How to Lay Engineered Floating Wood Flooring

Using floating wood flooring in your home can present you with several benefits that other floors can not offer. With an engineered floating wood floor, you are not held to the same constraints that you are with other types of wood installations. You can install it over any sub floor that you wish. You do not even have to take up the flooring that is beneath as long as it is solid. It will look exactly the same as if it was nailed or glued down and the installation is a lot easier. Here are the basics of how to install an engineered floating wood floor.

Step 1- Determine How Much You Need

You will first need to figure how much wood you need. This can be done by using your tape measure to get the dimensions of the room. Take the length and multiply it by the width. This will give you the exact square footage of the room and then you need to add 10% to that number for waste.

Step 2- Let the Wood Acclimate

Once you have purchased the wood, you need to bring it home and allow it to acclimate in the environment in which it will be installed. Since wood is a natural product, it can expand and contract depending on the temperature and humidity in the room. Therefore, you need to allow it to acclimate for 24 to 48 hours before actually installing it. While you may not want to wait, it can save you some serious problems later.

Step 3- Prepare the Floor

You need to remove everything from the floor and make sure that it is clean and free of debris. Sweep and mop the floor if necessary. If the floor is concrete, you will need to install a moisture barrier. This will prevent moisture from ruining the wood over time. After you have the moisture barrier installed, install the pad on top of that.

Step 4- Lay the Wood

Start in the corner of the room and lay down one of the boards. If the wood has a snap-lock feature, you can just lock the next board into place. If it is a tongue-and-groove wood, you will have to apply adhesive to the joint in order for the wood to stay together. It works best to do a vertical row first and then add a row to the side of it as you go. When you get to the end of a row, you will need to cut the last board to fit in place. Measure the last board and cut it with the saw to get an exact cut.

Stagger each row a little bit from where the previous one started. This ensures that the end joints will not match up and gives you a great look when the job is completed.

Step 5- Clean Up

Once the wood is down, you can sweep up the saw dust and clean up anything else that is laying around. Attach the baseboards or quarter round to the wall and your floor should be completed.