Fitting wood flooring on a DIY basis is not for the feint hearted, but with a bit of preparation and a lot of patience, can certainly be done. If you’re planning a DIY wood floor fitting project, there are several tools you’ll need.
Here’s our “Top 10”:
A miter saw. Miter saws come in either power or manual versions and are used to make neat cuts in wood so that joins can be made more neatly. Typically used in picture framing, they’re also useful when it comes to laying a wooden floor to make sure when you butt your planks together they fit well, as well as helping you cut any 45-degree angles you may need.
A table saw. The likelihood is that you’ll choose to rent this one, unless you’re at the start of a fairly serious DIY career! A table saw is particularly useful for cutting the length of either solid wood or engineered floorboards accurately. In the trade, the term for this is rip cutting.
A jig saw. A jig saw will enable you to cut custom shapes into your wood flooring planks. This is particularly useful, for example, when making cuts for door jambs or inside corners.
A hammer. Even if you invest in a pneumatic, air driven nail gun, you will, without a doubt, have the need for a hammer.
A moisture meter. You can choose to either rent or buy a moisture meter, but the likelihood is that rental will work out more viable. It’s essential; if there is any sign of dampness or moisture that you verify what extent of moisture you’re dealing with before you embark on your floor fitting exercise. Moisture meters vary in accuracy, which again is a good reason for hiring rather than buying. A hired machine is more likely to be accurate than a cheaply bought meter.
Floor scrapers. Floor scrapers are particularly helpful if you’re laying your floor on a concrete subfloor. A floor scraper will allow you to remove old adhesive and other “foreign” objects from your subfloor before you lay your new wood floor.
Trowels and paddle mixers (for floor leveling). If you have dips in your concrete subfloor, you’ll need the wherewithal to fill those dips. A paddle mixer, fixed to an electric drill will provide the perfect solution to mixing up your floor leveling mix. Thereafter, it’s a case of trowelling it into place.
A nailer or stapler. If you’re doing a large flooring project, you’d be well advised to either hire or buy a nailer or stapler as it’ll reduce the amount of time taken substantially. There is a huge range of nailers and staplers on offer and the best will depend to a large extent on your budget, the size of your project and the thickness of your boards. In order to choose the best for your project, don’t be afraid to ask in your DIY shop or hire shop.
A tapping block. A tapping block, or a knock block is used to protect the tongue of your floorboard from being damaged by the mallet as well as serving to equalize the pressure across the length of the board. A relatively inexpensive tool, you’ll find this one invaluable.
A whole lot of patience and focus. There’s no doubt that with your first flooring project, you’ll need to be patient and focus on the job in hand. Don’t try to rush it and resist the temptation to cut corners at all costs.
