Fine, I'll do it myself

[mousme]

Having been told that it would cost me a minimum of $700 to replace the little section of floor in my dining room (that the cats ruined: thank you, Feline Forces of Entropy), I am seriously considering doing it myself, given that the cost of materials would be about 1/3 that price.

Has anyone on my flist replaced hardwood flooring before? It's the stuff made out of little squares... *rummages online to find a picture*

Okay, this:




I figure it can't possibly be that hard to do, given time, application, and the right tools. So I appeal to you, dear flist: what the hell kind of tools would I need for this? I'd need to pull up the existing floor, and then put down the new one. I know I need the wood itself (it comes in convenient packages) as well as the glue-stuff to stick it in place, but what else? Is there a specific tool to pull up the floor, or can I use the back end of a hammer?

Eventually I will know how to do all this myself, but right now I'm still at the bottom of the learning curve.

Comments

[swestrup]

What tools you need greatly depend on the method of putting down the flooring, and how the old stuff was put down.

You'll probably need a good pry bar to efficiently lift up the old stuff. Yes, the claw end of a hammer will work, but will be much more effort. If it was glued down, then you may need to sand, scrape, or otherwise treat the sub-floor when you're done, to make it smooth.

There's also a big question of putting down a new sub-floor if, for example, you want to increase the sound-proofing or deal with a sloped or warped floor. I'll ignore that for now.

I'll assume that the flooring you put back down will be modern tongue and groove stuff, in which case you'll probably want a rubber mallet to help bang boards into place (although you never hit the boards you're placing. Use a junk piece of board placed against the stuff you're putting down, and hit it.)

The flooring may be nailless in which case it locks when banged together, or you may have to nail down the strips at regular intervals by carefully putting a headless nail into the exposed tongue of a board, before sliding the next over it. This can be finicky and tedious work and is MUCH faster and tidier with a nail gun. It won't be worth buying one for a single job though, so you'd want to rent one for the job.

My best advice though is:

1) Go and find the flooring you want, and see what system is used to put it down. They often have lists of needed tools on the packaging, and they almost invariably have a list of full instructions inside. You can also ask the sales staff which brands are easiest to lay for do-it-yourself jobs and which tools they recommend (although the reliability of their answers will vary depending on staff and location).

2) Check to see if you local big-box reno store (reno depot, home hardware, hogg, rona, etc) has free classes on laying floors. Often they do.

3) The BNAQ has lots of good do-it-yourself books that you may want to peruse to familiarize yourself with the entire process ahead of time.

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

Do you really want the parquet floor instead of laminate. It's a rented space isn't it?

If you don't get good answers at a big box store, I would recommend asking at Million Carpets and Tiles.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

The current floor is parquet. Since this place belongs to a good friend, I would rather leave the floor in the same state I found it.

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

Okay, I understand.