Watching professionals install hardwood flooring on television is one thing. Doing it yourself in your own home is another thing entirely. To install your own hardwood floor, you need two things: perseverance and your own set of tools. Obviously, you'll need the flooring and other materials as well.
There are many different tools required to install a hardwood floor, from those that help you measure and cut the planks to fit into place to those that help you adhere the flooring to your subfloor. Wondering exactly what you'll need? Here's a quick rundown.
Floor Prepping Tools
Before you can start laying out your new hardwood floor, you need to prepare the existing surface. This means removing the old flooring, so you can lay the moisture barrier and hardwood planks directly on the subfloor, as well as getting the new flooring acclimated to the air in your home.
You’ll need to do some cleanup on the subfloor to avoid getting dirt and debris trapped between it and your new flooring. Here are the tools that you’ll need to handle this stage of the job.
Utility Knife and Pry Bar
In order to remove the existing flooring, you’ll need either a utility knife (if you’re dealing with laminate floor tiles, linoleum, or carpeting) or a pry bar (for engineered and existing hardwood floors that have seen better days).
Broom and Dustpan
After removing the existing flooring, you should sweep the subfloor to remove any demolition dust and debris. Use the dustpan to collect and throw out all of this debris. In addition, you’ll need the duo to keep the space clean as you lay your new flooring, as it can get quite messy as you drill holes and hammer nails into place.
Wood Moisture Meter
Your new wood floors need to acclimate to the humidity levels in your home before you install them. This usually takes 24 hours, which is why you need to place the planks in the room they’re going to be in a day or so before you start.
Worried that the planks may not be at the desired humidity level? Check them with a wood moisture meter. One also comes in handy should you decide to perform water popping on the floors prior to staining them.
Level
To install your floors properly, the subfloor needs to be level. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a floor that has bumps and lumps in it, causing the new boards to sit and wear unevenly.
Check the levelness of your subfloor with—you guessed it—a level, and then use the same tool to ensure that you’re installing your new floor evenly as well.
Measuring and Cutting Tools
The next set of tools you need to install your hardwood floors is for measuring the planks and cutting them down to size. While you won’t need to cut all of them, you’ll definitely need to do some trimming on the end pieces to make sure that they’ll fit properly.
Also, you want to stagger them slightly so that those end pieces are all different lengths, which requires some measuring and cutting as well.
Sawhorses
Although you can cut your hardwood flooring down to size without a sawhorse, using one will make the job exponentially easier. Place two sawhorses in the corner of your work zone (or slightly outside of it, if you have the space), and put a large piece of scrap board on top of them. Now you have a cutting surface and won’t have to bend down as far while trimming your planks.
Pencil
Of course, you could always use a pen or a marker to place the cut marks on your hardwood flooring planks, but a pencil works just as well, and it’s erasable. Without a pencil, you may end up with marks visible on the finished flooring (especially if you put them on the wrong side of the board), and the job will be a bit tougher. Since you want to adhere to the old adage of “measure twice, cut once,” use a pencil.
Tape Measure
The tape measure part of you tool kit is obvious. You’ll need to determine which boards will need to be cut, as well as how short they’ll need to be. Use a tape measure to see how big the space is so you can mark it on the boards and then cut them down to size.
Chalk Line
Technically part of the installation set, you’ll need to set up the floors so that the planks are staggered instead of completely even all the way around. This staggering makes the floor look much more attractive.
Use a chalk line to snap the spot in the center of the floor where you’ll begin your flooring, working your way out from there. Just make sure that the line is even and perpendicular to the walls.
Jigsaw
After measuring your hardwood flooring planks, it’s time to cut them down to size. Set the planks (one at a time, of course) on your sawhorse set up and trim them with a jigsaw. Make sure to use safety equipment, like goggles, gloves, and earplugs, so you can protect yourself.
Installation Tools
While measuring and cutting the planks down to size is a necessary part of the job, installation is another. This is the part of the project where you’ll finally get to see your lovely new floors put into place and end up being able to enjoy them thoroughly. You’ll be proud of what you’ve accomplished on your own after this stage!
Drill and Drill Bits
If you’re planning on nailing your hardwood floorboards into place, then you’re going to find yourself drilling small holes into the ends of each board. If you attempt to nail them into place without drilling a hole first, you run the risk of cracking or splintering the ends of the boards, damaging your new floor.
Gluing is another option, but nailing works better if your subfloor will support it.
Hammer and Nails
To ensure that your new flooring stays in place, you’ll need to ensure that it’s secured to the subfloor.
Since you have a moisture barrier in between the boards and the subfloor, you’ll need flooring nails that are long enough to go through the top boards and the moisture barrier into the subfloor without sticking up (they need to sit flush with the surface). However, they shouldn’t be so long that they go right through the subfloor, weakening it.
Thankfully, there are plenty of flooring nails that will work. And the hammer? Any classic hammer will do.
Flooring Nailer
While you don’t necessarily have to use a flooring nailer, it will make the job easier. A flooring nailer helps ensure that the nails are sunk properly into the flooring (you won’t want the nail heads sticking up, as that can hurt your bare feet, among other things) and can do the job quicker than a standard hammer.
Plus, with a flooring nailer, you run less of a risk of damaging your hardwood flooring planks, as a standard hammer can do some damage if you miss the nail and hit the floor instead.
Mallet
Ensuring that the floorboards are tightly pressed together is part of the job. They need to be as close as possible, without cracking them, so that gaps don’t form between the boards.
The best way to do this is with a mallet. The rubber ends are strong enough to hold up while you push the boards into place, and the tapping block (see below) provides some additional protection that prevents the boards from getting damaged in this part of the process. Plus, you can use the mallet to ensure that the boards are all of the way down after you secure them with nails.
Tapping Block
Finally, you’ll need a tapping block to make sure that your floor planks from Hardwood Bargains are tightly up against one another. They shouldn’t be so close that they could become damaged when the wood expands and contracts with the weather, but they shouldn’t be so far away that there are large spaces in between them.
The tapping block works with your mallet to push the boards together, as the block prevents the boards from getting damaged by the mallet.
Your Install is Complete
A DIY hardwood flooring installation can be a rewarding experience. Just make sure you have all the right tools on hand, and you’re sure to have new, beautiful hardwoods in no time!
Sources:
All Tools Needed for Installing Hardwood Flooring | Home Stratosphere
Hardwood Installation Tools | DIY Network
8 Essential Tools for Laminate Flooring Installation | Family Handyman
