Lay Your Own Wood Floors || Installing Real Wood Floors 

I am a homeowner with a day job who does not do anything construction related for a living. That being said I am working on framing out my basement and Bought this ru-vid.comUgkxHQsUrwNr5GQrnx9V4xDdUr56qxwuiBHt gun. I have done a few walls already, have probably shot a couple hundred nails through this thing and have yet to have a misfire. It works awesome, good depth on every nail if you have your compressor set right. My literal only complaint is that it is a bit heavy and my arm can get a little tired especially whrn I am nailing at odd angles. That being said I am super happy with it and would buy it again. Hoping the old girl allows me to get my whole basement finished out!

As a professional hardwood installer for the most part everything was correct. Couple of things I noticed. First one was you went the same direction as your joist. Typically you would go opposite of your joist to help prevent rolls in your floor in the future. The staples can easily be taken up with 4ft concrete scraper so you don’t have get down and hit every single one with a prybar. If you use the scrape at the same time you pull up the padding most of the staples will stay in the padding. Where you started was fine but you could also have used a grooving bit in your router to groove out your existing finished wood and put a piece of spline or what we call slip tongue into it and connected directly into the existing. Also anyone not using full length boards you will want to pull a chalk line from the corners of the walls. This will give you a nice straight line to measure to and will ensure your floor stays straight. I typically come out about a foot to start my measurements from the corners because the corners are heavily padded with drywall compound. I then mark a 16” mark and go to the other end do the same, then chalk your line. Last thing when dealing with bowed boards I’ve read a lot of the comments and your was worked to but a faster way is to just drive a flathead screwdriver along the tongue and pry back, nail and pull your screwdriver out. All and all great video! I love all your videos and you actually inspire me to leave the flooring business to create my own woodworking business. Sorry for the lengthy comment lol, figured I could give a little advice for anyone reading them.

I did a DIY floor in our basement and I definitely had a gap around doorways that I would rather not have had. But you can easily solve that problem by selling your house and making it someone else’s floor!

This is a valuable addition to my woodwork collection ru-vid.comUgkxbnOKZBE4evMO5V2vroHeCjq6d_MV6wJO I still will rate this woodwork plan as the best in my reference library. It always seem to stand out from the rest whenever you go through the library. This is a masterpiece.

You know, what I found super encouraging was seeing an ‘untouched’ room at the beginning, looking out into his finished hallway. It was a great reminder that even RU-vid guys are working one room at a time, and everything is a work in progress.

'why oh why did they like barn doors so much in the twenties' - Lemonade Moth Woodworking, 2041

So you did go all the way to your shop, but still came back without the knee-pads?

You didn't do the trim... How am I supposed to sleep tonight? Also since the old bed was scrapped, you might as well do a video making a new one, right?? 😏

Saddened by the lack of Rubio Monocote Cotton White in this video.

Thanks for the video. Just a suggestion, my Dad would start at the hardest to cut. So he would start at the door, this way you make all the hard cuts and you have a full width board at the place where people walk the most. Then move into the closet, and the easy part is last the rest of the room leaving you a small piece at the end. High traffic zones always need full width boards. There is nothing wrong with the way you did the floor, my suggestion is there to make it easy for you the next time.

Your voice is a great baritone, easy to hear. You talk like someone trained to lecture, easy to follow.

Formerly having a business of installing all types of flooring for 25 years, i really didn't see anything "wrong". For a DIY kinda thing, it will be just fine. Your doorway transitions will actually help with expansion. Well done.

I grew up getting dragged to job sites on weekends with my dad who started laying floors at 15. Video just brought back some good memories... and then there was the edge sander that caught fire, and thrown out a 3rd floor window. Good times. Love seeing your son in the videos! He is a character!

The guest bedroom cupboard is also where I keep the backbones of my enemies.

I have to admit you are very entertaining my wife and I are hooked watching your videos, funny, informative and entertaining. Keep up the great work.

Nothing beats the beauty of real wood flooring, especially when it's pine!

Just gotta say, , , These are the most fun “masterclasses “ by someone who totally admits to not knowing what he’s doing- Great job 👏

Another comment, I have to congratulate you on being the cover boy on Wood Shop News. also good for you with all the success. You worked hard for it.

