Before You Break That Tile: Hunter Ross' DIY Floor Installation Wisdom

What Are Some Pro-Tips To Give DIYers To Do Their Own Installation?

Considering a DIY hardwood floor installation? Before you grab that nail gun or spread that adhesive, expert Hunter Ross shares the professional secrets that can make or break your project.

The enthusiasm of homeowners tackling their own flooring projects is admirable, but without proper preparation, that enthusiasm can quickly turn to frustration. Hunter breaks down the critical first steps that professionals take but DIYers often miss - from proper floor preparation techniques to tool selection. You'll discover why creating a perfectly level subfloor with cementitious floor float isn't just a good idea but essential for a successful installation.

Ever struggled with removing old flooring? Hunter reveals time-saving techniques you won't find in standard how-to guides. Learn why cutting carpet into three-foot strips makes removal dramatically easier and how a specific sledgehammer technique can cut tile removal time in half. Perhaps most surprising is Hunter's recommendation to start your installation from the center of the room rather than against walls. This counterintuitive approach solves alignment problems caused by the reality that no home has perfectly straight walls.

The quarter-inch expansion gap rule alone could save your entire installation from buckling and failure. Hunter explains why this seemingly small detail matters so much for the long-term success of any hardwood floor. Whether you're planning to install engineered hardwood, solid hardwood, or another flooring type, these professional insights will help you achieve results that look professional and stand the test of time.

Ready to transform your space with beautiful new floors? Call 972-525-0026 for a free in-home consultation with the Wood Floors of Dallas team. Visit Woodfloordallas.com to learn more about our services and see examples of our craftsmanship. Remember to subscribe to our podcast for more expert advice on creating exceptional living spaces.

To learn more about Wood Floors of Dallas visit:
https://www.WoodFloorDallas.com
Wood Floors of Dallas
159 W. Main St., Suite 200
Lewisville, Texas 75057
972-525-0026

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to the Wood Floors of Dallas podcast, where
we bring expert insights onhardwood flooring design and
craftsmanship, hosted by HunterRoss, owner of Wood Floors of
Dallas, with over 20 years inthe building product industry.
Whether you're a homeowner or ageneral contractor, we're here

(00:27):
to help you create amazingspaces with honor, quality and
expertise.
Let's get started.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thinking about tackling your own hardwood
installation.
Before you roll out theunderlayment or fire up that
nail gun, hear what seasoned proHunter Ross wants every
do-it-yourself person to knowfirst.
Welcome back everyone.
I'm Sofia Yvette, co-host andproducer, back in the studio

(01:05):
today with Hunter Ross, owner ofWoodflowers of Dallas.
Hunter, I know you've beencrazy busy recently.
How have you been doing?

Speaker 3 (01:12):
It's good.
We just have been definitelyvery busy, haven't been as
pointed as we want with ourpodcast, but we're picking up,
so we're doing good.
I'm happy to be back with youand ready to go up so we're
doing good.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
I'm happy to be back with you and ready to go, and
definitely happy to have youback on today.
Now I know DIY is a hot topic.
Can't wait to hear your take onhow homeowners can do it right
and avoid costly mistakes.
So, hunter, what are some protips to give DIYers to do their
own installation?

Speaker 3 (01:45):
yeah.
So first to start off with, Ithink one of the most important
things is, as a hardwood floorguy myself for many, many years,
I love people's enthusiasm to,you know, tackle something like
putting in new floors.
I often laugh when some of myclients call me and they're like
I'm going to do it myself andI'm like, okay, well, that's

(02:06):
great, but also you need to knowa few things.
You know before you start.
So like, basically, help youstop the bleeding before it
starts is the idea right?
But there's just there's.
There's a whole lot of things,but in order to get everybody
kind of started off on the righttrack, the first fundamental
things that you need to knowabout doing it yourself is that

(02:27):
you're going to need to have thetools and the patience in order
to get it all done right.
Those are the two foundationalthings.
Working with different types ofhardwood materials and
different types of flooringmaterials they all have their
very specific needs, but when itcomes to starting off right
kind of the keys are make sureyou have all your flooring in

(02:51):
your house and it's acclimatedand we can get into that later
and then your preparation foryour actual floor.
So if you're on a slab, forinstance.
You want to make sure that thevery first thing you do is you
know you remove the old floorsand then prepare that concrete
slab for the new floors.
And the way you do that isusing like a cementious floor

(03:13):
float.
The flatter the floor when youstart, the easier, simpler the
installation will be and thebetter result that you'll have
long term.
You'll avoid things like hollowspots and things like that in
your flooring and it'll alsoallow those floors, when they
get all connected, to stay verytight and stick down to the

(03:34):
floor and not have any movementup or down.
So your floor preparation andyour tools is really the number
one thing that people skip outand skip over or don't know
about whenever they're justgetting started in their project
and we can go in pretty deepwhat were you thinking about?
Other questions, and then I canjust kind of choose one and

(03:55):
kind of go into it so we canexplain to a DIY person how to
get started on it.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Definitely.
So how long does it typicallytake for the first part of the
process for DIYers to get theirfloor set up?

