There
are 3 basic methods of installing wood
floors:
Nail Down: This is generally
the best installation method if your
subfloor is 3/4" thick plywood
or wood planks over joists. This is
usually the most economical installation
technique
Glue Down: Recent developments in adhesive
technology now make gluing down solid
3/4" solid wood flooring to concrete
slab feasible. Engineered flooring can
be glued directly to the slab as well.
Certain other types of flooring, such
as 5/16" thick parquet, should
be glued down even if the subfloor is
wood.
Floating:
Floating floors encompass a variety
of engineered or laminated products.
These products are very dimensionally
stable, and are therefore suitable for
installation in areas below grade. Engineered
flooring systems such as Boen, Kahrs,
Harris Tarkett, and many others, are
typically made of 3 or more thin layers
of plywood running in opposite directions,
the top layer being a 1/32" to
1/8" thick veneer. (In most products
on the market today - some newly developed
engineered products now have a veneer
or solid wood top layer of 1/4")
Prefinished and Unfinished (Finished
on Site)
Both prefinished and unfinished flooring
can be installed in any of the methods
described above. Most engineered products
are prefinished, and many prefinished
solid wood products are readily available
Finished on Site:
The traditional way of putting in new
wood floors was to nail down unfinished
solid wood flooring to sub floor or
joists, (or glue parquet tiles to slab),
then sand it smooth and wax it. (Or
apply 1 or more coats of varnish - later
polyurethane). While top coat formulas
and application techniques have changed
considerably over the years, notably
with the advent of water based urethanes,
this traditional method of wood flooring
installation will still give you the
best looking wood floors in most situations.
As mentioned previously, the main drawback
of this approach is the inconvenience
involved. (However, we believe the inconvenience
to be well worth the trouble in most
cases). A floor which is finished in
place will give you more control over
the outcome in terms of color and design.
Prefinished:
This flooring product, as its name implies,
gets sanded and finished in the manufacturing
stages, then installed. It has a few
important advantages over the unfinished
approach: 1) The job length is cut by
half or more. 2) No dust nor fumes.
3) Finish is claimed to be more durable
due to a carefully controlled application
environment. Also, some manufacturers
use a so called aluminum-oxide finish,
which is said to be more durable than
any other finish formula to date. This
type of flooring has all the advantages
of any solid wood flooring material
except 2 relatively minor ones: 1) Color
is somewhat more restricted. 2) Slight
"over wood" tolerances or
so called "micro bevels" are
to be expected, 3) get scratch easily.
