Hardwood floor question

[Bob Moyer]

I am helping a friend install a hardwood floor this weekend, in lating out the area yesterday, he will need to have a 1" strip along the hallway.

Another friend, said he should glue this 1" strip to a full piece for installation, is this a good idea?

We tried a number of different layout scenarios and because of how the living and dining room are configured the 1" piece is necessary.

The flooring to be install is 3/4" solid hardwood which is being nailed to a 1/2 plywood subfloor with a full heated basement below it.

[frank shic]

You can screw and plug the divider strip. Consider buying prefinished as well renting or buying a pneumatic flooring stapler - the kind that you tap with a hammer. Watch the videos on youtube.com to get an idea on how to "rack" the strips.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Bob,
Frank is correct - get teh pneumatic floor stapler. See the one by Bostich, or Porter-Cable. If you skimp, and try the non-pneumatic one, you'll only get tired and frustrated in a hurry.

You will also want a narrow gauge stapler with 3/8" staples. You will use this to tack down some 15 lb. felt over portions of the subfloor. Once that is done, you can start laying the flooring down. Remember to make sure that ALL debris is off the floor prior to tacking down the felt. This includes: glue, drywall mud, nails (either loose, or those proud of the subfloor), etc. In short, anything that will prevent the flooring from going down smoothly.

Only tack down a few strips of felt at a time, because the subfloor (usually Advantex) has makings on it where the subfloor is nailed to the joists. You'll want to see these so you can also nail the flooring to the joists. You won't always be able to put each nail into a joist, but make sure you can get each piece of flooring nailed securely.

When laying out the flooring, stagger the pieces so that you do not have pieces of the same length next to each other, or only separated by one other piece. It just doesn't look good.

Regarding the gun you use, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to the staple magazine. There is nothing worse than barrelling along and laying down strips, only t realize that you ran out of staples WAAAAAYYYY back somewhere. In short, get a feel for how many shots you can get out of a rack of staples, and learn to listen for the sound the gun makes when it's empty. It also helps to wear hearing protection. Trust me on this one.