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You called the flooring nailer the "star of the show", but having done floors in the past, I'd claim the knee pads are the most important tool you used.
They definitely came in handy, but I didn't use them nearly as much as I would have on my laminate or vinyl flooring install. I was hunched over the flooring stapler most of the time.
@@SoEliteGamer tell me you are kidding? They may be one of the most overlooked items in a hard laborer's gear list but they are def a part of PPE and can protect your knees..
So very thankful I came across this video! I must of watched 20 different HW install videos and this one was clear and right to the point. Big thumbs up for the shingles tip. One spot on my sub floor needed it. Thanks again!
Dude! Just bought a home out here in PA. I was looking for flooring videos, came across yours. Awesome that you pointed out the roadblocks like the floor being a little off level, and how you fixed it. I hate those videos where everything goes perfectly as it never does for us in real life. Thanks!
A good video is the one that show you all the difficulty you can come across in the processes , not the one cut off all that and show you how beautiful the job came out as he brag about how good of a master he is
Man I can’t thank you enough for making this video. This is the exact same job I am doing tomorrow . I just started doing flooring and I’m still a little uneasy about everything. Seeing you do exactly what I’m going to be doing and talking through it step by step gave me a lot more confidence. You’re the man 🤙🏼
WHY is this a great video? Johnny actual discusses and showcases his mistakes (going through the drywall, uneven floor). This visualization will definitely make me think twice when approaching the job. ALSO, GREAT WAY TO LEVEL THE UNEVEN FLOOR WITH SHINGLES!! GREAT PACE, VISUALS AND TECHNIQUES. THANK YOU !!
I think having those setbacks in this installation is very helpful for viewers because we might come across those kinds of setbacks in our installations too.
Johnny Brooke . . . .WOW! Thank you so much for posting this "Hardwood Floor Installation for Dummies" tutorial. I watched NUMEROUS hardwood floor installation videos but yours was the best. I really appreciate your transparency, showing the mistakes you made (dry wall damage) and creating a level floor surface for the hardwood flooring material with shingles. I think you saved me from numerous train wrecks on my first go at this endeavor. Finally, I REALLY appreciated the tools that you utilized and / or recommended. I made a last minute run to Harbor Freights to secure some of the "other tools" that extended or enhanced my ability to do a "professional type job" on my first attempt . . . WELL DONE!👍😃👍
Hi Johnny, I'm a brand new subscriber and I live in a Mobile Home. I've been replacing all of the subfloor, only one small bedroom left to do .😁😁🤩. I found a 8 or 10 inch channel lock pliers worked best to remove the old Staples. I grabbed the top of the staple and just pushed the channel locks over the round part and it pulled up the staple with little effort. Just another idea for anybody else to try if they have this kind of project to do. I appreciate you including your mistakes or things overlooked, so we don't have to go through the same setback during our project. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and videos Rodney
I have installed hardwood flooring before. I love the Flooring Jack. Next time I install hardwood floors, I am definitely going to get one of those. I think you could use it even for stubborn boards that long and just a bit warped. You could put a long 2"x4" between that far wall and the flooring jack, cutting the 2"x4" to length as you go. Every hardwood flooring board could be in tight.
This was a great video for me to confirm what I was planning to do was pretty spot on. My project is a little more involved since it is a dining room, living room combination with a long hallway in the middle. My issue was that I wanted the flooring centered down the hallway so it took way more planning and measuring in 2005 build raised ranch that for some reason doesn't have any straight walls! Gotta love builders that can be off by almost 1/2 inch from one end of the hall to the other! Thanks for the video. Hoping my extra measuring pays off!
I have carpet throughout my new (to me) house.. in reality it's probably a decade old.. I have been considering vinyl, but since the carpet gets some sun from my kitchen skylight, I've heard vinyl planking can fade over time. This wood flooring seems like a great idea!
while remodeling my home i hung my electronics with "command strips" and zip ties. got everything above shoulder high and i worked underneath my crap without knocking anything down. also thanks for the tip on the shingles!
Thank you so much for the asphalt shingle/felt paper shim idea! I was nervous about self levelling cement if I had to nail through it, if it would leak throw the subfloor or between the floor/wall, etc. Shingles are cheap (especially when people throw out extra), sturdy, and will stay in place.
great job, one quick hint for you is when you cut your door and window trim , measure a 1/4 inch of reveal on the door frame and window frame and put the board on it to mark, it will save you time and you will get better results. I learned that from a seasoned pro and what a difference it made for me when i was doing it ... great looking floor though...
