The most difficult and labor intensive of the hardwood flooring installations would be solid 3/4 x 2 ½ (or smaller) nail down or staple installation. The wider the planks the less work and time it takes. (However, in the Midwestern climate it is not recommend to exceed 6” in width (in solid flooring) without some face nailing to secure it from warping). Depending on the quality of the product, some boards may need persuasion (crooked, twisted, bowed) to get into place before fastening. What may have been the best price in town or on the web may become an installation nightmare. Here, at Aitkin Hardwoods, we only carry or import the highest quality products with the best reputations and best warranties on the market; even if we price slightly higher than a great web deal, we assure your quality and stand behind our products. It might also be wise to invest in a pneumatic stapler or nailer since some boards will require extra pressure and need to be secured every 6-8”.

The next most difficult installations is glue downs. This installations is left best to the professionals. However, if this is what you wish to tackle you’ll need to consider the best adhesives and most user friendly on the market. Without some professional equipment this project can get very mess and as it is a lot of hands and knees work can leave a very sore back. Again, the quality of the boards are important for a smoother installation. Also, this can be near impossible with a prefinished flooring product as you need to be extremely careful to avoid sanding off the excess glue at the end of the installation. See our sealers and adhesive recommendations for some ideas of which might work best for you.

The easiest of the do it yourself projects are the floating floors. This allows you less work in nailing and stapling (although may still be required in some installations) in wider width flooring though it reduces the time.

The best of all installations for the do it your self projects is a floating lock together flooring. The allows you wider widths (unless engineered 6” is still recommended for max width) and lengths. It goes together but clicking in place like a puzzle with only some tapping into place. Again the quality of the product plays a key factor in the ease of this installation type. Again, at Aitkin Hardwoods, we carry brands that assure you quality and “easy” installation.

Back to top of page

Your job is to figure out how large your space is. Flooring (wood flooring and laminates) are sold in square footage. So to figure out your square footage of an area simply take the length x width (you don’t necessarily need to subtract for a few cut out here and there as it will work itself out).

Example:

Length= 12' x Width 15' 6" = Total Square Footage to Cover is 186'

When you come in to Aitkin Hardwoods we'll be able to help you figure what you'll need to order.

Ordering:

For instance, most of the flooring will be sold in bundles of maybe 16' sq ft so…. In our example 186' / 16 = 11.625 bundles but since you buy a whole bundle you'll need 12 bundles which will give you 192 sq ft.

Don't feel overwhelmed just bring in your dimensions and our experts at Aitkin Hardwoods will figure it all out for you!

Back to top of page