Once you have the old carpet and the pad removed you will be left with thin wooden strips (called Tackless) around the edges of the room which are nailed into the subfloor every 5 inches. These wood strips contain hundreds of very sharp barbed points that grabbed and held the edges of the carpet down. The trick to removing these wooden strips without splintering them is to gently tap a thin flat bar between the subfloor and the strip directly under each of the nails that hold the strip to the subfloor and just pop them up slightly. Do not try and pull the nails completely out or free the strip from the subfloor. Continue doing this along the whole strip, when reaching the end of the strip the whole piece should lift from the floor easily. We would recommend using heavy gloves when handling these wooden strips as the barbs are very sharp.

The easiest way to remove the hundreds of staples in the subfloor left from carpet installations is to slide a square edged shovel across the sub floor against the flat side of the staple. The force of the shovel should be enough to grab and pull the staple up from the subfloor. Some stubborn staples will have to be pulled from the floor using pliers or screwdriver wedged under them. Staples in sub floors that are going to be covered with new wood flooring that are found to be broken off and cannot be pulled will have to be driven flat with a hammer.

When installing wood flooring you are required to leave an expansion gap of approximately 1/2 inch (depending on the manufacturer) around the edges of the room. To cover this expansion gap we recommend removing the wood baseboard and reinstalling it later on on top of the new flooring. To make this job easier find the end of a section of baseboard and gently work a putty knife down from behind the molding and gently work the end of the baseboard loose. If you have a thin flat bar you can also use that. To avoid splitting do not try and pry the baseboard from the wall completely, once you have the end slightly loose gently work your way across to the other end of the baseboard where then it can then just easily be removed from the wall without fear of snapping the baseboard into pieces.

Once you have that section of baseboard off use pliers and twist to pull the nails out from the back side of the boards so that it will not show holes on the face of the board. You should also number each piece of the base board and the wall it came off of so that after the new flooring is installed it can be easily be matched and re-installed to the wall it was removed from.

If you decide that you do not want to remove the baseboards molding you can just simply install a 3/4" round molding over the expansion gap against the the existing baseboard as shown in the picture to the left. Most flooring styles offer a matching 3/4" round molding Or they can be painted to match your existing baseboard color. When nailing this 3/4" round molding, nail the molding into the bottom of the existing baseboard and not into the flooring.

Today the more common sub floor material used in home building is cdx exterior grade plywood. There are two thicknesses offered in cdx plywood either 5/8" or 3/4" thick. 3/4" thick is preferred for added strength and support for your new flooring. If you have 5/8" inch plywood and your using a thinner wood floor than say 1/2" you may want to glue and screw a layer of 3/8" underlayment down for added stability.

Subfloors can become loose and squeak with age so before installing any wood flooring the entire subfloor should be checked for any repairs, fixing problems in subfloors after the flooring has been installed can be difficult. Questionable areas should be re secured to the floor joists using 2-1/2" long deck screws (not sheet rock screws). The more solid and secure your subfloor is the better the hardwood flooring installation will come out. Any areas within the subfloor that sink when walked on should be re supported from below using 2 x 6 blocks of wood secured between the floor joists if possible. Plywood subflooring should be flat, run a string the entire length of the room in different areas. Any depressions within the subfloor that exceed 1/4" in 8’ should be filled using a floor leveler. Any high spots should be sanded flat.

Since the underside of wood flooring is not protected by any finish coating it is virtually unprotected from any moisture migration we highly recommend laying 15 lb. black hardwood flooring paper down over any wood subfloors no matter what level the flooring is going to be installed on overlapping the seams by 4-6 inches doing this will help retard any moisture that may migrate up from damp basements or other areas within the home. This felt paper can be stapled in place or held in place by objects as the flooring is installed.

In addition to using 15 lb black felt paper an optional step can be taken to further reduce moisture transfer by first applying one to two coats of fast drying Shellac to seal the surface of the plywood subfloor.

Usually, the outside walls of a home are the straightest so we recommend starting the installation from the longest outside wall and working your way into the center of the home. Use the longest straightest boards for your first 2-3 rows. When using wide boards we keep the felt paper back 4–5 inches and direct glue the first row of boards down along with face nailing the row every 8 inches along the top back edge of the board. If your first row is not perfectly straight across the room it will cause the following rows to run off leaving gaps between the boards.

Once the first row is in place we recommend running a string along the front edge of the first row of boards to see if the row is running straight and does not bow or sway before continuing with the installation.

We use small tapered removable carpenter shims against the wall to maintain the proper expansion gap when starting to lay the rows of flooring. These shims can be adjusted for walls that bow or are concaved. Leaving the proper expansion gap against all walls and fixed objects will allow the flooring to expand and contract freely under the baseboard molding or under 3/4" round moldings. We usually recommend leaving 3/8" to 1/2" space, more space may be recommended or required for larger rooms or if wide boards are being installed. The manufacturers installation instructions usually state what they want to maintain their warranty. These wooden shims are removed after the floor has been installed and the base board is installed over the new flooring which will cover this space.

To make sure your getting the best blend of color throughout the entire floor area we recommend opening up and intermixing boards from at least 4-5 cartons at a time during the installation.

After your initial first few rows are installed, you can save time by laying out several rows of flooring onto the sub floor intermixing shorter and longer boards together making sure the butt ends of each board are at least 12 inches or more apart from the butt end joints of the preceding row of flooring. Laying out several rows of flooring speeds up the installation by having the rows ready to put together and nail.

When using 1/2" or thinner solid wood flooring or thinner engineered flooring you will need to rent or purchase an easy pull trigger stapler that is also run by a small compressor to drive staples into the top inside edge of the tongue of the flooring. These type of nailing guns have an adjustable base plate to accommodate different board thicknesses. (Naturally click lock or direct down installations are not nailed.)

When starting the installation the first 2-4 rows of flooring you will not be able to fit in and use either of the nailers noted above. You will have to either pre-drill the boards and hand nail or you can use an air assisted finish nailer that uses a small compressor to drive nails either down through the top of the boards and/or if held at the proper angle blind nail on the inside edge of the tongues of the floor boards this is also true when installing your last rows of flooring against the finishing walls. The installation goes a lot faster using an air assisted finish nailer which uses the same small compressor as the above flooring nailers.

Proper nailing is essential to avoid any problems later. We suggest face nailing every 8 inches along the back side of the starting row and then blind nail every 6-8 inches along the tongue of every board thereafter staying 4 inches in from each end of the board to prevent the splitting of the wood boards.