As a hardwood flooring retailer, we often get tons of questions about our hardwood flooring installation practices. We know this is an incredibly important service for you, the homeowner, and we’d like to address some of the questions that are most frequently asked here with you now. If you have further questions, be sure to stop in and visit us at Bougainville Flooring Superstore at our Honolulu, HI showroom location.
Can I just install my own hardwood flooring?
Many homeowners enjoy a good DIY project, but unless you have extensive experience in flooring installation, it’s best to leave this job to the professionals. Specific special tools are necessary that not every homeowner has access to, and the experience necessary to handle things that can go wrong in the middle of the project is very important to a successful installation. Check with your hardwood flooring store for the best options.
Is underlayment really necessary?
The National Wood Flooring Association strongly suggests an underlayment if you have a subfloor made of wood. This helps prevent vapor which can send wet air movement up to your floor. Just make sure, when choosing an underlayment for your hardwood floors, that you don’t choose plastic. This creates condensation that only works to cause far more problems. A hardwood flooring retailer can steer you in the right direction.
Do my wood floors have to be acclimated?
Acclimation allows your new hardwood flooring to reach the same moisture content as the environment into which it will install. This step is extremely important and should never be rushed. Without proper acclimation, your new flooring could easily become damaged as it tries to continue the acclimation process after installation. This can result in gapping, warping, and squeaking in the end.
Can we skip the expansion gap in my hardwood installation?
The expansion gap is put into place for a very important reason and leaving it out can be extremely detrimental overall. Wood naturally absorbs any moisture in the room and if there’s no expansion gap to allow for this, your flooring will buckle, warp, and split as it expands. There must be space around the outer edges, and in some cases, in the middle of the floor in extremely large installations, to let the flooring adjust to humidity changes.
Should I choose prefinished or unfinished wood flooring?
This choice is strictly a personal one, however many homeowners make this decision based on what it means for them. For instance, unfinished materials offer far more choices when it comes to stain colors and finish options but take much longer to install. Prefinished materials offer a quicker installation period, but fewer choices in stain color and finishes. The answer lies in whether you are comfortable exchanging installation time for stain color options.
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