Best Ways to Prep a Hardwood Flooring Installation in Toronto

Do you want new floors? Perhaps something that’s more durable and stylish than your current ones? Or maybe you’re searching for an option that will increase your property’s value. Hardwood flooring is a great option.

Installing hardwood flooring in Toronto is a sizable investment of time and money. But there are ways to ensure the project starts and is completed smoothly. After all, not all flooring installers will take all necessary precautions to prepare new flooring. By doing your due diligence, you can keep the mess to a minimum.

So, take these necessary steps to prepare your home.

Let’s find out what they are.

Prepare Your Home for a Faster Hardwood Flooring Installation in Toronto 

Take these essential steps to ensure your hardwood flooring installation in Toronto begins and ends in a hassle-free manner.

1. Move the Furniture 

When installing hardwood flooring, it’s best to move all the furniture and rugs to a different part of the house until the project is completed. That means, until the finish has had enough time to cure completely. Not doing so may result in an improper finish that can result in marks in the wood. Your flooring contractor should be able to provide a timeframe for this.

Refinishing your existing hardwood or installing a new product means you won’t be able to use the room for a while, so plan accordingly.

2. Have a System to Control Dust 

When having hardwood flooring installed, dust is the number one issue homeowners have to deal with. While most installers take precautions to contain it, it’s best to supplement their efforts with some of your own. For instance:

• Install plastic sheeting around the perimeter of the worksite. Keep the area clear to ensure that workers have enough space to work.
• If there are any rooms that don’t require sanding, seal them off. However, just closing the doors isn’t enough. You should also use plastic sheets to cover any doors and windows and secure them with painter’s tape.
• Tape plastic sheets over the heating ducts along with any other openings in the space to ensure no airborne dust circulates.

A Word of Caution: When sealing off any ducts connected to the HVAC, you must turn off the entire system. It’s not a good idea to just turn down the thermostat. Shut down the entire system.

3. Make Sure the Humidity Levels Are Acceptable 

Hardwood is prone to releasing and absorbing moisture regularly, being a hygroscopic material. So, it’s necessary to ensure that humidity levels stay within a normal range during installation. This will prevent issues from arising once the installation is underway. Your flooring contractors will acclimate the planks before installing them to guarantee that the humidity level and moisture content of the wood is adequate. If the wood lacks or contains too much moisture, you may address the issue by using a humidifier or dehumidifier.

4. Remove the Door Trim

The stop mouldings and case moulding present on doorways are difficult to remove. This is why very few flooring installers remove them before starting on any project. Instead, they will cut the bottom part of these mouldings to make it easier for them to slip in the new flooring underneath.

However, removing the mouldings entirely looks much better. It also makes it easier to install the new planks. This allows for a tighter fit around the door frame. Once the flooring is laid, you can trim the mouldings slightly and reinstall the old case mouldings. They can also choose whether they want to retrim the door with the new mouldings. This will help create a more polished and uniform appearance once the hardwood flooring installation in your Toronto-area home is complete.

5. Deal with the Installation 

For any hardwood flooring installation project, workers will need a clear place to work outside the confines of where the new flooring will be installed. So, it’s recommended that you prepare a space outdoors where they can cut the planks. This outdoor area should have an electrical outlet along with a sturdy and flat surface for the sawhorse. Your best bet is to find an area next to an entrance such as a patio or garage to make it convenient for them to complete their job.

By preparing for your hardwood flooring installation in Toronto, your project will run more efficiently and smoothly. From moving the furniture to providing an outdoor area, the steps mentioned here will help you enjoy the benefits your new floor has to offer. This allows for your home improvement project to be completed on time and within budget.