If you’re installing wooden floors (or wood-like flooring), you may find it an easy DIY project to one that requires some carpentry skills as well. As an example, some types, such as Lyptus Flooring, lock together without fasteners like laminate flooring.
Solid hardwood and engineered floors are the most difficult to install. Normally, a special flooring nailer is used to attach it, and it is sanded and finished with a drum-type sander. Unless you have done this before, sanding a wood floor can be a tricky process, which is why you should hire a professional, even if you decide to lay and finish the floor yourself.
Floor Installation Problems At Their Most Basic:
DIYers favor floating floors because they are simple and fast to install without special tools. Rather than being nailed down, these panels are held together by their weight, friction between the floor and sub-controls, and/or their snap-together joints.
Installing Hardwood: Four Problems
Hardwood floors are not fixed to the floor and can develop four different types of problems: chipping, warping, buckling, and mildew.
- Chipping
The majority of hardwood floors are made from thin materials, making them less substantial flooring options and prone to chipping during installation when a mallet and tapping block is used.
Additionally, this can result in dents and mars. You can also create chips by sweeping the hardwood floor with a beater-bar attachment on your vacuum.
- Warping & Buckling
If hardwood floors aren’t installed with the necessary moisture barrier, accumulated moisture from water vapor or water damage can cause edge-warping and buckling. Water from the surface also can cause warping and buckling of hardwood floors. Hardwood floors are commonly affected by this issue.
- Peaking
Our third hardwood floor problem, peaking, is caused by two laminate floorboards being forced together by pressure, causing them to rise at their seams or joints, resulting in a high spot.
There is usually not enough space between the floor and the walls and moldings to allow for expansion. You can fix the problem by removing the molding and cutting away a portion of the flooring to relieve pressure on the floor. Put a new molding in place.
- Mildew & Mold
A hardwood floor with a strong, musty odor typically has mold or mildew growing on it due to an excessively damp environment.
Before installing a hardwood floor, be sure to check for mold and mildew, eradication, and the installation of a moisture barrier that inhibits the growth of mildew and mold.
Installation Of Wood Floors: Is It Difficult?
Installation of solid hardwood floors is the most challenging. If you haven’t done sanding before, you might want to hire out the process even if you plan on finishing the floor yourself since the smoothness of sanding can make or break the look of your floor.
Installation Services For Hardwood Floors:
At Tycan Flooring, we specialize in hardwood floor installation. We’re here to help you choose, design, install, and finish hardwood flooring, which will improve the aesthetics of any space and last for years to come.
Get in touch with us today if you are interested in having hardwood flooring installed in Toronto.