Instead of the flooring jack, you can cut a piece of flooring diagonal, keeping the groove side, and then cut a piece of plywood angled and sized to the gap to act as opposing wedges to close up the gaps. The groove protects the tongue on your board.
i just did mine a month ago, i watched this vid and i still had a 'do-over after about ten boards were down, so not too bad boit it turned out great thsat was after leveling the concrete floor. it looke level but the wood told a different story. youd assume the walls in your home are square..nope two were not, make sure your s are and floor had no dips or bumps.
Yes it depends on where you are. I'm guessing he's in a climate where the vapor barrier goes on the outside to keep the outside humidity out of the walls (where I'm currently at this is the situation). But in the climate where my rental property is at, the vapor barrier is on the inside to keep the moisture from inside the house from condensing in the walls. Ask someone who knows local code before you do this. Also of concern is what is underneath: floors over a crawl space, finished basement, or concrete pad (if you're doing hardwood in the basement for example) must all be treated differently!
A faster way to step the stairs is putting some rows on the ground and then using the cuts to start the next row. Also you can use a small cut off to hit the flooring piece your installing and it gets a tight line and it's it's nearly impossible to damage the flooring because it's being hit inside the Grove. Another recommendation is getting a stainless steel prybar it doesn't have paint so it's less prone to damage the wall when removing base.
Next month we put scraps of hardwood flooring on the roof to shore up the low spots and use carpet mats that we pulled up from the bonus room to show down the rainwater flow on the 12/5 roof.
Thanks , I did bellawood 15 years ago in my living room but didn’t know about the flooring jacks. Ordered a nice pair for $53 ea but their are cheaper ones for around $32. Doing my foyer this year. I would use quarter round along perimeter. I keep the gap at 1/2”.
Thanks for the video. The one thing that I would suggest be done differently, is your first row. I wouldn't offset from the sheetrock along the whole length, but mark an offset at the each end of the wall and then snap a line. I would place the tongue on the line and follow it for the first row. The sheetrock along the length of the wall can fluctuate and not be straight.
Closing up the gaps when you’re getting close to the end wall is quite easy. Just slice a piece from a board thats waste, put another waste board towards the wall and squeeze the board in place with a crow bar.
You can also take a large flat head screw driver to pry the final few rows back. Just beat it into the subfloor right along the tongue of the board and pry. It might cause a little bit of damage to the tongue but oak usually holds up well.
The Lumber Liquidators over in Arden has the floor jacks for pretty cheap. Had to get one myself when I couldn't get those close to the wall planks tight enough. Makes things a ton easier.
This turned out looking great. You can use one of your clamps as a floor jack. You would just need to flip the end of the clamp. Also, spacers and wedges can be a good option too
@@thomasarussellsr Quick clamps with handles that you squeeze to apply pressure would likely lack adequate pressure to get a really tight fit. You can do better with a clamp that has a screw-type handle. You'll apply greater pressure and you can do so carefully, really dialing in the amount of pressure.
@@idontthinkso666 great observation. Most "squeeze" type quick clamps don't get great squeeze pressure. Even the best ones depend on the user having a great squeeze grip in their hand/s. You modification of my suggestion is 99.9% accurate. I concur.
You want to get a measurement of how much your last row needs to be cut BEFORE you do the flooring, so if need be you can cut the first row too, that way you don't end up with your last row being narrow (like 1")
@Tyler Winter Either I am misunderstanding what you are saying, or you misunderstood what I said. My comment is not about the difficulty of cutting the flooring, but about looks. You don't want a 1" wide board on the floor, it would look like shit.
Hi, I work for myself, and something I had learned from a fellow contractor was to use the wide shakes of siding cedar wood shakes as spacers. The reason I am mentioning this is that having asphalt shingles in the house is not such a good idea. Because they are tar based products. And cedar is just wood and I would use this instead, for health reasons, for my installs.
Last couple rows to the wall you need to use a big flat head demo screw driver to pound into the subfloor right up against the piece of flooring you want to staple and pull it towards the previous row. No need for a fancy tool. Great video! Thanks for sharing!
