There’s a great feeling in having your hardwood floors delivered to your home and knowing the last step is soon approaching. All that’s left to do is install your beautiful hardwood floors! There are two adhering options to consider before proceeding to the installation phase. You can either nail or glue hardwood floor planks. It seems like a simple choice, right? It can be as long as you take time to understand a few things. Homes with a concrete subfloor should glue down hardwood floor, while a wooden subfloor allows for either option. Subfloor prep is especially critical for gluing hardwood floors. The glue down hardwood flooring method means that the flooring is glued directly to your subfloor. Nailing hardwood floors means that the flooring planks are nailed to your wood subfloor. While both of these methods get the job done, you need to read up on gluing vs nailing hardwood floors prior to installation. Let’s discuss the pros and cons before you get started.
Nailing hardwood floors
Nailing down your hardwood floors has a few pros, including its considered the most cost-effective method as well the fastest. One other pro of nailing vs gluing hardwood floors is that if one floorboard gets damaged, it can be easily replaced without affecting the beauty of your floors. One con to nailing hardwood floors is that nails can loosen over time due to seasonal expansion and results in squeakiness. Other cons include requiring extra tools like the right type of nail gun, jamb saw, and router. Panel Town & Floors carries an excellent nailer option as well as a cleat nailer to assist you should you decide on this method.
Glue down your hardwood flooring
Gluing hardwood floors includes pros like giving your floors a solid feel and sound as well as being least likely to have deflection between flooring and subflooring over nailing hardwood floors. One added bonus to this is you should not hear squeaking. Another pro for glue down vs nail down flooring is that it is known as the most permanent installation method. A few cons to the gluing hardwood floors include possible extra subfloor prep and increased labor costs. You will want to make sure to purchase a high-quality flooring adhesive.
Visit our online store to view our trowel and adhesives to help assist you if this is your method of choice. As you have learned, there are several factors to determine before deciding whether gluing vs nailing hardwood floors will work for you. A key thing to remember for whichever method you choose is to be sure your subfloor is flat, level, and dry. Then access your subfloor type and your budget, and install with patience and precision. Each of these methods will give you a different end result in your floor’s look, sound, and feel. Whether you choose to glue down hardwood flooring or nail it, we hope you love the result! As you have learned, there are several factors to determine before deciding whether to nail your hardwood floors or glue your hardwood floors. A key thing to remember for whichever method you choose is to be sure your subfloor is flat, level and dry. Then access your subfloor type and your budget, and install with patience and precision. Each of these methods will give you a different end result in the look, sound and feel of your floor. Whether you choose to nail down your hardwood floors or glue them down, we hope you love the end result!
Want to learn more about hardwood floors? Take a look at our hardwood floor buying guide.
Article contributed by Kimberly Fairfax McPheron, Local Columbus Blogger
