HARDWOOD FLOORS: HOW TO?

This post is also available in ITALIANO

Hardwood floors don’t go through trends. This is a fact.

But it’s also true that if you install it badly the whole room can be ruined.

But what does it mean to install a hardwood floor the right way?

There are two things to consider:

installation technique
installation geometry

Installation technique

There are two installation techniques for hardwood floors:

Glue Down | the hardwood battens (10 or 15 mm high) are directly glued to the base. This is the best technique if you are installing it directly over a pre-existing floor or over a heating flooring.

Nail Down | the battens and the 23 mm-high boards, with male-female joints on every side, are nailed or screwed. Width varies from 9 to 21 cm, and the pieces can be up to 2,5 m long (or 4 m for larch wood). For the base several techniques can be used: you can drown the joist in concrete, install some roots or use a phenolic or OSB panel where to screw the boards. This way the floor can be examined whenever you want.

Installation geometry

1. Brick pattern

The battens, in the same format, are arranged in such a way that the head joints are in the same position in relation to each list of the row next to them.

Tips

arrange the batten sideways to the main light source
in case of rooms with out-of-line walls, install the battens inclined to all the walls
the installation must be centered on the main door
if you want to make the room look longer, install the panels perpendicular to the main door
if you want the room to look wider, install the panels parallel to the main door
install the battens with the head joints at ⅓ of the following row, and not on the centreline

2. Irregular pattern

The battens, that may come in different lengths, are arranged in such a way that the head joints are displayed in an irregular way.

Tips

arrange the batten sideways to the main light source
in case of rooms with out-of-line walls, install the battens inclined to all the walls
the installation must be centered on the main door
if you want to make the room look longer, install the panels perpendicular to the main door
if you want the room to look wider, install the panels parallel to the main door