Looks great, not sure what i feel about the huge trimmings. And if you want to be sure that the last piece is the same length as the first you should measure the length of the room snd divide it by the width of the room
Nicely done. Another "cure" the trim on non-straight walls is quarter round trim nailed to the bottom of the baseboards. (Do not nail to the floor as it will restrict the expansion/contraction of the flooring) this also gives an extra aesthetic to the otherwise blocky look of plain square-faced baseboards. Additionally, routing the top edge with some sort of profile will add character to the room and reduce the ledge that collects dust on top of the baseboards.
The younger generation of house owners don’t like the extra quarter round as it’s looks outdated and frankly annoying to push furniture up against as it’s just the little more room you could have. It is a solution to cover up the gaps for sure though
I would have put a small bevel on the ends of the baseboard where they meet the door casings. Gives a cleaner look with a nice reveal, and you don't have to worry about them being flush.
Thanks to Zoro.com for sponsoring this video, go to zoro.com/crafted and sign up for Zmail to receive 15% off your first order! Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss my upcoming videos on the bonus room : goo.gl/V5gcNJ
Thanks for the response means a lot you just made my day
How long did this project take??? I tried to look for it in descriptions but didn't find anything.
They are only saying 10% off net 15%...how do you get the 15%???
Jesus Christ, what's you do to your arm @ 5:30 bro? Those tack strips get you? Jk, but it looks like you were out on the bike doing wheelies!
they are only offering 10%... the "other place" is still less expensive without that 15%
You called the flooring nailer the "star of the show", but having done floors in the past, I'd claim the knee pads are the most important tool you used.
Safety third!
1. Makin money
2. Lookin guud
3. Bein safe
😎👍🏻
Knee pads aren't usually for safety, they're for comfort.
I provide my guys with them, but personally never use them.
They definitely came in handy, but I didn't use them nearly as much as I would have on my laminate or vinyl flooring install. I was hunched over the flooring stapler most of the time.
@@SoEliteGamer Ofcourse pads are for safety. The difference is how fast the injury appears.
@@SoEliteGamer tell me you are kidding? They may be one of the most overlooked items in a hard laborer's gear list but they are def a part of PPE and can protect your knees..
So very thankful I came across this video! I must of watched 20 different HW install videos and this one was clear and right to the point. Big thumbs up for the shingles tip. One spot on my sub floor needed it. Thanks again!
Dude! Just bought a home out here in PA. I was looking for flooring videos, came across yours. Awesome that you pointed out the roadblocks like the floor being a little off level, and how you fixed it. I hate those videos where everything goes perfectly as it never does for us in real life. Thanks!
A good video is the one that show you all the difficulty you can come across in the processes , not the one cut off all that and show you how beautiful the job came out as he brag about how good of a master he is
Dude I'm in the process of buying a house in PA! where are you originally from?
Paul . . . your "perfect video" observation is EXACTLY why I posted my comment! Too funny . . . we must be very "like minded." 😉
I seriously love and appreciate the flow of your videos. Always informative, entertaining to watch, and overall just great quality. Kudos, dude!
Thanks a lot Kevin, really appreciate that!
Man I can’t thank you enough for making this video. This is the exact same job I am doing tomorrow . I just started doing flooring and I’m still a little uneasy about everything. Seeing you do exactly what I’m going to be doing and talking through it step by step gave me a lot more confidence. You’re the man 🤙🏼
how’d it go
WHY is this a great video? Johnny actual discusses and showcases his mistakes (going through the drywall, uneven floor). This visualization will definitely make me think twice when approaching the job. ALSO, GREAT WAY TO LEVEL THE UNEVEN FLOOR WITH SHINGLES!! GREAT PACE, VISUALS AND TECHNIQUES. THANK YOU !!
Great video. I'm tackling my first HW flooring project this weekend and this was one of the best installation videos out there.
I think having those setbacks in this installation is very helpful for viewers because we might come across those kinds of setbacks in our installations too.
