Flooring phase 1 is done!

Except for the transition strips and shoe molding at the baseboards, phase 1 of the flooring project is done! The office, bedroom, hallway and associated closets are done at last, taking several days longer than I anticipated.

So, as soon as I was finished nailing in the last board, dear wife of mine says “Lets start on the bedroom!” So off to the store once again to order another 184 sq ft of wood and transition strips to finish everything off. Hopefully it will go a little faster this time around.

Lessons I learned installing the floor:

• Go with 3/4″ wood if you can afford it. 3/8″ is a pain.
• Make sure all your lines are straight.
• Experiment with the nailer on some scrap to make sure the air pressure for your pneumatic nailer is adjusted properly. 3/8″ planks crack easily and it’s not hard to drive your nails right through the board if your pressure is too high.
• Be careful nailing. It doesn’t take much to crack or break off the tongues of 3/8″ flooring.
• Make sure your boards and cuts are straight. Bends propagate and you end up with gaps between rows if you’re not careful.
• When you start another area (like a closet), start at the end you just finished and square off against that. Otherwise you may end up being crooked when you reach the room you just finished.
• Get knee pads. With 3/8″ boards, you’re likely to end up spending much of your time tapping, hammering or otherwise convincing the boards to go into place.