The Best Way to Run Wood Floors in a Hall & Bedroom
- 1). Roll out paper underlayment the length of the hallway, in overlapping rows. Staple it down.
- 2). Use your chalk snap-line to snap a starting line along the edge of the hall floor that has the least number of doorways and obstructions. Set the line ½ inch out from the wall.
- 3). Lay the first floorboard on the chalk line, with the grooved side facing the wall, so there is a 1/2-inch space between the board and the wall.
- 4). Use your floor nailer to shoot flooring nails straight down through the surface of the board, along both edges, every 10 or 12 inches.
- 5). Set the rest of the floorboards for the row course along the line, all along the length of the hall, locking them end to end and nailing them down from the top. Use a miter saw to cut the final board to fit.
- 6). Lay the next row of floorboards alongside the first row, locking them together by their long sides, fitting the tongue and groove edges to one another. Drive your floor nails through the edges of the boards at an inward angle, rather than the face, every 10 to 12 inches. Arrange the boards so the ends don’t line up between rows.
- 7). Repeat the process for each row, setting the boards in place in staggered position, side-nailing all of them. Length-cut the boards for the final row on a table saw, leaving a ½-inch space there.
- 8). Repeat the whole process for the room, starting the flooring along the longest unobstructed wall. Keep the ½-inch spaces around the perimeter. Installing floor trim will hide the spaces.
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