Johnny Brooke . . . .WOW! Thank you so much for posting this "Hardwood Floor Installation for Dummies" tutorial. I watched NUMEROUS hardwood floor installation videos but yours was the best. I really appreciate your transparency, showing the mistakes you made (dry wall damage) and creating a level floor surface for the hardwood flooring material with shingles. I think you saved me from numerous train wrecks on my first go at this endeavor. Finally, I REALLY appreciated the tools that you utilized and / or recommended. I made a last minute run to Harbor Freights to secure some of the "other tools" that extended or enhanced my ability to do a "professional type job" on my first attempt . . . WELL DONE!👍😃👍
Thanks a lot Michael, glad it was helpful!
Great video had no idea about the asphalt shingle trick. Looking to do my floors very soon found your video very helpful with your tips and tricks.
Hi Johnny, I'm a brand new subscriber and I live in a Mobile Home. I've been replacing all of the subfloor, only one small bedroom left to do .😁😁🤩. I found a 8 or 10 inch channel lock pliers worked best to remove the old Staples. I grabbed the top of the staple and just pushed the channel locks over the round part and it pulled up the staple with little effort. Just another idea for anybody else to try if they have this kind of project to do. I appreciate you including your mistakes or things overlooked, so we don't have to go through the same setback during our project. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and videos Rodney
Rodney Widger or a scraper way easier and faster
You are a man of patience and precision! Awesome job man
Great job and video! Very thorough without being too long winded.
Excellent video, the best I've seen. Gave me confidence to tackle my guest rooms. Subscribed!
when removing doors i find its handy to leave in 1 or 2 screws in the top hinge until last to avoid the door from pulling on the bottom hinge
I'm just now thinking about doing this in our home. Your video was very helpful in giving a heads up to potential problems I might encounter. Thanks!
What a great video , Love to see this type of videos where you learn so much planning to buy my own house
I have installed hardwood flooring before. I love the Flooring Jack. Next time I install hardwood floors, I am definitely going to get one of those. I think you could use it even for stubborn boards that long and just a bit warped. You could put a long 2"x4" between that far wall and the flooring jack, cutting the 2"x4" to length as you go. Every hardwood flooring board could be in tight.
This was a great video for me to confirm what I was planning to do was pretty spot on. My project is a little more involved since it is a dining room, living room combination with a long hallway in the middle. My issue was that I wanted the flooring centered down the hallway so it took way more planning and measuring in 2005 build raised ranch that for some reason doesn't have any straight walls! Gotta love builders that can be off by almost 1/2 inch from one end of the hall to the other! Thanks for the video. Hoping my extra measuring pays off!
Thanks for the video and I agree, pull saws are great!
wow, you made this look so easy. Looks really great.
love this video, and its prepping me for replacing hardwood floors to all my bedrooms and office
My back and knees hurt just watching this! Looks sooo much better than the carpet. Nice job!
Hah, thanks mama!
I have carpet throughout my new (to me) house.. in reality it's probably a decade old.. I have been considering vinyl, but since the carpet gets some sun from my kitchen skylight, I've heard vinyl planking can fade over time. This wood flooring seems like a great idea!
while remodeling my home i hung my electronics with "command strips" and zip ties. got everything above shoulder high and i worked underneath my crap without knocking anything down.
also thanks for the tip on the shingles!
2 years later but thanks bruh!! Your very thorough instructional and educational video really helped me!!👍👍
THANK YOU very much for this video. This is incredibly helpful.
Really a great video and I think I will do this myself!
thanks so much for all the detail sharing, I am planning to do the same thing to my dining room
Thank you so much for the asphalt shingle/felt paper shim idea! I was nervous about self levelling cement if I had to nail through it, if it would leak throw the subfloor or between the floor/wall, etc. Shingles are cheap (especially when people throw out extra), sturdy, and will stay in place.
Nailing tge shingles wont hurt
I’ve used shingles and tar paper to shim up studs when placing drywall and concrete board also.
great job, one quick hint for you is when you cut your door and window trim , measure a 1/4 inch of reveal on the door frame and window frame and put the board on it to mark, it will save you time and you will get better results. I learned that from a seasoned pro and what a difference it made for me when i was doing it ... great looking floor though...
Dude, I feel like I can post an ad now for installing hardwood floorings, Thanks a lot for your video.
I need a good handyman like this in my life!!
Instead of the flooring jack, you can cut a piece of flooring diagonal, keeping the groove side, and then cut a piece of plywood angled and sized to the gap to act as opposing wedges to close up the gaps. The groove protects the tongue on your board.
