Some Useful Tips Before Installing Wooden Flooring
Are you planning to replace your existing flooring with wooden flooring. Hiring a professional contractor for laying wood flooring in Crawley, ensures proper installation. Here are a few tips that you may follow for a successful wooden floor installation.
Choose the floor carefully
Different types of hardwood flooring are available on the market, so be careful when choosing one that suits your needs. Hardwood flooring comes in various wood types, grain patterns, surface finishes and plank sizes. All of these need to be considered, ensuring that the floor will perfectly fit your rooms. Whether you want to install an engineered hardwood or a solid hardwood, this should also should be considered. However, this depends on how you want your floor to be laid. For underfloor heating or floating floor, you may consider engineered hardwood. The area where the floor is going to be installed, is another thought that may need to be considered, as some varieties of wood can withstand more traffic than their counterparts. Like, oak flooring would be better for living space or hallway. On the other hand, a quieter room like your bedroom can be best complemented with walnut flooring.
Acclimatise the floor
As soon as the flooring is delivered to your home, let it acclimatise . This means you need to allow the flooring to adapt the new surroundings. Hardwood, being a natural wood, will surely expand and contract with any alternations in humidity and temperature. Acclimatisation ensures less damage to the wood when installed. To ensure this, keep the following factors in mind:
• The flooring must be delivered well in advance before the installation work starts; let it be acclimatised for at least a week
• Put the flooring in the room where it is going to be installed
• The respective room should be dry; don’t keep the hardwood flooring in a damp floor or in a place with damp plaster on the walls
• Don’t leave the wood flooring next to a radiator or a heater.
Flooring should be installed following these instructions
Make sure your hardwood flooring is installed strictly following the fitting instructions. Let your contractor know this. Let them read and understand the instructions as these cover every single thing they need to know to get the space prepared to fitting the floor.
Use of proper Equiptment is important
It is always good to use the proper tools and equipment, when starting the job of installation. Your chosen fitter should have all the essential equipment. If you are looking for floating floor, for example, you need underlay. On the other hand, for tongue and groove flooring, use of UPVA glue for joints if needed.
The Right Direction
This is another important factor. However, it is entirely your discretion. Usually, homeowners lay the flooring lengthways, following the path of light from the door or window, as this helps enhancing the natural beauty of the floor. Shape and size of the room should also be considered. For smaller rooms, installation of the floor along the room length makes the space look bigger.
