be nailed with a board.
- There should a gap of around 2-3 mm in between the boards and about 5 mm from the wall. This is required to compensate of imbibition of wood and expanding during change of climate.
- Adequate venting and provision for accessing should be made if there are pipes or others accessories under the flooring.
So there it is. These are some important guidelines to timber flooring installation. All the safety standards must be met before installation. If any excess product remains, it should be stored safely as it might be needed in the future.
