Before you purchase hardwood flooring taking the decision about the installation of the flooring is important, because some types of hardwood flooring needs professional installation and cannot be completed through DIY projects. Even when it comes to the hardwood floors that might be installed through DIY projects, there are a many things to consider before actually taking up the project on your own.
Site-finished and pre-finished hardwood flooring
Hardwood floors are commonly available in the above mentioned types. If you are opting for site-finished hardwood, you need to hire professional installers particularly because the floor will need to be finished after it has been installed in the site, and handling the finishing task can be difficult for anyone without prior experience on the same. The pre-finished hardwood flooring might be installed through DIY projects, because they come with the final finishing and only installation on the site is what you need to do.
The type of installation
Hardwood flooring can be installed in three ways. The first option is to nail down the hardwood planks with the sub floor which needs professional expertise. The second option is to glue down the hardwood flooring, which again can be very tricky and messy to be completed through DIY projects. The other way to install hardwood floor is installing floating floors, where the wood planks come with tongue and groove and can be snapped together. Now this third type of installation can be completed through DIY projects if you are ready to provide the time it needs.
The sub-floor
For nailing down or gluing down the hardwood flooring the sub-floor needs to be in a perfect condition according to the guidelines of the manufacturer of the hardwood flooring. Preparing the sub-floor exactly according to the specifications can be a difficult task for anyone who is not a professional. For floating floor installation as well the sub floor needs to abide by some factors, but in this case as the requirements are simple, so it might be completed through DIY project.
The design of the room
This is another important factor to consider before deciding if hardwood floors installation can be completed through DIY project. If the room under consideration has a pretty simple rectangular or square design, without much complication you might opt for installing the flooring on your own, but if the design of the room is complicated with pillars in between or uneven walls, a tricky corner, or anything else like that, trusting the task on professionals is surely a better option.
Equipment needed
Installing hardwood flooring will need a number of tools. If you are a seasoned Do -it- yourselfer and you already own the tools like hammer, screw gun, plier, wood cutting saw and others, you might handle the project without spending on collecting those tools. However, if you do not own them, you need to buy or rent them to complete the task, which might again add to the overall expenses of the installation, for which you had chosen to complete the project on your own at the first place.
Experience
For installing hardwood flooring in the right way it is important to have some experience on the same. If you have not installed a hardwood floor on your own before that is just fine, but you should have adequate woodworking knowledge and you must be comfortable with using the measuring, cutting and joining tools. If you cannot use the measuring or cutting tools of wood working well, you are sure to have issues in installing the flooring.
The service offered by hardwood flooring depends to a great extent on its installation. So, if you are not very confident about it, it is best to opt for professionals.
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