Engineered wood flooring is a terrific option for many property owners: it’s strong, resilient, beautiful to look at and a pleasure underfoot. However do you know how to install it properly? If you don’t want to shell out for an expert fitter to lay your wood flooring, here’s how to ensure you fit it correctly.
What is Engineered Wood Flooring?
This wood is produced by layering wood and then finishing it off with a genuine wood veneer. The layering provides the wood higher flexibility and stability in a variety of environments.
There are great deals of various brand names of this floor covering.
What You Will Need
To start with, do purchase the best devices. Many engineered wood flooring boards are created with tongue-and-groove joints, which indicates you will not need adhesives or screws to sign up with the boards together. You will need a block and hammer to carefully tap the planks of wood into location, and a drill to cut out holes for pipes in the space. You’ll also feel much better if you use knee pads (this DIY task includes great deals of kneeling), and a set of security goggles to secure your eyes.
Some Good News
Secondly, do feel free to lay this kind of flooring without removing back the surface area beneath. Engineered wood floor covering can be laid over almost anything, such as concrete or particleboard, along with over existing surface areas such as linoleum, stone or tiles without getting rid of the old surface first. It’s recommend that you use a layer of underlay between the old floor and your brand-new crafted wood floor covering to ensure you attain an even surface.
Do use crafted wood flooring on top of underfloor heating systems. Unlike solid wood or laminate flooring, the layers that crafted wood floor covering slabs include cope well with variations in heat and moisture. For that reason, you can use crafted wood floor covering in restrooms and kitchen areas, and anywhere else you happen to have underfloor heating.
Acclimatise The Wood
Don’t make the error of not getting your new flooring acclimatised to the environment you’re going to lay it in. Leave your wood floor covering unopened, sealed and in its packaging, in the space you’re intending on laying it in, for a minimum of 48 hours before fitting it. It’s important not to keep the wood in a basement or garage as these rooms are typically exceedingly cold and wet. This will ensure you’re not fitting boards that are going to swell or shrink after you’ve laid them.
Gently Does It
When you’re laying the boards, do be gentle. It can be tempting to hammer the boards together with excessive force, however doing so might crush the tongue. Tap securely however thoroughly to fit the slabs together and use a craft knife to sculpt a tongue on a slab if you damage one by accident.
Extension Gaps
Do not fit the boards all the method up to the edges of the space. Rather, include extension gaps of approximately 10mm all the way around the room wherever the flooring satisfies walls, door frames, skirting boards and pipes, as this will account for natural shrinking and growth of the wood gradually.
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