Professional wood flooring installer for 37 years here. To straighten bowing boards I just take a big ol` screwdriver that you can buy for a buck at the big box store. You can take a scrap of flooring maybe 6 inches long, put the groove over the tongue, drive the screwdriver into the subfloor just in front of the block just enough to get a good bite, and lever the board back. Use your foot to hold the plate of nailer / stapler and use your free hand to use the mallet. After you do it a couple times the whole process takes about 10 seconds.

Finally, someone who agrees with me about carpet! It's a filth sponge! Thanks for showing another option!

Instead of using an expensive square to straighten the boards, you can screw a block down in front of the piece, then reverse the Rockler clamp you used earlier to push the flooring into place. Great job though! Thumbs up

Quick tip for carpet removal - cheap roll of duct tape. Costs just a few bucks and makes the rolls so much easier to carry out, especially the padding.

Hands down best woods craft man and teacher on youtube. On any thing online. Next is Finish carpentry TV. But still this guy has style.

Most important thing i learned is im not alone in hating carpet. Thanks for this we are redoing our floors soon.

Turned out way better than I expected with being painted. One thing to note though is I did not see an air return in that room for your HVAC system. The reason the door had such a large gap is so that the air return you probably do have in a centralized location (hallway most likely) can draw the air out of that room under the door. If your transition piece eliminated the air gap entirely or severely reduced it then the air in that room won't get returned and you HVAC system won't properly work. What exactly will happen if the air doesn't get returned? That room is going to be humid. It might not feel all that uncomfortable to any of your guests that use it. And I'm guessing any guests you have aren't staying for an extended period of time. But humidity also can cause mold issues. Wood floor, humid air, black paint, black mold. You might not ever even know mold is on the floor because it's painted black. Might be something to look into with a kid in the house. You might consider a different transition piece, adding a return vent to the room, or the easiest thing you could probably do is take the door down and trim the bottom by a quarter inch so you've essentially added back the air gap for the HVAC return.

My guy keeps delivering videos for similar ideas/plans I'm already hatching, maybe it's time to visit the ol patreon

The proper way to lay flooring is what you and the homeowner decide looks the best. Tbh finishing in the closet looks good you did a fine job for what you wanted. You're the one who has to live with it.

I love your humor and also how honest you are about not having a clue what you're doing. That's my philosophy and it usually works out pretty well too. Good job. The floors look great!

the tail end where he installs the transition, reminds me of Rex Krueger's video about furniture making, back in the day, there was no high precision, they just did what they could to get the job done, and that's what he did with the transition, right or wrong, done is done

I have to give it to you: you nailed it.

Like father, like son. So cute to watch the ninjas!!!

Kid for sure is a ninja, look at the getup!

Great looking floors. Congratulations on being on the cover of Woodshop News!

If you can learn anything from your son, it’s that we don’t have to wait until Halloween to don a costume and practice our bow staff skills. Other than that, great video. Who cares about mistakes? You’ve got some darn nice looking floors there!

I enjoyed the video. I did! 👍🏻I was flabbergasted by your skills. Floored, even. Don't leave us pining more too long for more.👏🏻👏🏻

Word of advice for next time, rather than use an oscillating tool and measuring like crazy, I drilled a hole and used a flush trim bit for the vents.

Never thought of a black wood floor, but man... It looks awesome!

I love to watch people working, keep it up

Haha that was fun. I'm not gonna critique, you did great.

Nothing to add but thanks. Just commenting to keep you know who pushing content.

Using a hanger rod as a staff is a requirement. You just can't skip that step.

The recommendation here (I live in Norway) is to store the flooring in the house (preferably in the target room). Someone below recommends an under layer. Because you seem to be installing flooring in the shop foreman's room (on the second floor) another common practice is to add a sound deadening layer (multiple options are available available ranging from thin foams to 1cm thick fiberglass mats). Finally you can use screws instead of nails (using a similar jig). Another option for the thin last row problem is to glue it to the next to the last row segments before installation. Thankfully you didn't start on the subject of plank direction an room lighting direction.

