I purchased an older home furnished with worn out carpets and bare wood floors which were not refinishable. My goal was to get a pet friendly floor installed that would last a lifetime or at least close to it.
I looked into carpet, tile, linoleum and other potential floorings and started checking into them. I decided almost immediately against carpet as we have dogs and I was afraid the dogs would ruin the carpet in only a few years as I had observed in my parents’ house.
Linoleum and tile were nice enough as my house was older and it would have worked suitably but after doing the research and calculating the expenses, I decided to try to put down true hardwood flooring which, although expensive, was less so than most of the other options if I did the work myself.
I did my research and went to several flooring retailers in the Spokane area but decided to go with Lumber Liquidators and buy online. This was a large online expense yet the reviews gave me some reassurance. I continued to look into other options but even with the cost to deliver the flooring, it was still cheaper than having any type of flooring installed.
I ended up choosing Brazilian Cherry from Lumber Liquidators’ Bellawood product lines which comes with a 50 year warranty. I wanted was a “real” wood floor that could be refinished in the years to come. I ordered online and within a few weeks the numerous boxes of hardwood planks arrived. Each box contained approximately 23 square feet of hardwood planks which are three quarters of an inch thick and just over three inches wide. Each box contains various lengths.
I am not a carpenter nor am I highly skilled in that line of expertise. I talked with several “experts” who assured me I could lay the hardwood floor myself.
We pulled the old carpet out and prepped the floor which consisted of making sure it was clean and had no staples or nails that would that showed. The brazilian cherry planks are all tongue and grooved requiring a finishing nail to be nailed with a hammer and then set flush every few inches to the male groove or a special nail gun is available that speeds up the process. It was truly impressive and surprising how easily the boards went into place. The ends are also tongue and grooved and they all interacted easily.
I opted for the hammer and finishing nail to keep the groove from splitting and I am sure this added some time to my work in comparison to a nail gun but I was truly pleased with the results. The instructions say that it is normal to have a gap between the interacted boards yet I found they went together easily with little noticeably gap.
Before long I had the dining room completely finished and was able to move the furniture from the living room to the finished areas. Wall edges worried me but these are normal and allow the wood to swell and shrink; molding pieces are available to cover the gaps at the edges.
This project was time consuming but very rewarding. I can look at my hardwood floors and be proud that it was me that installed them!