A Guide to Installing a Solid Oak Floor

If you are choosing to have a solid floor installed in your home then you will have plenty of choices of which type of wood to buy.  One of the nicest woods to buy is oak as it will look fantastic with almost any decor.  There is so much choice in terms of solid oak flooring for sale and a lot of people these days will choose to look online first.  This is a great place to look because there is so much choice and the prices tend to be lower.  

You may have decided that you want to install your new floor yourself and this should be fine provided you have some skills in this area.  Otherwise it should really be left to the professionals.  Solid wood flooring installations are more complex than installations of laminate for example so unless you know what you are doing, you should probably get the experts in.  However, if you are determined to do it yourself, the following guide should help to get you on the right track:

The first thing to do is to prepare the floor.  The floor must be clean and dry underneath and you will have to ensure that it is completely level.  This may require you to use levelling concrete.  

The wooden boards need to be left in the room where they will be installed for a number of days so that they can acclimatise.  Solid wood tends to expand and contract with changes in temperature so it needs to be in the room that it will be installed in so that it is at the right temperature.

Underlay needs to be installed before the wooden boards because this will act as a moisture barrier.  You can use staples or nails to keep these in place.

The way that the boards should be installed is in a perpendicular direction to the joists. You can make markings on the wall to help you ensure you have straight rows.

Most solid wood flooring will have to be nailed or glued down.  A nail gun is a better option than a hammer.  Pre-drilling holes in the planks will prevent the boards from splitting.

Use boards from different packs so that the grain and colour is randomized. This will give you a more unique floor.

Once you have finished laying the boards, you can finish it off with trims and borders and you will need to polish it up so that it looks great.  Don’t forget to shop around when looking for solid oak flooring for sale because that is the best way to make sure you are getting the deals you want.