Installation

Tamarack flooring should be one of the last items installed in your house. Flooring should not be delivered to the site until the building is closed. All work involving water or moisture should be completed 60-90 days prior to starting the wood floor installation. Flooring should be at the site and open 7 to 10 days before installation to allow the flooring to "breathe" or acclimatize to your home conditions. The site should have a consistent temperature of 15°C to 21°C for a minimum of 5 days and a relative humidity between 50-60 %. It is important that the sub-floor be level and clean. Install building (construction) paper between the sub-floor and the solid wood floor. The tools needed include: pencil, tape measure, chalk line, hammer, chop saw, drill & bit, pneumatic or manual nailer, mallet, nails and nail punch.

The correct position of the baseboard relative to the flooring is illustrated in the adjacent diagram. The outer edge of the baseboard will overlap the edge of the flooring creating a clean, finished look. Note the positioning of the nails in the first strip of flooring. The nail closest to the wall is driven at a 90°angle to the surface of the floor, and the nail which enters the side of the strip (referred to as “blind nail”) is driven at a 45° angle to the surface of the floor.

The adjacent diagram illustrates the anatomy of a solid wood floor. The floor starts with floor joists. In the case of a basement with a concrete floor, floor joists are typically replaced with pieces of 2x2 or 2x3 material (sleepers) laid directly on the concrete floor. The subfloor is generally plywood at least 5/8” thick. This is nailed to the floor joists or sleepers. The plywood will then accept a nail at any point on the surface, rather than only above a floor joist. Construction paper is then applied to the sub-floor. This acts as a buffer between the top of the sub-floor and the underside of the prefinished flooring which helps prevent “squeaking” sounds of wood rubbing against wood as people walk on the floor. Finally, the prefinished flooring is applied as described below.