Great video! I'm about to install hardwood in my master bedroom and this helped a lot! I need to go tool shopping hah.
rent the tools
i just did mine a month ago, i watched this vid and i still had a 'do-over after about ten boards were down, so not too bad boit it turned out great thsat was after leveling the concrete floor. it looke level but the wood told a different story. youd assume the walls in your home are square..nope two were not, make sure your s are and floor had no dips or bumps.
Thanks for video, Great guidance for wood flooring.
My 125 year old house has its original hardwood floors with no vapour barrier underneath and it’s absolutely perfect
Yes it depends on where you are. I'm guessing he's in a climate where the vapor barrier goes on the outside to keep the outside humidity out of the walls (where I'm currently at this is the situation). But in the climate where my rental property is at, the vapor barrier is on the inside to keep the moisture from inside the house from condensing in the walls. Ask someone who knows local code before you do this. Also of concern is what is underneath: floors over a crawl space, finished basement, or concrete pad (if you're doing hardwood in the basement for example) must all be treated differently!
It’s still a smart thing to do. It’s also too inexpensive, too easy and too fast to not do.
@@wilfdarrlike a garage owner build a room on top and need that to install it . Humidity
Nice job on the hardwood floor Johnny! Thank you for sharing the video with us.👍👌😎JP
Thanks for watching JP!
Your very welcome Johnny! Have a great week!😎
Best hardwood floor installation video
Great looking floor. Thanks for the video
For the door frame if you cut the boards at a 45 degree angle you have a finished side all the way arround.
A faster way to step the stairs is putting some rows on the ground and then using the cuts to start the next row. Also you can use a small cut off to hit the flooring piece your installing and it gets a tight line and it's it's nearly impossible to damage the flooring because it's being hit inside the Grove. Another recommendation is getting a stainless steel prybar it doesn't have paint so it's less prone to damage the wall when removing base.
Nailed it! appreciate the information, Thanks
Use a long scrapper to scrap staples and also you can pop the tag stripes with the scrapper Aswell.
Next month we put scraps of hardwood flooring on the roof to shore up the low spots and use carpet mats that we pulled up from the bonus room to show down the rainwater flow on the 12/5 roof.
Thanks , I did bellawood 15 years ago in my living room but didn’t know about the flooring jacks. Ordered a nice pair for $53 ea but their are cheaper ones for around $32. Doing my foyer this year. I would use quarter round along perimeter. I keep the gap at 1/2”.
Thanks man, just started my own flooring company and EVERYONE wants hardwood, I've done lvp and carpet for about 8 years and this is helpful!
Glad I could help!
Thanks for the video. The one thing that I would suggest be done differently, is your first row. I wouldn't offset from the sheetrock along the whole length, but mark an offset at the each end of the wall and then snap a line. I would place the tongue on the line and follow it for the first row. The sheetrock along the length of the wall can fluctuate and not be straight.
Awesome video, very to-the-point and easy to follow. I plan on putting hardwood in a few rooms soon and this helped a lot.
Nice explanation video.Super duper job.👍👌
Really nice work buddy
Closing up the gaps when you’re getting close to the end wall is quite easy. Just slice a piece from a board thats waste, put another waste board towards the wall and squeeze the board in place with a crow bar.
Nicely done Johnny! 😃👍🏻👊🏻
Thanks Fred!
I enjoy watching your video. I subscribed to watch more videos. Thanks for sharing your technique.
Awesome, thank you!
Very informative. Thank you.
It’s amazing what nice flooring will do to any room!
Definitely a massive transformation!
I don’t know how people can live in completely carpeted houses lol
Tip for the carpet pad staples: flathead screwdriver. Beats the strain on the hands of the pliers
Great video! Try a long handle shovel for removing the tack strips. A lot quicker than a hammer and pry bar
Very well explained video. 👍🏼
The bedroom with 2 murphy beds and desk is beautifil. Hope you share the project! Thanks for the videos!
Awesome video I've never did hardwood floors and I am about to thanks for the video
Glad to help!
For the flooring jack you can take one of your parallel clamps or quick clamps and flip the bottom piece so it pushes out
Why didn’t I think of that?
You can also take a large flat head screw driver to pry the final few rows back. Just beat it into the subfloor right along the tongue of the board and pry. It might cause a little bit of damage to the tongue but oak usually holds up well.
