IMPORTANT

It is absolutely essential to use a hygrometer, otherwise your floor is not guaranteed.

There are 3 main types of installation for hardwood floors as follows:

1. Nail Down Wood Flooring Installation for 21mm Semi Solid floors fitted over existing wooden sub floors such as floorboards or plywood.
2. Glue Down Wood Flooring Installation for any hardwood semi solid or engineered hardwood floor fitted over concrete, plywood or chipboard.
3. Floating Wood Flooring Installation for any semi solid or engineered floor fitted over any suitable substrate such as plywood, chipboard, floorboards or concrete.

Floating Wood Flooring Installation

1. All the door liners, architraves and doorstops must be undercut at the finished floor height to allow the flooring to be fitted beneath them with no visible gaps.
2. All wooden doors, where necessary, must be taken down and trimmed to allow the doors to clear the new flooring. Once trimmed the doors must be re hung.
3. If the subfloor is concrete or screed then 1000 gauge plastic sheeting must be laid in order to protect the wooden floor from any residual moisture in the concrete. Additionally, in order for a wood flooring installation to be successful, any joints must be overlapped by at least 200mm and the joints must be taped as well.
4. Over the plastic sheeting the underlay must be laid to all areas where the hardwood flooring is to be fitted.
5. The engineered hardwood flooring boards must be laid on top of the underlay each board must be fixed to the next board by using PVA adhesive inside the tongue and groove joint. This will form a continuous wooden raft. The boards must be held in place while the adhesive dries with a series of temporary spacer blocks fitted between the boards and the wall/skirting board. Once the adhesive is cured these spacer blocks must be removed.
6. Floating wood flooring installation requires the boards to be laid to give a random joint pattern. This will normally be achieved by using the off-cut from the end of the first row to start the second row and the off-cut from the end of the second row can then be used to start the third row and so on. Adjustments may need to be made to ensure that no two end joints are less than 150mm apart and that no two end joints are level with each other within 3 adjacent rows.
7. An expansion gap must be maintained around the entire perimeter of the room to allow for the seasonal expansion and contraction of the floor. In general the expansion gap will need to be 1.5mm at each side for every metre of span. The expansion gap must not be filled and must be kept free of debris.
8. This expansion gap must be covered by a matching pre finished solid hardwood scotia trim measuring 19mm x 19mm which must be pinned to the existing skirting boards. Or by the fixing of new skirting boards if the originals were removed prior to fitting.

Glue Down Wood Flooring Installation

1. All the door liners, architraves and doorstops must be undercut at the finished floor height to allow the flooring to be fitted beneath them with no visible gaps.
2. All wooden doors, where necessary, must be taken down and trimmed to allow the doors to clear the new flooring. Once trimmed the doors must be re hung.
3. Each board must be individually stuck down to the sub floor using MS Polymer adhesive. The adhesive is both solvent and water free, remains elastic when cured and is compatible with underflow heating. The adhesive is applied to the sub floor with a suitably notched trowel and the individual hardwood boards are embedded in the adhesive.
4. The boards must be laid to give a random joint pattern. This will normally be achieved by using the off-cut from the end of the first row to start the second row and the off-cut from the end of the second row can then be used to start the third row and so on. Adjustments may need to be made to ensure that no two end joints are less than 150mm apart and that no two end joints are level with each other within 3 adjacent rows.
5. According to our wood flooring installation guide, an expansion gap must be maintained around the entire perimeter of the room to allow for the seasonal expansion and contraction of the floor. In general the expansion gap will need to be 1.5mm at each side for every meter of span. The expansion gap must not be filled and must be kept free of debris.
6. This expansion gap must be covered by a matching pre finished solid hardwood scotia trim measuring 19mm x 19mm which must be pinned to the existing skirting boards. Or by the fixing of new skirting boards if the originals were removed prior to fitting.

Nail Down Wood Flooring Installation

1. All the door liners, architraves and doorstops must be undercut at the finished floor height to allow the flooring to be fitted beneath them with no visible gaps.
2. All wooden doors, where necessary, must be taken down and trimmed to allow the doors to clear the new flooring. Once trimmed the doors must be re hung.
3. It is crucial that the boards must be nailed down to the existing wooden subfloor by firing nails through the top of the tongue at an angle of 45 degrees using 50mm nails throughout the whole nail down wood flooring installation process. Each board must be nailed every 250mm - 300mm but no nails must be used within 50mm of the end of the boards in order to avoid splitting.
4. The boards must be laid to give a random joint pattern. This will normally be achieved by using the off-cut from the end of the first row to start the second row and the off-cut from the end of the second row can then be used to start the third row and so on. Adjustments may need to be made to ensure that no two end joints are less than 150mm apart and that no two end joints are level with each other within 3 adjacent rows.
5. Nailed down wood flooring installation requires an expansion gap to be maintained around the entire perimeter of the room to allow for the seasonal expansion and contraction of the floor. In general the expansion gap will need to be 1.5mm at each side for every metre of span. The expansion gap must not be filled and must be kept free of debris.
6. This expansion gap must be covered by a matching pre finished solid hardwood scotia trim measuring 19mm x 19mm which must be pinned to the existing skirting boards. Or by the fixing of new skirting boards if the originals were removed prior to fitting.