Floating engineered wood flooring interlocks together and is generally installed with the following steps:
- Acclimation:
Place open boxes of the engineered wood flooring in the room where it will be installed for at least 3-4 days so that it may acclimate to the temperature and humidity of the room. If the installation is occurring in a room with new drywall or plaster, the higher humidity of these rooms will require at least 7 days of acclimation. Do not store engineered wood flooring in basements or garages. - Remove shoe molding from baseboard trim. You do not have to remove the baseboard trim itself;
- Clean, level and prepare sub-floor;
- Trim door molding and casing so flooring slides under molding and casing;
- Install foam underlayment;
- Set first plank in place with the hardwood flooring tongue edge facing an exterior wall baseboard;
- Install starter strip at exterior wall using spacer blocks;
- Holding the subsequent wood floor planks at a bit of an angle, tap them into the starter strip row of planks with a special hammer called a dead blow hammer which is a tool made to absorb the shock of a hammer strike.
Dead Blow Hammer
- Install remaining strips of flooring the same way and randomly stagger end joints;
- Trim and fit as necessary around floor obstructions;
- Install baseboard shoe molding trim;
- Final clean floor.
