How Lengthy Does It Take to Set up Hardwood Flooring
Welcome again to a different installment of Ask the Dwelling Flooring Execs. Final outing we in contrast crimson oak and white oak flooring, at present we flip our consideration to hardwood ground set up.
We’ve had a couple of emails from householders over time asking us how lengthy it usually takes for a hardwood ground to be put in. If you happen to’re putting in hardwood into a number of rooms that is fairly essential data as it can have an effect on you’re each day dwelling and should even require you to relocate for a time frame.
After all your native flooring contractors will let you know the way lengthy they anticipate the set up to final, however how are you going to be certain the time-frame they’re suggesting is cheap? Whereas every set up undertaking is exclusive, we predict we will provide some typically sound recommendation in regards to the typical size of time it takes for wooden ground set up.
The typical time it takes to put in hardwood flooring as soon as it arrives at your property is 10-15 days, about 7 for acclimation and the remaining for set up and ending the flooring.
Right here’s a breakdown of that time-frame plus elements which may make it shorter or longer.
Days 1 to 7: Hardwood Acclimation
Hardwood flooring acclimation is the method of letting the wooden attain the relative humidity of the house earlier than it’s put in.
If the hardwood is put in when it’s drier or wetter than the remainder of your property, you’ll have issues:
- Too dry: Dry flooring will take up moisture from the subfloor and air, and it’ll broaden. The end result will likely be cupping and bulging of the wooden.
- Too moist: Flooring that has extra moisture than the remainder of the home will dry out. Because it loses moisture, it can shrink, and planks will draw back from each other, leaving gaps within the ground.
Acclimating wooden flooring includes bringing the containers into the home and opening them, together with any plastic wrap across the planks inside. Bins may be laid on the ground a foot aside, and one other layer of containers may be laid on them in cross-wise course. That’s the final concept. Your flooring contractor or the retailer could have particular instructions to acclimate the fabric you buy.
Earlier than the primary plank is nailed to the subfloor, the installer ought to use a moisture meter just like the Wagner MMC220 to measure a number of hardwood samples and the subfloor. The hardwood flooring is correctly acclimated when it measures inside 2% of the subfloor.
We suggest a minimal of 5 days to acclimate the wooden. Every week to 10 days is best. Earlier than or throughout this time, any previous flooring that have to be eliminated needs to be taken up, and the subfloor needs to be vacuumed and inspected. It’s higher to study that the subfloor wants restore or substitute now than after the acclimation course of.
Causes it is perhaps shorter: Not all engineered hardwood flooring requires acclimating. Engineered flooring is manufactured to be steady with little enlargement or shrinking. That’s why it’s a better option for loos and the kitchen than stable hardwood. It gained’t harm to acclimate engineered hardwood, but when the producer or retailer ensures it isn’t needed, you may skip this step.
Check out our opinions of the greatest engineered hardwood flooring to see if this flooring is a greater match in your dwelling
Causes it is perhaps longer: Some installers favor stable hardwood flooring to acclimate for two+ weeks.
Days eight to 10: Hardwood Flooring Set up
A 2-person crew installers lays 750 to 1,000 sq. toes of hardwood flooring per day. The typical job is 1,000 to 1,500 sq. toes of ground. On this common state of affairs, a part of the third day is used for changing trim and cleanup when the flooring is prefinished.
Causes it is perhaps shorter: If the job is smaller than common, it would take much less time. Additionally, if the ground plan of the house is broad open with few obstacles to trim round corresponding to a hearth fireside or staircase, skilled installers would possibly lay 1,500+ sq. toes in a day.
Causes it is perhaps longer: Massive jobs take longer. Stairways can take a whole day. Putting in the flooring diagonally and trimming round cupboards, lavatory fixtures, a fire and different obstacles slows set up time. Putting in a parquet or herringbone ground goes two to 3 instances slower.
Some installers don’t make an additional journey to the house to take away the previous flooring forward of set up day. As famous above, this could be a mistake. Generally it turns into clear as soon as the previous flooring is gone that the subfloor have to be repaired or changed. Add as much as a day for repairs like filling and sanding injury or changing small sections in a subfloor. Add 1-2 days for putting in a brand new subfloor in average-size jobs.
Days 11 to 15: Ending the Ground
Unfinished hardwood flooring is stained after which sealed with two or three coats of polyurethane after it’s put in. A day for every coat is customary.
Causes it is perhaps shorter: Mixture stain and sealer merchandise will shorten the method by a day. If you buy manufacturing unit completed wooden, this step isn’t needed. Some installers like so as to add a coat or two of polyurethane to prefinished flooring to bridge the hole between planks. Others say the polyurethane between planks is quickly fractured because of regular enlargement and contraction of the wooden. That’s extra doubtless with stable hardwood than engineered hardwood flooring. This is a matter to debate with installers once you get estimates from them.
Causes it is perhaps longer: Ending a brand new ground not often takes longer than 5 days, even in very massive jobs. Staining and sealing hardwood goes rapidly.
