Da Browns: May 2011

We (basically) finished our floors upstairs.

We used to have Painted Parquet (See Enclosed Pictures).

We loved them soo much that we tore them up and threw them away for others to enjoy.

Here Kent Salmond (Bonnies Brother) Shows how to remove ugly flooring. For those of you thinking of doing the same here is a Video Demonstration.

note: when using a pry-bar to remove said nasty flooring, attack the floor at a 45 degree angle to the loose painted parquet all while prying up and down to loosen stubborn tiles. Also it is very useful to get some assistance to lesson the amount of pain inflicted on the pry-bar user.

Now for the cleanup of the loose tiles.

Now that they are removed, we can screw down the entire floor (we dont want to worry about squeeks after the floor is down). Thank you Dad, Alan and Matt Byrne.

We went through 15lbs of 3" Screws.

After the screws and a new back brace.We could start laying down the floors.

1. Lay down "Quiet Walk" underlay, while making sure to tape the seams (great vapor, insulation, and noise barrier)

2. Figure out a pattern for the floors. Here is our pattern 9" right, 18" left, 9" left, 18" right and repeat.

3. Start with groove towards the wall (tongue away from the wall) and drill small holes for finishing nails in the upper groove of the tongue on a 45 degree angle, and hand nail each 3' board at least 4-5 times. (thanks to the Diestlers for helping multiple times, Alex drilled and I nailed).

4. Once far enough away from the wall, you can whip out the floor stapler, it goes much quicker with that bad boy (thanks to Jason Wilde for letting us borrow his stapler).

5. when you get close to the wall, again the stapler doesn't fit, you need to screw holes (because the bamboo is harder than oak and will bend the nail if no whole is drilled) and hand nail again.