diy hardwood flooring installation -- feasible?

[a]

hi,

we are finally ready to do something about flooring in our house.

We are looking at the Junckers Oak Wideboard Classic (if people have ideas for other suppliers, we'd be very interested to hear them).

We are wondering about doing the job ourselves (hence our posting here). The only thing is that we want a beautiful finish and are wondering about how skillfully we can install these floors ourselves. Given their quality (and their cost -- ouch!!), we would rather pay a professional, than try ourselves and ruin the job. Our main concern is the joint at the ends of the boards (not the T&G sides), getting these to have a good perfect fit. Is this something that we can reasonably expect to do ourselves?

We have done a fair bit of work ourselves (plumbing, rewiring,...), but are sometimes a bit apprehensive about works like this which are more "finishing" works.

The opinions of people on this group about trying this ourselves would be greatly appreciated.

[Bob Mannix]

I sympathize - we agonized over this as well. We used Kahrs flooring (3 strip) which clicks together. I decided in the end that, if there were a problem after fitting and I'd done it, I'd be stuck. If they did it then I could get them back. We got them to do it and they ended up installing some boards that should have been rejected (there was some filler in surface blemishes, under the seal - this is not unusual to get a perfect surface, but it usually looks like grain - this didn't!). Difficult to see at all when laying (so I might have done it too) but very noticeable in lower light levels when viewed at an angle. I got them back in and they stripped out about a third of the area and relaid it, with no apparent drop in quality of joins. Aside from that I could *probably* have done nearly as good a job but I'm not sure about that even!

I removed the skirting boards and am refitting my own on top of the wood.

One tip, if you are removing a carpet first, cut it round inside the gripper with a stanley knife and keep it. If you then want to work in there afterwards, you can roll the carpet out on top of the wooden flooring again (sweeping the back as you go). This forms a good protective layer if you are fitting skirting boards etc.

[Dave Plowman]

You can buy powered cut-off saws these days pretty cheaply from any of the sheds - just make sure you get one large enough to cope with the width. It might be called a compound mitre saw, but will do the same job. Just make sure you adjust it accurately for a 90 degree cut, as most aren't that good straight out of the box. You might also need a fine toothed blade if it doesn't come with one.

[Bob Mannix]

Another tip, straight from the coal face (ie me grovelling about on the new floor last night). If you fit skirting boards on top of the wooden floor, space them up with a couple of bits of card so the floor doesn't bind when it expands. When you want to decorate/varnish the skirting boards, slip pieces of lining paper under the skirting - if it's a bit tight, put your weight on the floor nearby to compress the underlay a bit. Tack the paper to the floor with lo-tack tape. Perfect masking!

[Alan Campbell]

Hi,

IMHO, Its an easy job - go for it. You can also buy stuff which is just as good as Junckers (again IMHO) and a lot less expensive. (sorry, can't remember the name of the stuff I bought - check out all your local flooring suppliers - especially the ones where you are not paying for flashy showrooms).

These boards come with T&G on all 4 edges so there isn't much cutting (only at the edges of the room where it should be hidden under the skirting so quality doesn't matter much). In fact, there should only be cutting for 2 edges of the room. I'm assuming you will be nailing it to existing batens or joists. The boards don't meet at the joists - the boards are random lengths so the joints mostly miss the joists but as long as you make sure that 2 joints don't occur between the same joists in adjoining boards you will be fine.

Also, the Junckers site has instructions.

go for it - and let us know how you get on. (oh - and invest in some knee pads)

Alan.

[Franklyn]

Absolutely!! Go for it!! Most flooring comes with pretty extensive instructions. In western Washington state I do onsite teaching for do it yourselfers. I've been doing wood floors for over 30 years. I have helped many do it yourselfers and offer a middle ground between doing it yourself and having a professional do it all. If you have questions feel free to drop me an email.

Franklyn,