Installing hardwood floors

[Prashun Patel]

Anybody have creative ideas about trimming a cathedral ceiling? Besides the standard crown molding.

[Chris Padilla]

Yes: Don't!

I have cathedral ceilings in my home and the wife didn't want any trim up there in the recent living room gut/remodel. We just carefully painted at the wall/ceiling point.

Putting crown molding on cathedrals is tricky and you'll find lottsa tricks out there on the good ole web to handle the corners.

[Prashun Patel]

Yeah, I'm carefully cutting in now, but it just looks incomplete. Thought about just painting the whole ceiling too the same color as wall, but it's too dark.

[Chris Padilla]

Typically, you want the ceiling to be a light color so that it feels bigger/roomier.

Our cathedrals ceilings are a light buttery color, the walls are a caramel color, and we have one accent wall that is dark chocolate...no kidding, our living room looks like a Snickers bar! hahaha

[Prashun Patel]

The flash stinks, but you can get the idea.

[Chris Padilla]

Awesome, Shawn!!

[fRED mCnEILL]

Regarding hot air registers, when we did our hardwood floor it was unfinished so had to be sanded and finished. I found a guy who makes hot air registers and took him some of my flooring so he could make then out of the same wood. They look great. But you can also buy commercial hardwood registers that come with a frame. By using the frames you eliminate the task of "finding" the register hole after floor installation.

Fred Mc.

[Art Mulder]

Shawn, the job looks great.
For anyone else reading this threading and thinking about it... Here is a link to a photo essay of my own hardwood flooring installation from Feb'08. I was a complete newbie at the time, and there were plenty of things I learned that I would love to pass along to others.

As for face nailing... yeah I really hated having to face nail the last two-three rows. But really, once the holes are filled you never see it again. The furniture along the wall covers a lot of it anyway.

You really should use a flooring stapler.
...
If you're going to install thousands of dollars worth of flooring, it's well worth it to cough up $250 for a flooring stapler. You could always sell it when you're finished with it. Or, for that matter, you might try to find someone who is selling his flooring stapler after he finished his install.

Yes you should really get a flooring stapler. (or flooring nailer.)

But I really don't see the point in buying one. Just rent one from Home Depot. Renting a flooring nailer for a day (24hrs) costs the same as buying one box of flooring nails/staples. (about $30 when I did the job).
So why would I buy the tool, unless I'm going to use it again and again?

eta: I have no opinion on the nailing vs stapling side of things. The guy at the rental desk said that he rented more nailers than staplers, but not by a huge amount. I had to rip out a board 2 or 3 times, and let me tell you it was a HUGE pain in the neck. If staples hold even more, then I'm kind of glad I didn't use them...

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks, Art. I did use a flooring stapler instead of a floor nailer.
I'm thinking to get some wood floor registers.