Get on the floor. Seriously—oak, get out of those boxes and do your thing.
I wish it were that easy. Laying oak flooring takes time and patience, but the results are stunning. Hardwood floors are one of those projects where the effort really pays off. We chose solid oak for the four upstairs bedrooms and the hallway because the downstairs rooms and stairs already had medium-toned oak that matches nicely. The problem we ran into wasn’t the flooring itself but the subfloor.
A dusty path from Clara’s room shows we still had a few spots to sweep…
Our upstairs subfloor was particle board, which can be unpredictable under nail-down hardwood. Some people get away with installing directly over particle board, but manufacturers typically void warranties for that installation method. That left us with three unappealing options.
Option 1: Return the nail-down boards and buy a floating floor. We loved the boards we picked and none of the floating alternatives matched our existing stairs and downstairs hardwoods, so returning felt like a loss.
Option 2: Remove the particle board to expose plywood beneath. That would have been labor-intensive, lowered the finished floor height (affecting doors and transitions) and removed the sound-deadening layer that kept the upstairs quieter.
Option 3: Install plywood over the particle board. This would have added time, increased the finished floor height (forcing door trims to be cut down and creating a higher top stair riser) and added material cost.
While talking with the Lumber Liquidators rep, he suggested a fourth option: a self-adhesive underlayment called Elastilon.
At first we were skeptical, but after researching Elastilon we decided it was the best fit. Developed in Europe for installing hardwood over difficult surfaces like concrete or tile, Elastilon is an elastic, adhesive underlayment that bonds to the wood, effectively creating a glue-mat attachment rather than relying on nails. Positive reviews and installation videos convinced us to try it. Benefits we liked:
- Lifetime warranty that matches the hardwood lifespan.
- Elasticity accommodates seasonal movement, reducing cracking, gapping, and warping.
- Simple installation—an X-Acto knife was all we needed—so no nailer rental costs.
- Non-toxic, no VOCs, and odor-free for an adhesive product.
The main drawback was cost: Elastilon was about $100 more per roll than the sound-deadening underlayment we originally planned to use. In the end we spent roughly $500 more than planned, but we saved money by not renting tools, earned a 10% order discount, and avoided a $4,000 installation fee by doing the work ourselves.
Installation took a little practice, but once we found our rhythm the process moved along. With clean, dry subfloors we rolled out the Elastilon, leaving a narrow flap along one wall as instructed.
You peel the protective plastic from that flap and trim away excess black adhesive with a utility knife.
That trimmed rectangle of adhesive can be set aside; the plastic flap is crucial when you start laying the first rows of boards.
Laying the first row is the most important step because it determines how straight the entire floor will be. Drywall isn’t always straight, so we chose our longest, straightest boards for that first row and used scrap wood spacers to maintain an expansion gap at the wall. We extended our first row into the hallway to run it along a long, straight wall and rough-set many boards to check the layout before sticking anything down.
When we were confident with alignment, we slowly pulled the plastic flap to reveal the adhesive beneath each section and pressed the boards into place. Once a board meets the Elastilon it sticks firmly—sometimes requiring a good tug or a pry to remove—so the bond felt reassuringly permanent.
From there the rhythm was consistent: lay a couple rows, tap them tightly together with a rubber mallet, peel back the plastic to secure them, and repeat. The boards click together via tongue and groove; we added a bead of wood glue at the end groove as recommended and periodically taped sections to prevent shifting during installation.
If you have two people working, one can prepare boards with glue and hand them to the other who fits them in place and hammers them snug. We switched roles every few hours to avoid fatigue.
The finished floor is tight and gap-free while still allowing seasonal movement, so it should resist warping and last for years.
This wasn’t a fast project. Our largest bedroom took about 10 hours over two days. As with all DIY jobs, small surprises cropped up: we originally hoped to keep the baseboards in place, but the new floor thickness made them look too short. We removed the baseboards and planned to reinstall them with quarter round to properly cover the expansion gap required by the warranty. It’s a minor extra step, but the baseboards were already painted so only a few touch-ups were needed.
We made steady progress over a long weekend and finished the job the following evening. Most baseboards and quarter round were reinstalled. The floors feel solid and look fantastic—so much better than the carpet.
One of the best features is the continuous run of flooring through all four bedrooms and down the hall, so there are no visible transitions at the doorways (aside from the two tiled bathrooms). That uninterrupted look feels clean and cohesive.
We moved in the weekend after finishing the floors. All that remained was final packing and the move itself. Even now, I keep dreaming about laying long rows of boards—DIY projects leave a lasting impression.
More Flooring Projects
If you’d like to read about other flooring projects we’ve tackled, consider these posts:
- Refinishing Hardwood Floors 101
- How To Install Hardwood Flooring Yourself
- How To Select Hardwood Flooring
- How To Install Click-And-Lock Cork Flooring
- How To Paint A Floor
- How To Stain A Concrete Floor
- How To Remove Carpet