How to level a wooden floor

[Music] over time traditional wooden floorboards can become uneven due to floorboards being lifted and replaced floorboards warping and general wear and tear if you plan to lay sheet vinyl vinyl tiles or carpet tiles any unevenness in the wooden floor is likely to show through when the new floor covering has been laid covering existing floor BS with hardboard sheets will provide a more even surface on which to lay your new floor covering in this film we'll show you how it's [Music] done first let's have a look at the existing floor to see what sort of condition it's in if there are any rotten floorboards replace them and if there's any loose or creaking floorboards these will need to be screwed down before you lay the new floor don't use Nails this will help to reduce creaking noises when the new floor covering is used use a pipe and cable detector before you put the screws in the boards may be loose because there's a pipe or cable that's preventing them from being fixed if you have any other repairs to do things like wiring or Plumbing Now's the Time to do them before you put your new flooring down any protruding nails or screw heads should also be punched or screwed below the surface if you need to smooth down any raised or uneven areas use a b sander or all orbital sander with coarse paper make sure you wear gloves goggles and a mask you might need to use a smoothing plane or power planer so double check for nail and screw heads protruding as they could damage the blade at some stage either before or after you've prepared the existing floor you'll need to work out how many sheets of hardboard you'll need this 3mm thick hardboard is available in store in 2.4x 1.2 M sheets 1.8 by6 m sheets and 1.2 by 6 M sheets the larger sizes provide the benefit of less joints in the finished floor but they're bulkier to transport and work with the smaller sizes are easier to transport and work with especially if you're tackling the job on your own but there will be more joints we're going to be using the 1.8 m by 6 M size sheets our room measures 3 m x 3 m so the floor area is 9 square m that means we need nine sheets of hardboard it's best to purchase an extra sheet or two depending depending on the size of sheet that you're using to allow for cutting and wastage you'll also need some of these 2 mm x 20 mm anual ring shank nails they're just the right length they'll provide a good fixing but won't go right through the existing floorboards the annular rings on the shank help to achieve a good fixing the hardboard sheets need to be conditioned before they're laid this involves scrubbing water into the Rough Side of each sheet the sheets should then be laid flat in the room in which there'll be be used for 24 hours before you can fit them so that they can acclimatize the rough side should be facing each other wetting the sheets causes the sheets to expand slightly before they're fixed they'll dry out and will contract a little after fixing this prevents bumps or uneven joints forming due to any expansion after the sheets are [Music] fixed we're now ready to start laying the boards the room is unlikely to be perfectly square and the walls may not be perfectly flat along their length so we'll start laying the boards in the center of the room with the hardboard sheets at a right angle to the existing floorboards to get the starting point we need to do some measuring and use a chalk line first using a tape measure find the midpoint of each facing wall at each end of the room then using your chalk line Mark a straight line from one end of the room to the other measure the midpoint of this line this gives you the exact center of the room next you need to Mark a right angle to the line at this center point so let's show you a Nifty little way of doing this you'll need a couple of meters of string and a pencil tied to the end of it get a Helper to hold the string about 2/3 of its length at the exact midpoint you've already found and use the pencil to draw a circle around it now have your helper move to a point on your line where the circle crosses it now extend the string fully holding one end of the new spot draw an arc at about 4 45° on either side of the line repeat this at the other point where the circle crosses the center line what you'll now have is two points where the new arcs cross one on each side of the center line if you mark a chalk line between these two points it should be at an exact 90° right angle to the first line before you start fixing the sheets you need to check whether they need to be laid rough side or smooth Side Up for your intended floor covering as a rule of thumb for South Ad and Loos laid coverings smooth Side Up is best and for coverings that'll be stuck down with adive it's rough side up always check the Floor Covering and adhesive manufacturers guidance we're going to lay these sheets smooth side up you're going to be on your knees for a while during this job so knee pads are a good idea the first sheet is positioned so that its long side is at a right angle to the existing floorboards and so that it's touching the chalk line each sheet needs to be fixed with nails at a maximum space of 150 mm in any direction and nails at the edge of the sheet should not be more than 1550 mm from The Edge you can cut a piece of bat to 150 mm in length to use as a guide when fixing the nails it's important that we don't introduce a bump into the sheet as we fix it so to fix the first sheet nail along the long side first and then work diagonally towards the opposite Corners in a pyramid [Music] pattern [Music] make sure all nailheads are either flush with the surface of the sheet or slightly below the surface of the sheet after the first sheet is fixed the other sheets are positioned and fixed so that the joints are staggered like brick work a half sheet stagger is ideal but the Stagger can be less if it worked better in terms of avoiding wastage when the sheets are cut try to maintain a stagger that is at least equal to a quarter of the length of the sheet after the first sheet is fixed subsequent sheets can be fixed by nailing along the long side first and then the short side and then working diagonally towards the opposite Corners maintaining their triangle shap shape as you go if you need to fit boards around an obstruction for example A Basin pedestal then you'll need to cut your board to do this first make a template of the obstacle and Mark on the board with a pencil where you'll need to make your cut using a panel saw or suitable electric saw cut out the shape and then fit the board into [Music] place [Music] similarly if there's a space between one of your boards and the wall you'll need to cut strips to fit into the Gap have a selection of pieces of thin sheet Timber or plastic available in different thicknesses as you lay the sheets and use these to pack out any dips that occur and that's that your floor is now nice and even ready for your new floor covering to be laid one last thing from me laying the harbor will have increased the floor height if the door opens into the room you may need to remove the door and cut some off the bottom if you do need to do this remember to allow for the thickness of the new floor covering when you're marking up the door for more ideas and knowhow visit [Music] diy.com [Music]

Channel: B&Q

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Keywords: B&Q, bandq, home, garden, flat, house, living, interior, exterior, internal, external, home improvement, diy, renovation, refresh, improvement, do it yourself, how to, ideas, inspiration, guide, help, advice, project, build, fix, indoor, outdoor, skills, jobs, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room, room, space, design, plan, building, maintenance, makeover, decorate, Repair, Installation, wood floor, wooden floor, level, levelling, boards, level a wooden floor, level a floor, floor, floorboards, You can do it, B&Q it

Id: 3qC-Ucnd8TM

Length: 8min 56sec (536 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 21 2013