If you’ve decided to invest in a new wood floor, one of the questions you’re likely to be considering right now is whether you should fit the floor on a DIY basis or whether you should bring in the professionals. To be honest, with most flooring options these days, a decent DIY-er will have no problems getting a good result, but if you’re planning this kind of job for the first time, it’s best to go in with your eyes wide open. It’s for this reason that we’ve put together our ‘Top Ten Wood Flooring DIY Installation Mistakes’ and how to avoid them. We’ve split this list into “general” mistakes and “specific” mistakes to help you get a better idea of what might lie ahead of you.
Not being realistic about skill levels. This is undoubtedly one of the biggest general mistakes that people make. They might have watched someone else lay a floor or they might have done their due diligence on YouTube, but watching someone else do something and doing it yourself are quite different things. If you’re planning on fitting a floor for the very first time, you need to be brutally honest with yourself about your DIY skills and be prepared to bin the idea if you’re not sure you can achieve a good enough result.
Underestimating the tools needed. This is another common mistake that first time floor fitters make. They go into the job with inadequate tools and find themselves cutting corners very quickly. This impacts on the end result and could in fact wind up as a real false economy. Before embarking on the job, make sure you can either hire, buy or borrow every tool you need to do the job properly.
Thinking the job’ll be finished much quicker than it will. In the UK, we’re huge fans of home improvement TV programmes and are accustomed to seeing great results that seem to take no time at all. If you’re planning a DIY wood floor installation, don’t frustrate yourself by underestimating how long it will take. Fitting any new floor is invasive and could have your room out of action for a few days or more. Going into the project expecting the worst is a great way to make sure you get a pleasant surprise.
Thinking it’ll look better than it does at the end. When you look in interiors magazines, you see perfect images that have been put together by teams of professionals and we all have a tendency to expect the same results when we do things ourselves. If you’re a stalwart DIY-er and you take your time, there’s no reason why the end result won’t be great, but help yourself by being realistic.
Not staggering boards. DIY-ers have a tendency to lay boards in a regimented fashion and that’s a real shame. Staggered boards will give a much more professional look to the end result.
Leaving excessive gaps between boards. Inadvertently leaving excessive expansion gaps between boards might be caused by lack of tapping boards together or by not using sufficient glue. Either way, this mistake is easily avoided and is something you should be aware of.
Badly cut boards. Badly cut boards stand out like a sore thumb in a new floor and are easily avoided. No matter whether you’re cutting boards to butt them together, or cutting them to fit around an architrave or where you have radiator pipes, investing the time necessary to get the technique right and the cut nice and clean will pay real dividends.
Noisy floors. There are several things that cause floors to become noisy, but two of the most common are uneven subfloors and boards on subfloors that have worked their way loose. Like any DIY project, the key to a great end result is preparation and making sure you prepare your subfloor with great attention will help you avoid noisy floors.
Not running boards under skirtings and, or architraves. Butting wood floor boards up against skirting boards and door or window architraves badly is a real sign of a rushed, or poor DIY job. It is important to take the time needed to remove skirting boards so you can run the floor under it. It will also make a big difference if you take the time to trim architraves around doors and windows so you can slide the floor board underneath it.
Not leaving a sufficient expansion gap. Wood is a natural product and as such expands and contracts when temperatures and moisture levels fluctuate. In order to be able to expand and contract without causing damage, your wood floor needs space. We recommend leaving an expansion gap of between 10 and 15mm all the way around your room to avoid future damage.
If you’re thinking of fitting your wood floor yourself and you’d like some advice, why not get in touch? At Wood and Beyond, we’re passionate about what we do and are more than happy to share our experience with our customers.