I am not an expert in flooring installation. I am however a professionally educated interior designer. What I can absolutely say is that you are awesome at being determined to tackle this type of project yourself. You have great knowledge of the machinery and tools you were using and you were very proactive with solving issues with ease. After all was said and done, the flooring looks absolutely amazing and is very esthetically pleasing! It also is a super great option for affordable flooring in these days and times! So thank you for this wonderful and affordable option that is durable and lovely looking!

You're hilarious and a great teacher. I'm trying to start up a business in tiny home conversions and actually learn a lot from your channel. Thank you for being fun and informative!! :)

This reminds me my first flooring job. Only difference is I stained the floor and then clear varnished it. In my view pine has beautiful grain pattern and I think paint hides it, but it my personal preference. Great job as usual. Floor looks great and thanks for sharing.

Have installed 1,000's of square feet of hardwood flooring I would have to say you did a wonderful job. The only thing I do differently is add a layer of rosen paper between the hardwood and the subfloor. I was told many years ago it helps prevent squeaking. I have no clue if that is true or not, but since the gentleman that told.me that had been laying hardwood floors for 30 years. I didn't question him

“Once you get into a groove” I saw what you did there… clever

As a REAL professional wood TECH the first thing you should do is find the center of the room . Then measure to the wall to see where the last board will fit. Now is the time to adjust so you do not end up with a small strip along the wall.Next lay thew first board groove side lined up with the CENTER line and nail a temporary blocking board on the tongue side of the board. Next insert a spline into the groove and cleat nail it in place.. NOW you have a balanced floor and will end up with the same board widths along both walls.. Also you will be nailing tongue sides toward both walls making it easier when you get close to the wall. As for under lament I like to use a 30 lb roofing felt as it tends to give the floor a soft sound rather than a hard rapping one when being walked on. Oh yes another benefit is that termites do not like the taste of the felt nor the smell and will not try to eat through it. I have been installing and restoring wood floors for 55 plus years and as a former instructor old school is still way better than new school.

Looks really good. And now you have some additional projects - trim the room, closet organizer, closet doors, bed, etc

Wonderful job so far!! I wanted to see the trimmings done too!!

Clever hack with the square!! Well done.

Easy peasy lemon sqeezy, I’m going to try it on my cabin in the woods

I think pine is just a bit too soft. I also manage rentals so I need a super durable floor. I also use red rosin paper under the flooring. Depending on the traffic patterns I put in a bit of glue between some areas. Lastly, use your clamp for boards that are warped. Flip over the ends of the clamps and pry against the opposite wall or fastened down board. Save the wood peckers!

That is very nice!

The bed was awesome!

Putting down a moisture barrier will help with gaps and expanding/contracting. I always use roofing tar paper for my underlayment. It is waterproof and sticky to help keep boards in place over time. Also, when a board is slightly bowed, just put the power nailed right over the bow and whack it real hard with the rubber mallet. The force of that will close the gap and put the staple where it needs to be. Last thing would be to always try and glue where you cant staple. You still did a great job! Nice work!

When I get bowed boards I use a small piece of board, to protect the tongue. Nail a block to the subfloor/joist and use 2 wedges, hitting them both at the same time can force even the nasties board in place. I even 1"1/4 by 16" wide.

Instead of trying to get by with full width boards at the edges (even if the math seems to work out), it is better to split them. You don't want to risk having edge boards thinner than 2 inches.

Hi I love your woods working you do a great job I will pray 🙏 for you so you will be safe ok

PRECISELY what I was seeking!!! That was, possibly, the worst demo-injury, Life-injury tale I've ever heard.

I do floors for a living and yes the up and down sucks. I try to squat most of the time, saves time getting up and down.

I’m in the tile industry and I just tiled the stairs in my house (the rest of the upper floor is next). When we ripped up the carpet on the stairs, which we’ve had cleaned multiple times, it was so nasty. It collects everything, and we have so much dust in Nevada. I hate carpet as well. Great video!!!

Great final product!!

The way your clamp fell, after you put the effort into hanging it, hit so close to home.

