How Long It Take To Install Hardwood Floors? Facts You Must Know

Hardwood floors are, by all means, the most aesthetically pleasing floors to have and the most satisfying ones, as well. Besides, they are the ideal dimension to invest in, when it comes to structural durability and overall functionality. However, there’s a bit of time required regarding when to begin using them.

As far as how long does it take to install hardwood floors is concerned, that usually is a matter maximally of 2 to 3 days and can even get accomplished on the notice of just 1 day. If you’ve got really efficient professionals and/or lesser coverage areas.

Why Hardwood Floor Installation Might Be Shorter?

The time consumption by the hardwood floor can get really squeezed if the surface area you’re dealing with is under 1,000 to 1,5000 square feet. Besides, there are a number of other factors involved too, that can influence the timespan of getting done with the installation.

Quick installation is often the consequence of hurdle-free spaces. In other words, there’s not too much stuff to be removed or moved from the way. Last but not least is the proficiency of the installers. Furthermore, you may need to buy some extra flooring so at the time of installation you don’t face any hurdle in the process.

Why Hardwood Floor Installation Might Be Longer?

How long does it take to install new flooring involves a number of aspects such as the time required for removing the former flooring, putting away the stuff and prepping the subfloors for the installation.

In addition to that, hardwood acclimation is another significant factor that might stop you from beginning the use of your new flooring, immediately after the installation. Typically if all goes well, up to 1,500 square feet of the space can be laid with hardwood flooring in a day.

Preparing The Floor For Installation

It’s always good to make a little preparation beforehand and provide your installers with a hurdle-free space for their work. Although you can totally pay for the entire procedure including the pre-installation and post-installation too, there are still a few dimensions you can work in, in order to ensure the betterment of your place, because it belongs to you at the end of the day.
P.S. Getting everything done by the professionals is absolutely okay as long as you find it appropriate and/or you’re hiring the complete package of services.
Let’s take a look at what you can do prior to the arrival of the team and ace being a nice customer/person:

• Working On The Dust Control System: Strive for effective dust control by sealing all the openings and heating ducts in the intended area. Close the doors of the rest of the rooms and seal the doorways with plastic sheets. Apply plastic sheets around the working site, as well. Do turn off the entire HVAC system, if you’ve got one.

• Removing The Doors: You might require assistance and a bit of practice for this but the favorable outcomes are totally worth the efforts. By making use of a nail and your everyday hammer, you can easily pin out the hinge, slide and move the door to a safe spot.

• Removing The Base Molding/Baseboards: It’s always best to get done with the entire removal of the former baseboards and also the shoe moldings if present. That’s how you give plenty of room for the workers and for the next floor installation procedure to take place.

• Removing The Door Trim: Doing this not only ensures the smoothest installation of the new flooring but also brings about a more uniform and presentable looking space in the end. All you need to do is thoroughly remove all the door trim and reinstall/retrim the door after the flooring has been securely fitted along with the frame of the door.

• Prepping The Subfloors: Working on the subfloor in order to get it smooth and free of imperfections does lay the foundation for the most flawless floor fitting. Don’t hesitate to take out the entire former subflooring if you feel the need to. Besides, you can also go for the addition of a thin underlayment made of plywood, so as to smooth out all the rest of the procedure.

Getting Done With The Hardwood Installation

It’s always the safest approach to have it done by the corresponding professionals and achieve fool-proof consequences. While it might seem an expensive decision in the first place, still the outcomes will totally be worth all the investment, saving you from any possible trouble, as well. Installation done by professionals could be affective prospect in longer lifespan of hardwood floors.

Nevertheless, you can always ace it yourself if you’ve got enough spirit and most importantly the appropriate compilation of supplies. Besides, this is gonna save you money, too. Depending on your expertise, you can also determine how long it takes to lay flooring.

Hardwood Floor Acclimation

Hardwood floor acclimation refers to the syncing of the newly installed flooring with the surrounding temperature extent. The moisture content present within the hardwood requires time to get along with that of the environments it’s installed in.

Hardwood floor acclimation is extremely essential to be allowed to take place because otherwise there’s the highest likelihood of cupping, warping or irreversible gapping to occur.

Effective Tips For A Rapid Installation

When concerned about how long does it take to install new flooring, there are a number of ways in which you can totally speed up the hardwood flooring, such as:

Time Consumption Difference According To Flooring Situation

At this point, it’s essential to know that there is a significant difference between prefinished hardwood flooring and unfinished hardwood flooring installation time, based on their conditions:

[i2pc pros_icon=”icon icon-check-2″ cons_icon=”icon icon-check-2″ show_title=”false” title=”Pros & Cons” show_button=”false” pros_title=”Prefinished Hardwood Flooring” cons_title=”Unfinished Hardwood Flooring ” ][i2pros]Is the one with whose finishing, sanding, staining and polyurethane coating has already been done.
Is the factory finished flooring with each board individually finished and coated with polyurethane.
There is a line shown within the entire flooring after installation.
Prefinished flooring is faster to install.
It’s possible to use prefinished flooring instantly after installation.
[/i2pros][i2cons]Is the one featuring hardwood in raw form and requires installation first, before on-site sanding and refinishing
Is not factory finished, is without beveled edges and needs to be treated on-site
There is no lining shown and the flooring turns out to be perfectly leveled after installation
Unfinished Flooring requires more time
Unfinished flooring requires several days for sanding and thus can’t be used immediately [/i2cons][/i2pc]

FAQs | Frequently Asked Questions 

2 persons doing the hardwood floor installation job is likely to get accomplished within 3 days and it can even get done in 1 day depending on the area and the proficiency. The general amount that gets laid in one day ranges between 750 and 1000 square feet.

Hardwood Assimilation is it’s conditional syncing with the surrounding environment, post-installation. That’s basically the timespan in which the moisture content of the hardwood gets adjusted with that of the area around.

Nail down, staple down, glue down and Floating are some of the most common methods used for installing hardwood floors. Often these methods are quite easy as DIY projects and don’t really require professional assistance, either.

It will be more favorable if you wait for at least 6 hours before stepping atop the newly installed flooring. As far as walking with the shoes is concerned, it’s best that you do so after at least 48 hours of the installation, so as to not cause any possible damage.

An underlayment made of any given material such as foam, rubber, cork or felt is placed under the hardwood floors. This not only prevents damage from taking place but also provides considerable padding, making the floors comfortable underfoot.

That’s not a really preferable idea because summers and springs are the moisture-prone times of the year. Getting your hardwood floors installed during this time is likely to cause a lot of weakening and ultimately damage because the wood tends to absorb surrounding moisture.