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, so let's just take, for example, that we'll
take an easy example that you'rejust removing carpet, right, so
you've got your.
You've got your products, youknow, either delivered into the
home or you know, or sitting ina place where it's out of the
way, for instance, cuttingcarpet.
There's a trick.
Some people will try to go intoa room of carpet and they will

(04:33):
try to roll the whole carpet upinto one giant thing and fold it
and bring it out of the house.
Don't ever do that.
You take a knife, like a razorblade knife, and you cut it into
three foot strips and you rollthose three foot strips up, you
tie those little three footstrips up and then you walk them
out the house really easy,really fast, and you can clear a
whole house of carpet like that, no time, right.

(04:56):
And then you're not hitting thewalls with the carpet or
dragging it across any othersurfaces or you're, you know,
railing on your, on your stairsor walls or anything like that,
right?
Or if you're doing tile demo,for another example there's a
million different ways peopletry to demo tile.
But the tried and true, provenmethod is to get like a two and
a half pound sledgehammer andyou hit every single tile like

(05:19):
12 to 15 times in a little gridand it pulverizes the tile and
the mortar bed underneath it.
It's really easy to knock thetiles off and break the tiles,
but the mortar is the hardestpart to get off of the slab.
So if you do that method, youmay think it's going to take a
long time, but it actually cutsyour total removal time in half

(05:40):
because that mortar bed iscoming off at the same time as
the tile is being pulverized.
And then you just scoop it andput it into a bucket and throw
it in bags and take it outside.
So little, two little things,just right from the get go.
That can really help you getstarted is just knowing how to
take it.
Take those things out, watchsome podcasts uh, you know,

(06:02):
watch them YouTube.
So that way you get the.
You get to see some of thosetricks.
But the next thing is, of course, preparing the slab, like I was
talking to earlier.
Float it with, you know, acementious floor float.
Do some lessons on that as well, like learning how to do it and
feather it with a big trowel.
Um, so you get like a nice, asmooth, clean surface to feather
it with a big trowel.
So you get like a nice, smooth,clean surface.

(06:22):
And then let's say you're goingto go a glue down engineered
hardwood right, some people will.
There's a lot of different waysto do it, but the bottom line is
the easiest and best way foryou to make the most accurate
and perfect install is to take apoint in the middle of the
floor, your longest run from thefront to the back of your house
or whichever way you're runningthe material, usually it's

(06:44):
going from the front to the backand you take a line and you
snap a chalk line right in themiddle and you set your first
boards on those.
Because all of your walls noneof them are ever straight.
If you start to set your firstrow on a wall interior excuse me
, an exterior wall in your homeand then you start to set your
first row on a wall interiorexcuse me, an exterior wall in
your home and then you startlaying all that floor out from
there you'll get to another walland you'll realize that it's at

(07:07):
a major angle one way oranother.
So you want to avoid that.
So you start right in themiddle of the house.
Snap a chalk line, lay the firstrow of boards glue them in
place, let them sit thereovernight and now you have a
very sturdy, strong firststarting line so you can lay the
rest of your floor out fromthere, going to the walls, right

(07:28):
.
So that's a really, really goodtrick that you would just never
, naturally, think about.
If you're going to do ityourself, you just think, hey,
I'm going to put this up againstthe wall and you're good, right
?
Some other really importantthings, just to know as a DIY
person for a successful installis you always have to leave a
gap, a minimum of a quarter inchgap, around any hard surface

(07:52):
before it touches any verticalsurface.
So if you're laying material andyou have a wall here or you
know any, any like an island, apiece of cabinetry, anything you
always have to leave a littlegap right there so that way the
material can expand and contract, because with temperature and
humidity, every single flooringexpands and contracts, it
doesn't matter what it is.

(08:12):
And if you don't have thatlittle gap around the edge, it
puts too much pressure on thefloor and then the floor will
pop up.
It'll peak because there's justso much pressure on the floor
and then the floor will pop up.
It'll peak because there's justso much pressure on that floor.
So making sure your gaps aroundthe edges, making sure your
floor is flat, and then startingyour whole installation from a
straight line right in themiddle of the floor is going to

(08:35):
give you the highest chances ofsuccess, for sure.
And there's all the technicaldetails about cutting and things
like that, which is you got tojust work on it and play with it
at your house with your tools,to get really good at those
things.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Wow, Well Hunter, thank you so much for breaking
it down for us today.
You've just saved a lot offloors and probably a few
weekends too.
Looking forward to moreinsights next time.
Have a great rest of your day.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
You too, looking forward to more insights next
time.
Have a great rest of your day,you too.
Thank you, sophia.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Thanks for tuning in to Wood Floors of Dallas podcast
.
Ready to transform your space?
Call 972-525-0026 for a freein-home consultation or visit
woodfloordallascom to learn more.
Work with honor, build withexcellence.

(09:30):
See you next time.