After eagerly announcing “the hardwood floors are done!” right before we moved in, we received a lot of requests for a follow-up with details on the trickier parts: transitions, shortening and ripping boards, dealing with the top of the stairs, and how long the whole thing took. So here’s a clearer look at our process. From the first board to the last strip of quarter round, the installation took about six days. Sherry helped some days, but other days I worked solo while she stayed at the old house with Clara to keep her away from sawdust.
Note: Some days were short and solo, others were long with both of us. Four hands are faster than two, so use this timeline as a rough guide rather than a strict schedule.
Day 1 was a slow start while we found our rhythm. Even after getting into a groove laying boards, there are many side tasks that eat up time—things we often forget when we picture just “installing a floor.” Here are the main time-consuming tasks we encountered:
Cleaning the Subfloor: The subfloor must be free of dust and debris, so we swept and vacuumed each room thoroughly before starting Day 1. Because installation is messy, we vacuumed again as we moved from room to room to keep each area clean before laying boards.
Removing Baseboards: We had to remove our baseboards before installing the new floor. We scored the paint seam with a utility knife then used a crowbar to pry them off. It’s straightforward, but it adds up across four bedrooms and a long hallway.
Removing Old Nails: Because we planned to reinstall the original baseboards, we removed old nails so the trim would sit flush to the wall later. Instead of hammering them through and damaging the paint, we used a Dremel metal-cutting bit to cut them flush.
Cutting Door Jambs: The Dremel was invaluable for trimming door casings on all twelve openings so the new boards could slide underneath for a seamless look. I used a scrap piece of flooring and underlayment as a guide to set the cutting height and a scrap of paper to protect the trim if needed.
Moving Boxes: Our flooring boxes were stored downstairs in the dining room, so every hour or two we carried a few boxes up to the room we were working in. Because color can vary slightly between boxes, we always pulled planks from three different boxes as we worked. Carrying 60 lb boxes up stairs wasn’t much of a break, but it had to be done.
Shortening Boards: The last board in a row usually needs to be trimmed. We used a miter saw for quick, straight cuts and often cut end pieces for two or three rows at once to minimize trips back and forth to the saw. Since the ends will be covered by baseboard and quarter round, we only needed to ensure we left the manufacturer’s recommended expansion gap hidden behind the trim.
Ripping Boards to Width: At the start or finish of a room we often had to rip boards lengthwise so the last course fit. For those long cuts we used a table saw. Again, these trimmed edges would be hidden by baseboard and quarter round, so we simply respected the expansion gap recommendation.
Managing Sawdust and Scraps: Cutting generated a lot of sawdust, scraps, and empty boxes. We designated the spare room as our cutting area so we weren’t constantly carrying pieces up and down stairs. That room became messy and required a full cleanup and vacuuming before we could finish installing flooring there on Day 6.
Nailing Trim Back In: Once most rooms were complete, I reinstalled the baseboards and added quarter round. Using a nail gun made reattaching the baseboards quick, though measuring and cutting quarter round took longer than expected. Reinstalling trim felt like the turning point when the rooms started to look finished.
Angles and Geometry: We have an angled wall, so cutting boards and quarter round at the right angle required some geometry and a calculator. I won’t try to explain the exact math here, but having a scrap piece of paper and a phone calculator on hand helped when unexpected measurements came up.
Touching Up Trim: Removing and reinstalling baseboards dinged them in a few places, but re-caulking the seam and a little touch-up paint quickly took care of most imperfections. The bulk of the time is in installing the trim and quarter round; caulking and paint touch-ups are relatively quick if the trim is already painted.
Adding Transitions: Transitions connect the new floor to other flooring surfaces. We had to add one at the top of the stairs. Following the advice from the flooring store, we removed the existing bullnose on the stair tread and installed a new matching bullnose piece adhered with construction adhesive and secured with a couple of nails. The stair oak and our new floor aren’t a perfect match, but they look fine in person; photos tend to flatten the tones.
With the bullnose installed at the top of the stairs, the installation was officially finished. After that we packed like mad and kept moving—no rest for DIYers. The stairs’ carpet still needs replacing, so that’s on the to-do list.
Did anything about installing floors surprise you? Or are you working on a project where the “little” steps are taking more time than expected?
PS — For more details on underlayment and how we laid each board, see the original post about how we installed our hardwoods.