Hardwood Flooring (engineered) first time homeowner.. first diy job?

Hi All,

Just wanted to get some options on the feasibility of doing some hardwood floors by ourselves. This is my first home (close in two weeks) and one of the first jobs to do in it. I do not have hardly any carpentry or DIY experience and am admittedly not great with my hands. That being said, is this a project to talk myself? We'd be ideally looking to do a floating floor if possible, and / or nail / glue (one level will be concrete slab)

The only other wrinkle is we have about 1000 sqft to get done in roughly 3 weekends (plus odd time after work)

Thanks for any advice!

-Bob

 

Welcome to the forums.

Generally speaking, this isn't a bad DIY job but I'm wondering what kind of tool collection you have and whether the tight time frame makes this something which might be better hired out....

 

Do you have any handy friends that could help out and give you some pointers?

 

The work will progress at its own pace and you will learn and get better once you get into the project. I would look toward an engineered floating floor that has a click lock mechanism as being the most DIY friendly. Get a wood pattern and not something with geometric shapes that require a pattern match, there is less waste. Basically, the end cut from one row can be used as the start cut for the next row.

First need is to have a flat solid floor to start and plan on using deck screws to screw the subfloor down to prevent squeaks. Choose a quality underlayment and lay the boards perpendicular to the floor joist system. Visit multiple flooring suppliers and work them off each other for price. Nor sure where you live so can't offer any further guidance as far as purchasing.