Grab a sidewalk scraper to get those staples up! Way easier and you get to stand up! Looks great!

Love the cameo by "The Dog".

Spent last month putting in flooring for the first time. Learned so much!

Looks great, love bourbon moth videos

Looks great and I really enjoyed watching. I myself will always take carpet over any solid flooring though

I agree with you about carpeting, I too hate that stuff!

No way I love the bed😮

Fantastically educational and fun to watch. Thank you!

I’m very impressed with the pine and paint holding up as well as it has, especially under a desk chair! Those are murder on floors!

In the area where the floor comes right up against the wall, cut the drywall away. That will give you a half inch gap that the floor can expand into if needed.

Looks amazing. Every video you take a take that looks really daunting and somehow make it look so easy.

I’m not a floor person either and I will be doing flooring in my basement soon. I’m going to just buy 4’x8’ sheets of 1/4” birch rip them to 6”x8’ sections and glue them down, then burn them and put a clearcoat over the top. When you said it was black paint I was like oh no but it turned out really nice.

16:25 Being hot as balls when you installed this, I don't think you'll need to worry about expansion too much XD

Regardless of whether your method was exactly correct, you do a great job of explaining details, and the final result looks terrific. I really enjoy your videos!

You're the 2nd person I wasn't embarrassed to learn was from Oregon. The first being Matt Groening.

You did an exceptional job!

Best way to get all the staples out of the floor is to use a painters multi tool. Just glide it across the floor and most of the staples pop out. 10 times faster than trying to pop them out any other way.

An easy way to pull up the tack strip for the carpet: Use a long-handled spade (shovel that comes to a point, like the suit in American playing cards). Wedge it under the tack strip and push down on the handle to pop it right up

Amen to your opinion on carpets!!

How does the pine hold up to dog nails and kids everything else? Iver is pretty darn cute and my wife loves to see his cameos.

I made transitions for our house on new floorings almost exactly the same way 😆 Glad to see my little idea was not totally horrible hahaha

I'm a DIYer myself, You rocked the project, sir. I love the black floors but would be worried about how the dust would show up telling me to get the Swiffer out. Overall you did a fine job just as you always do. Thanks for sharing. Felix

You might not be a pro floor installer, but you are one heck of a inspirational dude. You are the kind of guy one wants as a brother or neighbor. Thanks for your relaxing and yet fun videos.

You are so funny. Very informative and entertaining video. A real fungi.

When square space popped up, it was like I got Nam flash backs from last week's episode! I mean if I was in Nam I'm sure that's what it was like

Seems to me i usually install t&g flooring perpendicular to the floor framing. Usually the runs end up going in the long dimension of the room..thats the new england way anyhow...

fantastic sense of humor! Excellent work!

We are about to lay our first hardwood floor, and I am having a beginner fright - so many things can go wrong. Thank you for this, Jason, and thanks to all the pros who commented with useful tips. We hired installers to lay wood floors in our dining room (yes, we had carpet in the dinning room!), but to save money, we removed trim, carpet, all the staples and nails ourselves. The pros laid the 10' x 12' room in 2.5 hours. Then we installed and painted the trim ourselves. It seemed like we did all the difficult work, lol.

I've laid a thousand floors. You did NOTHING "wrong"! Great job. We've been waiting for this one since last week's podcast. Love and appreciate all your hard work, keep it up my man!

I lay floors for a living and you pretty much did it right. The only thing that I would recommend is always use wax paper under your flooring Engineered or solid wood

This guy's commentary is gold. Good job bud.

I just really dig these videos Jason. Thanks!

I thought it was Red who said "get busy living or get busy dying", gonna have to watch that movie again soon

You did good man. I did this same pine for my entire house (1,850 sf) all closets, bathrooms, laundry, etc. are pine. I got mine from Lumber Liquidators. Pretty much used the same techniques as you did and it turned out awesome.

Totally enjoy videos - great attitude on getting it done with many options which all are going to be amazing. Cheers!

4" scraper works well to remove staples & loosen alot of the tackstrip..and a jigsaw works great for cutting heat vents in place..for tight spots where large nailer wont work I use smaller air nailer or glue the last few pieces.. great job