How to Replace present Floors
When you switch the floors in a room, then you do not always have to remove the existing flooring. You are able to lay hardwood floors over linoleum, and you are able to install a hardwood flooring over linoleum, hardwood as well as carpet. If you do need to remove the flooring, nevertheless, you have to get down to some smooth, level subfloor before you can install most floor coverings. That can be the most difficult part of the whole replacement process.
When to eliminate Flooring
The state of your previous flooring is one factor to look at when deciding whether or not to remove this, along with the combined depth of the old and new floors is another. By way of example, laying linoleum over hardwood won’t increase the floor by a substantial number, but in the event the hardwood is in bad condition, you’re probably going to have the ability to see it under the linoleum, and also the adhesive wo not stick. Flooring that is in poor condition, with the exception of linoleum, seldom creates a acceptable substrate for a new covering. You can usually work on areas and gaps in linoleum with floor leveling compound to earn a set subfloor.
Removing Flooring
Removing old flooring that has been glued to the subfloor can be a painstaking task. After scraping or chipping off the flooring, then you still have to remove glue from your subfloor. You can often do this with floor buffer along with an abrasive disk or with a flooring edger. If you’re prying up hardwood floors that has not been pasted and you would like to conserve it, it helps to work methodically. Cutting a strip out of a single class with a circular saw permits you to pry up all others. It’s possible to stay away from cracking the boards by prying the nails one by one.
Preparing the Subfloor
After taking the flooring up and removing the adhesive, then it’s important to measure the subfloor. Irregularities can crack hardwood floors or cause squeaks, and can produce similarly undesirable defects under another type of rigid floor covering. Utilize floor leveling compound to fill depressions and sand down any high spots. After that, you require a moisture barrier to protect most floor coverings. It can be tar paper, vinyl underlayment or plastic sheeting. You can’t use a moisture barrier when you’re gluing flooring into a concrete subfloor, so it’s important to ensure the concrete is dry.
Placing the Flooring
If you’re installing hardwood, nailing is preferable to gluing; it’s simpler and less messy, and also the nailer drives planks together to make a gap-free flooring. When you must use glue because you’re laying hardwood on concrete or you’re installing tile or linoleum on any subfloor, use a manufacturer-recommended adhesive and spread it with a notched trowel. You do not need nails or glue to fasten a floating laminate flooring, but you do require baseboards to hold it down. They ought to be secured to the wall — perhaps not the floor — with complete nails long enough to bite into the wall plates.