Pulaski

My pet hate is people that install "quadrant", aka "quarter-round", when the proper product to use is "shoe moulding", which is narrower than it is tall. Quandrant does stick out more and is more prone to damage. I would recommend caulking the join between the floor and the skirting, to keep out the risk of creepy-crawlies using it as a home, then installing the shoe moulding. If your skirting and shoe moulding are white you will probably have to caulk the join in at least some places before a final coat of paint.

Elvira

Sorry, what I meant was, where did the professionals who laid your most recent floor muck up - what would your 'younger selves' have done better/differently? Any pitfalls to look out for? Ours is a huge open-plan living area, so it has to be done properly the first time as itsy-bitsy repairs or replacements just wouldn't work.

As for quadrant - no thanks. We are replacing the baseboards. I guess that'll add a fair bit to the cost though...

Jerseygirl

Hubby caulked between the wall and existing floor...before installing hardwood. You won't convince me....I like the skirting and the floor to meet. Off topic...I hate skirting boards in bathrooms. Wall tiles...meet floor tiles please!

Pulaski

I am not trying to persuade you, and I have no interest in doing so, but you must have lived in extra ordinarily true and perpendicular homes, or are more tolerant than me of hairline cracks between meeting pieces of woodwork.

Jerseygirl

We had several pieces that 'flap'. We have concrete floors in the condo...therefore the flooring couldn't be nailed down. We also had to have a substantial layer of insulation (approved by the condo board)...therefore it couldn't not be glued to the floor beneath.

We always replaced the skirting board...an opportunity to upgrade. Some came off without damage but others were damaged. We said up front that we didn't want the floor guys to install the skirting...hubby did it.

scrubbedexpat091

You'd think they would also check to make sure the sub floor is level in a new build apartment, but the developer or whoever they hired to install the wood floors didn't, several spots where the wood isn't level and installed properly, seems they did it quick and cheap and now they are paying for it in warped floors in the apartments.


My dad put his in himself in his house, and he too spent more time preparing the floor then it took to actually install it.

Pulaski

In new build the floor joists can sag or warp after installation. The floor might have been true and level initially, so that would be a poor quality materials issue, and not necessarily poor quality workmanship, though that could be a contributory factor. ...... A colleague had a horribly warped floor after the green joists dried out.

steveq

Some of the stuff you buy is so moist, you'd swear they just cut the leaves off it.

Pulaski

Shipping it from mill to store on an open flat-bed trailer, and then storing it in the open behind the store (I know that several Lowes do that, I presume HD does too), doesn't help either.

sir_eccles

Our house has concrete floors and a lot of bamboo flooring. Had some termite damage in a few planks and the pest guy asked me to lift them up so they could drill the floor and treat it. There was a crack in the concrete they had worked their way in. Any way it turned out that it wasn't a floating floor, previous owner had glued down all the damn bamboo to the concrete. Took all day to chisel up three planks from the floor. On the plus side the owner had also left a box full of spare planks in the garage.

Jerseygirl

I believe the condos in this building had hardwood glued directly onto concrete floors when they were built and yes they have been a pig to remove. We had marble floors...not wood. Now the condo board have strict rules about insulation when installing solid flooring.

scrubbedexpat091

They do the same here, well home Depot doesn't but they sell only a small amount of wood, contractors don't use them much for wood, so their selection is small and kept indoors.

Rona next door is the main lumber supply store, and they have a huge outdoor lot, and they keep all their wood outdoors year round.

Of course as said the wood is shipped on open trucks and rail cars.

But here if your building a house it's impossible to keep the wood dry, rains most of the year...lol