Installing prefinished hardood flooring
ciocan
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
I am going to install prefinished maple flooring over existing oak flooring that is in bad shape. The questions I have is how to get rid of squicky spots and if it is OK to use a 15 gauge finish nailer to secure it or should I rent the special nailer for hardwoods? Thank you.
Replies
Don't do that. Take it to the subfloor, make sure sub is tight, lay down felt or red rosin and go from there. You're just going to create more squeeks by laying floor on floor by whacking loose some of the oak etc. You don't mention what type of prefinished floor you're installing. Is it 3/4 t&g? A 'floating' floor? Do what the manufacturer says as far as installation. Don't use a 15guage nailer for t&g, use the floor nailer.
Do it right. You'll be glad ya did.
What he said. Emphasizing the "Do it Right" part.
http://grungefm.com
What these guys said, plus
buy a big box of 2 inch screws or rent a quik drive. After you rip out your old floor, screw down your original sub floor. You won't be sorry. You can pick up a hardwood nailer on ebay relativelly cheap or rent one for the weekend.
Have a good day
Cliffy
Do all of the above and also rent or borrow or buy a moisture meter and check the moisture content of the flooring before laying it. I have some customer friends who recently had a problem with this... beautiful floor but 6 months later it has shrunk and needs to be pulled up. Originally this was the manufacturer's fault BUT flooring industry council standards require the installer to check the moisture content and if this installer had done so the whole problem would have been much easier to deal with and far less stressful. This type flooring has lots of potential for problems and even disaster... DO NOT TAKE ANY SHORT CUTS. That way you'll be fine.