Hardwood flooring questions

[Craig D Peltier]

Im wondering if theres a DIY set up for wood floors. Im only interested in acacia wood floor for a bedroom and bathroom maybe 250 feet. I was wondering if there is a simple way that hardwood floors come these days to be able to assemble for a first timer.
What should underlayment be? Just ply?
I think some floors have tongue and groove that you use a special floor nailer on, I have also heard of floors that snap together?

A little help cause Im not sure what im getting my self into.

The 2 floors will run opposit directions and the bathroom has some 22.5 degree walls in it.

Thanks

[Joe Pelonio]

Real hardwood or the laminate?

We went and looked at the Lumber Liquidators down in Auburn, where they have laminate, solid hardwood, and Engineered, where the hardwood is thinner and laminated to a sort of MDF material. The only one that needs nailing down is the solid hardwood, the others are available in snap together. Costco and Sam's have the best prices on laminate floors, but you'd have to go to a flooring place or borg to get the others. We made the mistake of using inexpensive borg parquet just a few years ago, and it need to be replaced soon because the high traffic areas have no finish left. If you have dogs the laminate is the most resistant to their claw scratching.

[Chris Padilla]

Craig, get yourself out to a flooring retailer/warehouse and check out all the options as there are a myriad of them.

I recently picked up some 'engineered' wood flooring for my living room. It is 9/16" thick, tounge and groove, prefinished. It is made up of 1/8" thick veneer of a hardwood (maple in this case) and the rest is plywood. They are 5" wide and come in a variety of lengths. It is also "handplaned" for the texture and look: if you rub your hand over it, it isn't perfectly flat...it's got little waves here and there in it. It is also "distressed" in that it looks old and worn like it's been walked on for many years.

I'm putting down 15# tar paper as a vapor barrier/underlayment over my 3/4" plywood subfloor and I will use those L-shaped nails/staples to secure it. I would have preferred staples but apparently the somewhat unusual thickness of my flooring led me to only one kind of floor nailer/stapler at my local Home Depot (rental).

[Craig D Peltier]

Real hardwood or the laminate?

We went and looked at the Lumber Liquidators down in Auburn, where they have laminate, solid hardwood, and Engineered, where the hardwood is thinner and laminated to a sort of MDF material. The only one that needs nailing down is the solid hardwood, the others are available in snap together. Costco and Sam's have the best prices on laminate floors, but you'd have to go to a flooring place or borg to get the others. We made the mistake of using inexpensive borg parquet just a few years ago, and it need to be replaced soon because the high traffic areas have no finish left. If you have dogs the laminate is the most resistant to their claw scratching.

Well If I can get snap together in acacia then laminate is good. I have a call into my rep at crosscut.

[Matt Schell]

definitely do your research check out the following link there is tons of great information and there is a forum that is populated be some really knowledgeable people

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodinstaller/

When the product specifically says laminate then it is not wood it is plastic that looks like wood. If you are alright with that then it is a very viable option.

If you want wood then you can get either solid wood (naildown) or engineered hardwood (has a plywood substrate with a veneer or harwood) engineered can often be nailed, glued or can float (clicked together)

Take your time, do the research, plan it out and you will do fine. Don't be afraid of the naildown option personally I prefer the solid naildown floors. I don't think they are any harder to install and the result is a very solid feeling floor. The floor nailers can be rented and are very user friendly.

Like anything the devil is in the details (take the time thouroughly prepare your subfloor, to carefully undercut all of your trim and jambs and plan any transition pieces.

[Greg Narozniak]

In our old house I had installed a Uniloc product called Quick Step. It was a laminate floating floor that used a foam underlayment with a plastic vapor barier attached. The floor locked together without glue and came in wide panels. Many people that came over never knew it was laminate.

I installed it in the foyer and down the main hall as well as in the Master bedroom and with 2 German Shepherds constantly walking/running on it there was no wear in over 2 years before we moved.

Great product, I would use it again.

[Chris Padilla]

Craig,

You can see a few shots of my floor in this thread. Go to the end of it.

[Craig D Peltier]

Craig,

You can see a few shots of my floor in this thread. Go to the end of it.

Thanks for all the info,
Chris this link is to a new roof you had questions about. I went to end and didint see anything after looking through the thread.

[Chris Padilla]

Thanks for all the info,
Chris this link is to a new roof you had questions about. I went to end and didint see anything after looking through the thread.

Post #27 has two shots of some of the maple flooring I'm laying down.