Wood Floor Installation

There is far more to wood flooring installation than putting down planks of timber and hoping for the best. There are numerous steps that must be completed prior to the begining of any installation project. Olympic Hardwood has the expertise to address these issues as they relate to hardwood flooring in the Arizona climate. Olympic Hardwood's installation team will address the physical location prior to install, making all preperations to the underlying substrate so that the flooring product is properly placed. This includes removal of existing floor surfaces, assesment of overall structural integrity, addressing any moisture issues and making sure the substrate is clean and level.

Level Floor Surface

The surface in which the flooring is installed must be with in a specific tollerance, most often 3/16 of an inch over 8 - 10 feet. Our team can fill in dips and gouges with compounds and sand areas that rise above the surface.

Hardwood Flooring Moisture Issues

One of the most important issues that must be addressed prior to your wood floor installation is moisture, both the surface moisture and environmental. All wet work such as plastering and painting must be finished and concrete floors must have at least 90 days to cure. Even exterior moisture should be addressed and gutters and downspouts should be in place. If moisture is found to exceed tolerable levels by our team using moisture meters, we can discuss methods to address this.

Nail Down

Nail down installation of hardwood flooring has specific guidlines and issues that must be addressed prior to the installation of your hardwood floors. Sub floors must be instpected for structural integrity as the nail could damage the subfloor allowing moisture to enter or uneven surfaces to form. Asphault paper should be in place as a barrier to moisture and a preventitive measure against squeaking in drier weather. Proper installation always includes expansion gaps. It is critical that your installation is done professionally as inexperience installers can damage floors in ways that wont be seen for years.

Staple Down

Prior to the 1990's all hardwood floors were installed using nails. Pneumatic staplers were developed as a means of making istallation of floors much simpler and standardized, Olympic Hardwood can discuss with you the advantages and disadvantages of hardwood installation via nails which is dependent on environmental conditions, the physical location and even the type of wood used.

Glue Down

Glue down installation can be costly because it is time consuming process, it also requires a floor that is completely free of moisture, thus special consideration needs to be made of the substrate in which the floor is attached. Glue down method will result in a solid feeling floor which is quieter.

Floating

Floating installation is almost the opposite of the glue down method. Pre-engineered wood boards are laid down on a level and dry floor. This method is inexpensive and easy to do but will result in a floor that can be noisy when walked upon with shoes.