Laying hardwood flooring advice pls
Looking for some advice on some new flooring that I am about to install.
I have about 1500sf of reclaimed oak, mixed from 4″ to 7″ upto 8′ long. The mill that I am getting them from will kiln dry to about 8% and had said I can put them down straight away, I will then get somebody in to sand and clear coat, 2 coats.
I have only installed small amounts before and only ever nailed, the mill recommends I glue as well as nail.
The floors are going onto 3/4 ply screwd every 6″ so nice and tight, half of the floor is over a crawl space which is dry and has heated ducts running under. I also have a new furnace new ductwork and a large wood burner. The other half is over the basement on top of old maple flooring which has no subfloor again the basement is dry and stores the furnace.
Will be leaving an expansion space around the edges also nail the baseboards to the wall not the floor
I am in Ontario so the winters can be long and cold.
My questions are.
Do I need to let the floor get use to the house temp for 72 hours or so
Should I glue as well as air nail
How long after the install should I have the sand and clear coat done.
Not going against what the mill has said, just not done it this way before so wondering will it still be fine, heard so many storys of movement in flooring.
Thanks for looking any help much appreciated.
Dave
Replies
Two questions..........
What is the moisture content of the subfloor you are going over?
Is there any vapor barrier over the dirt/stone/other?
Calvin asks some great questions. Although the flooring may be at 8%, a good number, it's important that the subfloor be at a similar MC. At the least, I'd recommend stacking and stickering the flooring in the rooms where it will be installed, and leaving it for a week or two. Just stacking the flooring in its boxes for 72 hours does little to nothing to acclimate it.
I'd also lay the flooring over tarpaper. There's no downside to using #15 felt instead of flooring paper, and the thicker paper will slow any moisture migration from the basement better than thin tarpaper or rosin paper. Even though the basement and crawl are dry, it's entirely possible that they're dry because the heating plant down there drives the moisture into the house.
So, with using tarpaper below the flooring, gluing becomes moot. You could still glue it if you used a liquid-applied membrane instead of tarpaper. I'm pretty sure Henry makes that product.
For wider plank flooring I would definitely use glue too if you edge fasten only.
Andy right about acclimation time and method
When you say air nails, you mean flooring nails, right?
You want three coats of finish, well cured between each
I like what everyone else has suggested. Each house is different and has different moisture contents - aclimate the flooring to YOUR house and it will turn out much better.
You can successfully sand the floor yourself with very little risk if you stick with a buffer. The floor will be super flat and as long as you pay attention to detailing the edges and corners well it will as good as any flooring refinisher can do, and better than 80% of what I see.