The following details my experience installing 450 sq/ft of ¾”,3”, prefinished solid white oak, select or better (Somerset) in two joining rooms.

First, I would like to thank this forum for providing good advice and comments before starting my project.

In hindsight, the job was a more physically demanding than anticipated, although in the end I’m pleased with the final product and glad I choose the DIY route.

I purchased my wood from a online vendor after first identifying my Brand choice in local showrooms and online user reviews. It was 25-30% cheaper from the online source. The size of this project hit me when I when the delivery truck showed up with 1300 lbs of wood, which I had to remove from the tailgate and carry into the house (of course, it was 95 out that day).

I acclimatized the wood for 2-3 weeks in the room under AC. I didn’t get a moisture meter, so I didn’t check it. Although I watched the humidity in the room and the basement below it for a month and it was very stable. If I had even the slightest moisture concerns or new construction I would have spent the money for it. I also have professional experience with sorption isotherms of materials, so I understood the problem. If you don’t, your better use a meter or plan on taking a major risk.

My subfloor was ¾” OSB over a dry climatized basement. The house is 16 yrs old. The AC had been running for months and the humidity remained pretty constant at 50-55%. I also undercut the drywall and jambs. The floor was generally flat, I used a rasp to plane down some seams. I also used some felt paper stacked to bring up some low spots (1/8”). The floor was covered with 15lb roof felt (stapled). I marked the location of the joists with a chalk line.

The two rooms are connected with a large 8’ opening. Since I wanted to make sure the wood would cross the transition parallel with this opening, I used the wall with the opening to establish my reference line. I measured from the reference line to the far wall to establish my starting line. For me, I found it easiest to snap the chalk line a set distance from where you actually want to start and measure from it. When you snap a chalk line on either side of the board, its difficult to see the line. On the groove side, the wall made it difficult to see and the tongue made it difficult to see on the other side. So I snapped a line 3” off and measured from it to set the first row. I face nailed it and nailed it through the tongue. I nailed the next couple of rows through the tongue by hand until I could fit the floor nailer in and then used it. Be careful snugging up the first couple of rows. A firm whack with the 2-3lb flooring hammer can move your first row if you hit it too hard. If at any point you are concerned about the straightness of your line, snap a new chalk line to check it. One of the most important things I learned was if you have any problems fix them immediately or things will only get worse. If after nailing, the board didn’t sit perfectly, I ripped it up and put a new one in. I was able to lay 14’ of floor and hit the transition perfectly and continue for another 12’ without any problems. I nailed 2” from the end, on the joists and every 8”, unless I was fighting a warped board and then I added a few extra nails. I left a ½-3/4” expansion gap around the perimeter. I glued the last 2 rows down and face nailed the last.

Other important things I learned.

Open as many boxes as possible and rack at least a couple of rows ahead, while color variation wasn’t a great problem in my case. Board length was more variable. Some boxes would have 10 boards over 5’, some would be nearly all 3-4’, others would have lots of shorts. The avg was probably 3.5-4’.

I used a Porta-Nailer 402 manual nailer (cleats). It was hard work but did a good job. I’m sure an air nailer would have been easier. But I couldn’t justify $500 for 500 sqft. I didn’t want to rent one because I would have felt rushed. I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of buying one and reselling it either (all though I’m considering doing it with the one I bought). I used approximately 8 nails per sqft.

I bought 10% excess in material and used about 5%, mostly from mistakes, warped or already damaged boards. I found it useful to maintain two scrap piles while working. Because when a board is damaged (i.e. errant hammer blow) you can still use at least part of it on either the beginning or the end of a row depending on where you need to cut it. So those that could be used to start a row were in one pile and those that could end a row in another. This allowed me to recycle most of the boards.

Allow yourself plenty of time, I avg 10-15 sq/ft an hr installing by myself. That’s not including subfloor prep before and replacing the base trim after, moving furniture. This is not a weekend project. I’ll probably have 80 hrs in this when all is said and done. I couldn’t even imagine if I did unfinished and still had to sand and finish.

Another thing to consider, summer time is probably the best time to do this project, if you run the ac. In the Midwest, the spring and fall when its rainy have large humidity swings with moderate temps. Its hard to run the climate control when its 66 outside with 90% humidity. The optimum conditions to install are 40-60% RH. Even with a furnace humidifier, I find it hard to reach 40% RH.

It conclusion, I would only recommend this project to the advanced DIY with a fair amount of finish carpentry experience. If you have problems leveling things, running and maintaining straight lines and are not familiar with the full assortment of saws, leave this project for the professionals. The risk is too great.

Great post! Good to hear how things go for you all out there. Good tips and recommendations. OK, all you weekend warriors, you heard it here from someone who has just done! Take heed! And thanks!

Thanks Gary, I felt like I have been through a battle and needed to share my story.

Now I'm debating on were to store the spares. If I store them in an unacclimatized place (attic, garage, unfinished part of basement) will the humidity cycles make them unusable 5-10 yrs down the line?

Great post, it sounds like you paid attention to the details and it paid off.