What Size Nails For 3/4 Hardwood Flooring

Nothing beats the ambiance and timelessness of wood floors. Hardwood flooring can concluding a hundred years or more, adding dazzler and value to your home. Installing hardwood flooring, on the other hand, can exist a daunting process if you aren't familiar with the following frequently asked questions.

Installing Hardwood Flooring is a Perfectly Sound Investment

Q. What's the difference between hardwood and engineered wood flooring?

Hardwood floor is fabricated of solid wood. Walnut, cherry, pine, birch, ash, are common varieties of hardwood flooring. Bamboo (actually a grass and not a woods) is another popular flooring selection these days. Engineered forest, often used interchangeably with hardwood flooring, is actually fabricated of layers of wood with a veneer of existent wood. Information technology offers the expect of solid woods, just with greater versatility.

Solid hardwood floor typically comes in iii/4" thick boards, while engineered wood boards are usually 3/8" or 1/2" thick. Hardwood boards are typically narrower than engineered wood planks to better adapt to moisture fluctuation.

Deciding whether to invest in solid or engineered hardwood flooring depends upon your needs and environment. Solid hardwood flooring is known for its endurance and the fact that it tin can exist refinished many times. Information technology's also more expensive than engineered woods flooring, which is more stable and moisture resistant. If a section of engineered flooring gets damaged, nonetheless, information technology normally has to be replaced, as the engineered woods flooring cannot exist re-sanded or refinished as many times (If at all) as solid hardwood.

Q. Can I install hardwood flooring on concrete?

Aye. But in that location are certain requirements to ensure that moisture doesn't reach the hardwood. The concrete flooring for solid hardwood should be at-form or to a higher place-grade (at or above ground-level). For basements, most flooring manufacturers recommend using engineered wood. Furthermore, the concrete also has to be completely dry - even earlier installing a subfloor. Carpeting, paint and other materials must be removed as well, and you may need a concrete grinder to prep kickoff.

After new concrete is laid, it tin can take more than a month for the wet to evaporate from concrete, and moisture levels must exist tested prior to installation. Before laying hardwood flooring over concrete, you'll need a moisture bulwark between the two surfaces. For solid hardwood over concrete, it'south recommended to utilize a woods subfloor, which can heighten the overall flooring level. Something to consider, as clearance for doorways and other items may alter.

Hardwood flooring installation with the Bostitch BTFP12569 2 in 1 Flooring Tool

Q. What Tools Do I Need When Installing Hardwood Flooring?

If y'all are installing pre-finished hardwood flooring, you'll need a flooring stapler or nailer. The choice depends on personal preference. See our commodity on the Difference betwixt a Flooring Nailer and Flooring Stapler , for more info. Freeman, Bostitch and Powernail are reliable brands for flooring tools; our most pop tool is the Freeman PF18GLCN nailer .

Make up one's mind whether you want a manual floor nailer or pneumatic flooring tool. If you lot take a large installation projection, choose the pneumatic tool. While more than expensive, it will make the job faster and save you fatigue. You may as well desire to invest in a rolling floor accompaniment that will likewise brand the process easier, with less lifting each fourth dimension you fasten.

Other tools demand you'll also need: a hammer, miter or table saw, and a pry bar for removing molding. For installing unfinished wood, you'll need a sander, vacuum, and other finishing tools.

Q. What Hardwood Flooring Fasteners Will I Need?

As for wood flooring fasteners, y'all'll apply nails or staples. Staples are generally a cheaper selection of fastener, just 16-, 18-, or 20-judge flooring nails or "cleats" are the choice of pros. They allow for woods flooring expansion and contraction, likewise providing great holding power. Whichever fastener you cull when installing hardwood floor, yous'll need to use that fastener throughout the unabridged installation.

The fastener you choose may also depend the wood and subflooring material needed, and the recommendations of the flooring manufacturer. Per Flooring.org, the National Wood Flooring Association , states that for solid hardwood boards, nails or staples should be spaced between viii and ten inches apart, and for engineered wood boards, between iv and eight inches. PowerNail has a handy Room Square Foot and Cleat Coverage Calculator .

Q. How much wood exercise I need to install a flooring?

Hardwood flooring is sold in cartons. To decide how much wood is needed, first find out the foursquare footage of space for your project. Before installing hardwood flooring, measure the room's length and width, and then multiply the 2 to get the total foursquare footage. For an unusually shaped room, measure odd areas separately. It'due south helpful to divide the areas into rectangles, add together the measurements together and and so multiply to become foursquare footage. Don't forget to include closet space.

Information technology's advisable to add together 5-x% to cover the "waste material factor," wood that will end upward being unusable. If you're completing more than than one room, total the total square footage and so add 5-10% for waste matter cost.

Installing hardwood flooring is a solid investment in any home

Q. How much does installing hardwood floor cost?

This depends on a lot of factors—starting with the type of wood for your floor. For a rough idea on the cost to install hardwood flooring, Home Counselor states that the boilerplate homeowner will spend $four,396 to install a wood flooring. On the lower end of the spectrum, softer woods such as pine can range from $three to $6 per square foot, while more resilient and exotic wood varieties can cost $8 to $10 per square pes. In the eye lies common wood species, such as oak.

Unless you're planning a DIY project, add together into that estimate the cost of labor, which will run from $3 to $viii per foursquare foot. If you need to accept furniture moved or rug removed, this volition cost actress, and then budget that into your costs.

(For more on installation, see our article How to Install Hardwood Floors .)

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