Laying hardwood floor is not that complex of a process. All it really takes is a good eye (for what is level (good judgment and balance) carpentry skills and a couple of specialty tools such as a miter, jamb saws and a floor nailer. All of these tools for laying hardwood floor can be rented from a tool rental place.
Before you start laying hardwood floor you need to examine the layout of the floor usually hardwood floor is laid out so that it is parallel to the longest wall. You can follow this convention or you can decide to break the rules and lay it so that it is parallel to the shortest wall. This is possibly just a matter of taste, but if the floor is laid out parallel to the longest wall it will probably look bigger than it is.
Your first step is to remove the floor`s baseboards. If you are planning to replace them then don`t break them as you remove them. This is also your opportunity to put in polyvinyl or felt vapor barriers. These barriers should be overlapped about four to six inches apart and the seams can be glued down with tape or mastic. Insert spacers around the perimeter of the room to create an expansion gap for the flooring. The gap will hide under the baseboard, but will allow the boards to expand or contract.
You should start by laying pieces at the doorways. This is where you will fit the longest pieces of your flooring. You can fit in the shorter pieces later. If you are working with uneven or random lengths of flooring try to alternate the shorter pieces of flooring with the longer ones as you fit the pieces of the floor carefully from the doorway out into the edges of the room. If you are working with interlocking planks that are all the same length then you can always cut them to fit by making a few measurements if necessary.
When putting planks into position around the perimeter of the room you might need a string line to get the first row in straight. You should also nail through the face of the interlocking floor piece so that it will be hidden beneath the baseboard. Nails should be long enough to penetrate the sub floor by at least 1".
To save time when you are putting your floor together you can always use a pneumatic floor nailer. However many find it just as easy to gently tap the floor into place using staggering rows so that the floor has a natural look.
Once you have completed the floor you should check for any stray nails poking out between the floorboards. This is a common occurrence after the floor has settled so remember to pound them back into the floor so nobody is cut or tripped up by a jutting nail.