Thanks man. Good video
The Lumber Liquidators over in Arden has the floor jacks for pretty cheap. Had to get one myself when I couldn't get those close to the wall planks tight enough. Makes things a ton easier.
Got mine there as well along with the staple set, which works MUCH better than a nail set!
This turned out looking great. You can use one of your clamps as a floor jack. You would just need to flip the end of the clamp. Also, spacers and wedges can be a good option too
Many people don't know that "quick clamps" have reversible jaws to be used as spreaders.
@@thomasarussellsr a lot of parallel clamps have the same option
Good call!
@@thomasarussellsr Quick clamps with handles that you squeeze to apply pressure would likely lack adequate pressure to get a really tight fit. You can do better with a clamp that has a screw-type handle. You'll apply greater pressure and you can do so carefully, really dialing in the amount of pressure.
@@idontthinkso666 great observation. Most "squeeze" type quick clamps don't get great squeeze pressure. Even the best ones depend on the user having a great squeeze grip in their hand/s. You modification of my suggestion is 99.9% accurate. I concur.
great video, thanks!
Great video!
Vary helpful. Thank you!
Lov the vids keep them up!
Thanks Sam!
Cool video ! I’m restoring my Victorian home and keeping the original flooring! So beautiful!
Good job!
Thank you for that. I’m going to do my floors as well, your tutorial is indepth
Thank you for sharing!!
Dude you got badass tools
Great job!
Only thing I do different is using felt instead of vapor barrier. I like to use vapor barrier for laminate jobs. You didnt cut any corners, nice work.
Vapor barrier for naildown, plastic foam for laminate.
It’s beautiful good job.
I would use const glue on the last rows as the braid nails alone used aren't sometimes strong enough..great floor
this is cool and interestinG!
You want to get a measurement of how much your last row needs to be cut BEFORE you do the flooring, so if need be you can cut the first row too, that way you don't end up with your last row being narrow (like 1")
@Tyler Winter Either I am misunderstanding what you are saying, or you misunderstood what I said.
My comment is not about the difficulty of cutting the flooring, but about looks.
You don't want a 1" wide board on the floor, it would look like shit.
@@SoEliteGamer I understood you.
Thank you for sharing!
Hi, I work for myself, and something I had learned from a fellow contractor was to use the wide shakes of siding cedar wood shakes as spacers. The reason I am mentioning this is that having asphalt shingles in the house is not such a good idea. Because they are tar based products. And cedar is just wood and I would use this instead, for health reasons, for my installs.
Beautiful!
very nice. based on this, would you say it's possible to install hardwoods throughout an entire house one room at a time?
Nicely done
really really helpful
Good job.perfect.
Thank you for this video
Awesome video
I don’t need a Hardwood flooring stapler. But now, I would like one 😁
got to replace my living room flooring so ty ill use this as a reference for when i do it
Loved the vid 👌
Thanks Joseph!
Last couple rows to the wall you need to use a big flat head demo screw driver to pound into the subfloor right up against the piece of flooring you want to staple and pull it towards the previous row. No need for a fancy tool. Great video! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks a lot. Now I know what to do.
I had a room that had a similar problem with electronics. I made and installed a temporary shelf as I was going to paint the room later.
Looks great, not sure what i feel about the huge trimmings. And if you want to be sure that the last piece is the same length as the first you should measure the length of the room snd divide it by the width of the room
Thank you so much.👍👍👍
Nicely done. Another "cure" the trim on non-straight walls is quarter round trim nailed to the bottom of the baseboards. (Do not nail to the floor as it will restrict the expansion/contraction of the flooring) this also gives an extra aesthetic to the otherwise blocky look of plain square-faced baseboards. Additionally, routing the top edge with some sort of profile will add character to the room and reduce the ledge that collects dust on top of the baseboards.
Thanks! I personally am not a fan of quarter round and wanted a clean, square profile, but those are great options.
The younger generation of house owners don’t like the extra quarter round as it’s looks outdated and frankly annoying to push furniture up against as it’s just the little more room you could have. It is a solution to cover up the gaps for sure though
I would have put a small bevel on the ends of the baseboard where they meet the door casings. Gives a cleaner look with a nice reveal, and you don't have to worry about them being flush.
Good job!!!