Host David Thiel gives advice and tips for the tools used for installing engineered and hardwood floors.
Some engineered flooring is made of thin pieces of plywood. It comes pre-finished so all you have to do is install it (figure A). The pieces fit together in a tongue-and-groove pattern. Both the widths and the lengths of the flooring have the fit together via tongues and grooves.
Figure A
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Make sure to measure your room accurately. Use a miter saw to cut the flooring to fit (figure B), making sure to cut the end of the piece that lines up against a wall. (You will not need the tongue and groove on that piece.) "Stagger" the strips of flooring so that all of your end seams don’t line up in a row.
Figure B
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When laying out the flooring, press a scrap piece of flooring against the edge of piece you’re installing. Tap the scrap piece with a hammer. This will push the flooring tight against the next piece. Then use a pneumatic stapler (figure C) to fasten the flooring. With this tool, staples are fired at an angle through the tongue and into the floor below. Put a couple of staples into one end of the piece, then remove the scrap piece of flooring and move on to the next section. Make sure to tie in near the joints.
Figure C
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True hardwood flooring is a little trickier to install. The wood is a lot thicker. Large L-shaped nails are used to hold hardwood flooring down. Compare the size of the hardwood flooring nails on the left to the engineered flooring staples on the right (figure D).
Figure D
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This hardwood flooring fits together with the tongue and groove method and needs to be tapped into place, just like the pre-finished flooring. But, a different tool is used to fasten it to the floor. This manual tool (figure E) has to be hit with a mallet several times to drive in the large nails. The tool releases when the nail is driven in. If some nails are left slightly proud, use a nail set and hammer (figure F) to tap them the rest of the way down.
There is also a pneumatic version (figure G) of the manual hardwood floor installing tool. This tool takes just one hit with a mallet to drive the nail into the wood. That makes the job much quicker and easier.
Figure G
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RESOURCES :
Senco Flooring Stapler and Manual Nailer
SENCO Products, Inc.
8485 Broadwell Road
Cincinnati, OH 45244
Phone: 800-543-4596
E-mail: toolprof@senco.com
Website: www.senco.com
Porter-Cable Pneumatic Nailer
Phone: 800-4US TOOL (487-8665)
Website: www.portercable.com
Craftsman Compressor
Sears
Phone: 800-377-7414
Website: www.sears.com
Ridgid Miter Saw and Stand
Ridgid Tools
Phone: 800-4RIDGID
Website: www.ridgid.com
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