Solid hardwood floor installation and quality of wood?

Question

I am planning on installing a hardwood floor and have a few questions on installations. I am considering purchasing Lauzon hardwood which is out of Quebec Canada (Red Oak Natural). Has anyone had experience with this brand of flooring and are they good? How do I stagger the floor boards? When laying the wood should the grain be in the same direction and how should I lay out the long pieces and short pieces? How far should I be from the wall? I heard it is important to give the wood some room to expand and contract and you shouldn't lay it right up against the wall. For solid wood should I be laying down felt paper. Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

paul left out a few things.....run the wood perpendicular to the floor joist....u dont need 30 lb felt,check the warranty, 15 is called for.....dont let joints be within 6 inches of the joint on the joint behind  it......nail it every 6 inches....make sure u have a min of 3/4 sub floor....dont overlap the felt at the joints.......72 hours min wood needs to sit in room/house it is going to be installed in....dont install a whole box then open another one and install it, take some from one and then the others.....ur floor joist have to be on 16 inch on center not 24 inch or the warranty is void!......

lic. gen. contractor

Answer 2

It's an excellent wood but you don't have to go there and afford the expense to get the same quality; we have a number of good U.S. suppliers, Chickasaw out of Tennessee for one has excellent oak flooring. go to http://chickasawbrand.com to have a look. . .  it's what I used in Pottery Barn Stores.

As for underlayment I prefer #30 felt due to it's insulative and sound deadening values being greater, though #15 is all that's required.  Your spacing from the wall for expansion should be 1/4' and always pull the baseboards and replace them after laying a finishing a new floor.

Randomly stagger the boards and whenever possible, run the new flooring perpendicular to the joists.  We all know this isn't always possible due to desired directional preferences in rooms and isn't too much of a concern as long as you have a good sound subfloor and nail off correctly.  As to spacing, always keep a minimum of 6" between joint locations from run to run of flooring.

Mike Lonergan

TradesProfessional, Inc.

http://tradesprofessional.com  

Answer 3

Hardwood is hardwood. The difference is in the plank thickness - the thicker, the better.  A thicker plank lasts longer, because it has a thicker wear layer, which means it can be refinished more times than thinner planks.

Before installing the flooring on a wood sub floor, put down about a 30-pound felt tar paper as an underlayment (reduces noise and provides a moisture barrier). When you lay the planks, they will all be in the same direction and they've been cut with the same grain direction. As far as the long versus short, or light versus dark pieces, the more random the pattern, the better.

When you unbundle the wood, restack it into piles using a completely random order. Then just grab the next plank on the pile as you install it.

Before laying the floor, let the wood sit on the floor in piles for a coupla-few days to let it acclimate. This prevents swelling or shrinking due to changes in humidity. Also, install the flooring with about a 1/8 to 1/4-inch gap at the walls. This allows for expansion and prevents buckling that might occur if the wood butted right up to the walls.