Preparing for Hardwood Floor Installation

Preparing for hardwood floor installation can be quite a big job in itself. The subfloor must be clean and level. If your current flooring has carpeting you will find that the biggest job you will have is removing the old carpeting, tackless strips and staples. The first tip is to make sure you wear gloves: staples are sharp.  Start in a corner and use needle nose pliers to yank up the carpet.  You will then have to remove the underlayment which is probably stapled down with a million staples.  They have to come out - it’s gonna take a long time to do these, believe me!  Sometimes the underlayment is stuck to the floor and needs to be scraped off.  Use a pry bar and hammer to remove the tackless strip.  Take your time when preparing for hardwood installation, shortcuts can be costly.

If your existing floor is vinyl, you must remove it to have the best subfloor for installing your hardwood.  The easiest way is to cut the flooring into manageable strips and use a scraper to lift the edges.  If the vinyl is glued all over instead of just around the edges this will be quite a time consuming process.  A chemical compound may be necessary to remove any excess glue, be sure that the area is well ventilated.  It is possible to lay a laminate floor over vinyl if the floor is even and all edges and seams of the vinyl are sealed.

When preparing the floor area for hardwood installation it is important to make sure that the floor is level.  For minor unevenness you can use self leveling compound to even it out but it may be necessary to use a sander in some areas.  If your floor squeaks now is the time to fix it by screwing deck screws into the joists.