Hardwood Flooring - Selection & Underlayment
While the main part of the house has old hardwood floors that were previously refinished, the side wing of my home was an old neighborhood grocery store and had tile underfoot. When I first bought the house in 2007 I had other things to address (like evicting the raccoons living the living room wall and getting electrical outlets on the second floor) so even though I knew that I wanted hardwood eventually I decided to replace the carpet that was over the tile for the time being.
The carpet had to be replaced because the previous owners were heavy smokers and beside being stained, replacing the carpet was the only way to get rid of the smell. Getting the side wing liveable was pretty important since that was the part of the house I was living in while the main part was gutted to the studs. I remember meeting with the carpet installer to go over the estimate and then asking him how soon he could get in to install the carpet. He asked me what difference did it make since I obviously wasn't living in the house with it all torn apart. I laughed and told him that yes I was actually crazy enough to be living in the house. He was quite surprised and made sure to get my carpet in pretty quick.
Fast forward almost six years and my dreams of hardwood flooring in the side wing are finally coming true. I had done a lot of research and decided I wanted to get my flooring at Chelsea Plank Flooring. They make all of their flooring from hardwood trees in the Northern Midwest so it has a tight grain that would be similar to the old floors in the rest of my house. On top of that it is made locally and the factory store is only half an hour away from Ann Arbor.
The factory store had a small showroom with several samples of the hardwood flooring on display on the walls and floor. The main part of the house has 2-1/4" oak that has a honey color to it. I wanted something that would look nice with it, but not try to match it since it would always be off and look strange. I was set on getting something with a 2-1/4" width otherwise known as strip flooring. The sales lady patiently looked up which types of hardwood they had in stock in strip flooring and then Frank and I mulled them all over.
We decided to go with the Northern White Ash with Oxford stain. Ash has a grain similar to oak so it would work well with my existing floors and it has a Janka hardness of 1320 so it should wear well. We liked the dark Oxford stain since it wouldn't look like we were intentionally trying to match the floors.
Just to check we put a few sample pieces of the Oxford Ash against some flooring at the store that looked close to what is in the main part of the house and it looked great.
The Oxford Ash strip flooring was also on overstock special so the price was marked down from the already low factory pricing. The next thing I knew we were buying 26 boxes (546 sq. ft.) of flooring, enough for all three bedrooms in the side wing plus the hallway. The bathroom and laundry/mudroom in the side wing are going to have tile, but that is a story for another day.
The flooring has been sitting in our house for a while and now that it has acclimated we decided that the first room that would get the new hardwood would be Frank's man cave. After Frank had pulled up the carpet and pad and I removed all of the tack strips and nails the floor was ready for underlayment. Underlayment is important because it can help with squeaking of your hardwood rubbing against the subfloor plus it can make it easier to slide your boards together.
I ended up putting down the underlayment on Saturday while I was waiting for the wall paint to dry before painting the stripes. Luckily the floor was already pretty flat so I didn't need to do any leveling. Because there were a few spots where the tiles were chipped or missing I decided to use 30 lb. roofing felt which is a little thicker than the 15 lb. felt. The tiles are super thin so once the felt was over the missing spots you couldn't tell where the missing spots were.
I started by rolling out the felt against the long wall in the room.
I then used my stapler to tack down the felt.
I cut my strips of felt long and then creased them at the wall. I then used an X-Acto knife to trim the excess off.
For 15 lb. felt you overlap the strips of felt but because the 30 lb. is thick you just butt the edges together. It all went pretty quickly until I had to deal with the closet but eventually I got the whole floor covered.
At this point on Saturday evening I couldn't wait to get the started on laying the hardwood but it seemed wiser to finish painting first so Frank and I started it on Sunday. I'll share about that later this week.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at 7:11AM | Posted by Lisa | 22 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article 
Reader Comments (22)
I would really like to have hardwood floors in my living room. Still working on my husband for that one and its not like I want him to do them, we would hire :)
Mary-Lou- You should definitely try to convince him!
Thanks for sharing this! Flooring is just one of the many things that I had to get done in order to restore the piece of property that I just bought in Honolulu. I am actually getting similar flooring to the one that you posted because I will need a thick floor in order to protect the foundation from any further damage. I also have been looking to get some Hawaii roofing done because the roof isn't in that great of shape either. I am hoping that everything turns out well for me and for you as well.
The color that you choose seems nice and will go well with your white walls. Since the shops give you so many varieties it is difficult to make up your mind with the perfect ones.
You have made really so nice and very informative post with us. I have been reading flooring posts and I must say this one is really so nice and very helpful for everyone who is already in this business. Thanks for sharing with us.
Thanks for this nice post on floor hardening.When we bought our new home,we decided to put down some sealer on the surface to help protect them.The builder had finished off the walls of the garage which will help keep it a little more bearable for Meredith and me to work on all our little projects.
I'm intrigued when reading articles about diy hardwood floor projects. I can tell you did your research because you knew to lay down the felt which is used as a moisture barrier, something many diy-selfers often miss. Nice choice on the wood!
That Oxford is a nice color. How did you find doing the install yourselves?
Thank you for the information.
I stay in a rtm home so i know how it feels staying in a hardwood flooring house.
Thank you for your post. This is excellent information. wood flooring
I have been reading flooring posts, and I must say this one is so nice and very helpful for everyone who is already in this business.Hardwood flooring is best option for interior beauty.
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Do you need experts for installing the best wood floor installation in kitchen? If yes, then we can help you! Southern Cross Flooring provides quality wood floor installation for kitchen and home places to increase your property's value. Also, they use the best machinery to ensure the process is dust-free to leave your floors smooth and pristine. Call us today, 0208 404 1010
You give useful information. I like your article about Hardwood Floor Installation
It’s great to hear your experience, and indeed, installing strip flooring without the help of professionals is not that difficult. I also tried Oxford Ash strip flooring in my sitting room and it was a great experience. But when we have naughty kids, strip flooring doesn’t always suitable. So I had to replace it with something durable, I can’t use carpet as its bad for children's health, so I had to hire professional flooring installation company for hardword, which is my best sitting room solution.
Awesome! Information. Great work thank you for sharing such useful information. keep it up all the best.
Thank you for sharing this blog. It's Very informative for me
The information about selecting the right hardwood and understanding the underlayment was super helpful for someone like me who's not an expert. I appreciate the clear explanations. It makes me feel more confident about making the right choices for my home.
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Great tips for choosing hardwood flooring and underlayment, making it easy to select the perfect option for your home.