hey HWF talk i just finished my prefinished oak floors in my home and im tired of hearing friends tell me "ohh it looks great" i want someone to tell me that i did something wrong, some good honest constructive criticism! and i was hoping someone here could give me that! it was my first time installing.. i just need to figure out how to add pics now...btw i live in Roanoke va not to terribly humid out here...

well untill i figure out how to upload images i will list what i have done

hallway and living room:
1 subfloor prep (house has a crawl space) no sanding or filling, 3/4 plywood, standard 2x6 joist!)
2 red rosin paper underlayment
3 square up rooms n lay the first course after snapping chalk line along longest wall ( living room hallway)
4 face nail first 3 rows ( i didn't realize i could blast nails through the tongue...oops)
5 lay the rest using flooring nailer with 2" barbed nails.
the floors were 3/4 oak w/gunstock finish. i used a pneumatic 16g finish nailer for the perimeter walls. floor has no cracks and minimal squeeks...although where i put my shoe molding (quarter round) against my base boards it cracks when you walk on the floors in the hall (and no i didn't nail them to the flooring!)
also i left 1" for my floor movement...it was a 1/4 but thanks to karma my drywall sets 2"off the subfloor so when i measured off the finished wall it left me with an 1"+ expansion
so that is my story and i wanna know how i did cause im tired of reading flooring horror stories and spending my nights worrying if in a month i will have the st louis arches in my hallway!


edit:4. i knew i had to use a flooring nailer to nail down the floor i just didn't realized i could use my finish nailer to shoot 45 nails into the tongue. and on that note the flooring manufacturer doesn't list a putty to use to fill holes (lowes doesn't know either(noble homes, solid oak, gunstock))

please help me upload images! i guess i can run up my post count..lol

You can use this site to upload images to and then use the [IMG] button under the "SUBJECT" line to insert pictures into your post.

[img]]http://www.hardwoodflooringtalk.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18676/IMG_4865.JPG[/img]



see what i mean about face nailing! its not noticeable and a filler would help this alot! again thats why i am here to see what everyone thinks, what could have been done differently...stuff like that

I'm not a big fan of quarter-round, instead prefer to cover expansion by the baseboard. Door jambs could be a little cleaner cut to and measured (so it rests right on top of the board).

Otherwise - good job from my non-professional view. I'm in the middle of my first install myself - learning as I go.

yeah all the door casings are going to be replaced those are all the old ones.. new fireplace, floors,baseboards and quarter round...none of it is finished gotta touch up paint,fill nail holes and finish the fireplace ( stuff takes too long!) but thanks

ok i now have 2 dooways that have boards that have started to creek bad....and one board witch is face nailed ( the opening to the kitchen ) seems to be moving up and down...im starting to get worried any suggestions?

You should always run a squiggily of some PL Premium adhesive under all face nailed planks. I knew we could find something wrong.

Otherwise it looks great.

wow thanks alot! i wish i woulda found this site before i started. i feel like i kinda rushed but it seemed to work fine. the loose boards scare me and it turns out i can shoot nails through the tongue at a 45 with my nail gun fairly easy.

Thank goodness there's always gravity to rely on! hee hee

hahaha well isnt that awesome...im thinking i could go under the house, drill a 1/4 in deep hole through the subfloor and into the piece of flooring and use a screw to help hold it down....any thoughts?

Now that you mention it. I love giving Howie a hard time about concrete moisture but the guy is the hardwood guru. Watch this video about squeaks. Sorry bout the Bob Villa link if your the sensitive builder type.

http://video.bobvila.com/m/21320628/tip ... floors.htm

Looks great so far from what I can see :thumbs up: