5 Common DIY Floor Fitting Mistakes

Gone are the days, when wood flooring services were a lot of hassle and stress. Todays technological and industry improvement allows us to have our wooden floors well-maintained and looking and feeling amazing anytime, all the time. A couple of simple treatments and services are more than enough to care for your wooden floor and restore it to be as good as new. The professional service contractors are providing customers with services that ensure minimal disruption, do not consume too much time or energy and are cost-effective. However, the idea of doing it yourself sound tempting to many people. There are a lot of reasons why you would consider to do it yourself when it comes to installing or maintaining your wooden floor. However, does it worth it at all? Today we are going to discuss whether or not laying a wood flooring on your own is the best thing you can fill in a couple of weekend with!

We understand that there are many handy people out there and any home improvement project desired and inspiring. Whether or not you are doing it to save yourself some money, because professional services could be an investment, or purely because you are feeling confident. Having real wood flooring is a dream and aim of many people and it is easy to see why. The hardwood is more than beautiful, beyond durable and the perfect solution for easier cleaning routine fans.

If you are one of those people envisioning how cosy and wonderful their home or workplace will start feeling and looking with a wooden floor installed, there are two main options you can make this dream come true – you can either hire a professional flooring contractor to deliver the job for you, or you can consider a DIY approach. Laying of real wood flooring is a pretty serious project even for experienced and confident DIY-ers. Do not let the confidence and curiousness lead you right now because a dream of a wonderfully accompanied by a beautiful wooden floor domestic or commercial setting can quickly turn into a messy and expensive nightmare. There is a thin line between a smooth-running and stressful project and you do not want to cross it and join the dark side, right?

Even with previous and successful experience with fitting, bear in mind that each wood floor installation project is completely different from anything else you have experienced before. Besides, when starting a job, you should consider a long list of things, that has to be perfectly prepared, because of the potential risks. You should know how to handle them properly and in time.

We understand perfectly, that this project requires knowledge, expertise, specific skills and tools. So next time you decide to schedule a DIY installation project for the weekend, be sure to come back to this article and have a look at the most common mistakes:

1. Being too confident – As we have already mentioned, being too confident about the results you are going to achieve is not exactly your best friend now. Of course, there is nothing wrong in believing in yourself and your skills, however, the right approach to a DIY situation is to be realistic.
2. Underestimating the project – About the above said, make sure you are not underestimating the difficulty of the project. Wood floor fitting is not like changing a lightbulb, or batteries, although there are many guides online that will tell you that installation of a wooden floor is not that hard.
3. Not having skills/experience – To be honest, no one is born knowing all the things required for success. However, having at least a bit of skill, experience and understanding about the wooden floors are all about is definitely of crucial importance for the outcome. Previous experience shows that sometimes the results of a DIY project are such a failure that even professionals tackle them down hard and you finally end up spending a lot more money, time and energy this way than simply hiring professional assistance at the first place.
4. Skipping preparation – Preparation is equally important as the process itself. Checking the condition of the subfloor is a  must! In case there is something wrong going on with the subfloor and you have not prepared it for the upcoming service, it is almost sure that the fitting service won’t run smoothly and you will end up with a wooden floor struggling with a lot of issues and overall poor condition in general. Always make sure that the subfloor is completely dry, levelled, clean. You have to check the moisture levels before starting because the real wood might expand due to high humidity, which will lead to cupping or crowning. If there are high moisture levels you can try to reduce them with better ventilation, if they are still high, then the real wood is just not suitable for your place. To prevent shrinking and expanding of the wood, you have to leave it at least a few days earlier so it can acclimatize with the atmosphere at your property. As a natural product, it will react to the environment at your home.
5. Being cheap of equipment – If you are truly dedicated to the idea of starting the job on your own, make sure that you have all the equipment and accessories needed for getting the project done and the best results. Make sure you are not skipping on anything because everything is important and will help you on your way to achieving the best outcome.