Preparing and Installing a Floating Hardwood Floor
*Preparing
Before you install your floating hardwood floor panels, you need to get your cushioning sheet installed. You can use your cutter knife to make it fit. Some people find that making it into many small pieces is much more manageable than trying to fit a large piece in the room. These pieces should be laid in the same direction as your panel rows.
One of the nice parts of using a cushioning sheet is that debris on the sheet or lumps in the surface below it have a less dramatic effect on the floor. However, you should still try to get all of these straightened out to the extent you can see them.
For debris, just use your broom and dust pan to remove them. It ’s not such a big of a one-time task when you consider the implications are pretty close to permanent if you fail to remove them.
*Installing
1.Place your first panel in the corner with the ends with a cavity in them towards the walls.
2.Put a little bit of glue in the cavity of the next panel.
3.Attach the next panel to the first panel quickly after step two.
4.You may need to work with the rubber mallet gently to ensure that the two panels come together snuggly. If the wall gets in the way of the rubber mallet, you can use your claw hammer to nudge it in place.
5.Continue this until you get to the end of the row where you will need to mark off the excess length of your last panel with the carpenter ’s crayon. Then cut the panel to fit using the circular saw.
6.Use the remaining piece of the panel to start the next row of hardwood.
7.If you are using the glue, as in step two, you’ll need to be careful to get the entire adhesive off of each row as you complete it or it may do permanent damage to the hardwood surface.
8.Make sure you fit your entire pieces well, especially the last corner piece. If you have fit everything together just right, your floor will be much more stable. And, it will look better after the next step.
9.Now you go around all of the room walls and place the wall strips. You should nail these strips to the wall and to the floor. This will stabilize your floor. This will also make the edges of your new floor look better.
