You have found the perfect hardwood and and now it is time to install. The installation method to use is mostly determined by the hardwood flooring selected. There are three main hardwood installation types – each with it’s own pros and cons to consider.

Nail down

For a nail down installation, the flooring is affixed to the subfloor using nails or flooring cleats. Nail down installations cannot be done with a concrete subfloor – only with a wood subfloor. This installation method is a popular for solid hardwood floors. It is not recommended for condos where noise from walking on hardwood is a concern as the noise will travel through the nails to the suite below.

Glue-down

For this installation type, a speciality adhesive is spread with a trowel to glue the hardwood to the subfloor. Your flooring professional will recommend the best adhesive to use for your floor. This installation type is often used with engineered flooring or parquet. It is not recommended for solid hardwoods.

Floating

As the name implies, floating hardwood is not attached to the subfloor. Instead the hardwood floats on top of the subfloor. Floating floor installations require a underpad to be placed on top of the subfloor before installation.

There are two types of floating installation: tongue & groove and click. For a floating tongue and groove installation, a recommended adhesive is applied to the tongue and groove of the floor board to hold the boards together. A click system on the other hand, doesn’t use adhesive. The manufacturer’s patented click system allows the boards to stay together.

If you are still unsure which hardwood installation type is most suitable for your hardwood, your flooring professional can advise you on the best installation method.

It can be challenging to visualize how your new floors will look in a room from just a flooring sample. Shaw’s “Try on a Floor” online virtual flooring tool eliminates the guesswork by letting you try on flooring in your own room! We gave it a try with a room in our office and a few job photos. Here’s a few tips and tricks to make the most of this great online tool.

How to take the photo

To get the best photo of your room Shaw recommends the following:

1. Move plants, decorative items and area rugs out of the shot. Avoid mirrors that reflect the floor. (We learnt this lesson the hard way – see if you can spot it!)

2. Take the photo during the day with natural light behind you and lights on to avoid shadows.

3. Set your camera’s resolution on high to ensure a sharp image. (We took photos of the MIRA office with an iPhone 5 and they worked well!)

 

Upload photos to Shaw

1. To upload photos to “Try on a Floor”, you’ll have to become a member first. Create a new account with your email address or login with Facebook here: https://shawfloors.com/hub/login.aspx

2. Once registered, go to the photo uploader here: http://shawfloors.com/tryonafloor.aspx?mode=uyo. Shaw has a great video demonstration to show how to upload your photos and prepare your floor.

Prepare your floor

1. Define your floor. We recommend doing a quick outline with the Add Area tool. Then zoom in to the photo and do touch-ups with the erase and add area brushes.

2. Create a grid by drawing a line from the one end of the farthest baseboard to another end. Align your floor by adjusting the grid’s rotation and tilt.

3. Change the scale of the grid to match the scale of your room.

Your photo is now ready to try on new flooring options! The process looks confusing but it is very simple. The three steps only took us about three minutes for the office photo and 5 minutes for each of the job site photos.

Here’s a before and after of our showroom. Goodbye commercial carpet, hello hardwood floors! (Hardwood style Lewis and Clark, Colour Pacific)

We also tried a few before and after’s with some photos from a recent new build job.

The carpet in this bedroom was replaced with a trendy white oak visual laminate. (Laminate style Cantebury, colour Thyme)

We swapped out the dining room hardwood with a bold patterned carpet. (Carpet style Caldonia, colour Sesame)

Don’t have a camera or time to upload a photo? You can use one of Shaw’s pre-made room scenes instead. You can change the colour of the walls and furniture of the pre-made room scenes to look more similar to your own home.

 

Carpet is manufactured by sewing strands of yarn into a backing, creating thousands of yarn loops. What happens to the loops of yarn defines the style of carpet created. When yarn loops are cut, the tufted yarn stands up straight, creating a cut pile carpet. When the loops are uncut, the carpet is called a loop carpet. These two options can be combined to create many carpet style possibilities.

Level loop carpet
As the name suggests, level loop carpets are made up of thousands of yarn loops of similar heights. The level loops create a smooth and durable surface well-suited to high traffic areas.
 

 
Multi-level loops carpet

Multi-level loop carpets are created by combining a variety of loop heights. The results are carpets with unique patterns and textures. Multi-level loop and level loop carpets are also commonly referred to as berber carpets.

Cut and loop carpet
Cut and loop carpets are combination of cut pile and loop pile that creates a sculpted design that gives visual impact to any room. These carpets can create a variety of patterns from a simple pin dot to larger floral or geometric patterns. The texture helps hide soil and stands up well to active households.

Frieze carpet
Pronounced frih-zay’, this carpet is known by many names including twist and shag. Yarn of frieze carpets is heat twisted very tightly so it curls once it has been cut, giving frieze carpets that bouncy texture they are well-known for.

Plush cut pile carpet
Plush carpets are a type of cut pile carpets with a soft, smooth, and dense cut pile. They have a smooth and flawless appearance that gives a space a traditional and luxurious look.

Textured cut pile carpet
A textured cut pile carpet is the classic residential carpet, suitable for mid to high traffic areas. It differs from its cousin, the plush, by having more visible yarn ends. This results in a slightly more textured looking surface that reduces the crushing and traffic marks commonly found on plush carpets.

All carpet is created from the conversion of fibres. Generally, fibres are spun into yarn and the yarn becomes carpet by being weaved, tufted, or bonded. Each fibre has unique benefits that will influence whether it is suitable for your space.

Nylon
The most popular carpet on the market as it’s present in about 60% of the carpets in the US. This fibre is highly durable and resists wear and tear well. Since nylon fibres are not inherently stain repelling, carpet manufacturers treat the fibres with a stain repelling system such as Shaw’s R2X.

Olefin
This fibre is less resilient than nylon but is still a strong and resistant choice. On the other hand, it’s less likely to fade in colour. Olefin is a great choice for an outdoor carpet as it is mold and mildew resistant plus it’s not very comfortable to walk on with bare feet.

Polyester
This fibre choice is becoming more popular as it is a more cost effective option than other fibres. Polyester is also less resistant than nylon. It shows damage and fades, so it’s not a good choice for high traffic areas. If your polyester carpet has a thick cut pile construction, it can be very soft to the touch.

Acrylic
This carpet option is not a widely used option. It looks and feels like it is wool, but is a less expensive substitute. It’s resistant to mold and mildew.

Wool
Made from all natural fibres, wool is the most expensive carpet option. It’s known for being a durable option that feels great. Both stain and dirt resistant, this carpet does fade in direct sunlight.

Grout lines can have a huge effect on the way the tile floor installation looks. There are no hard right or wrong answers for what size grout lines should be. However, there are some guidelines for the appropriate size grout joint for technical and aesthetic reasons. For example, when using tiles with imperfect edges larger grout lines should be used.

Recommended size grout lines
Natural stone: 1/16″ or 1/8″
Rectified (sharp) edge tile: 1/16 or 1/8″
Regular tile: 3/16″, 1/4″, up to 3/8″ or 1/2″
Saltillo or Mexican tile: 3/4″ or 1″

The size of grout line dictates the type of grout your installer (or if you’re DIY’ing it, you) will use. If your grout lines are 1/8″ or wider, use a sanded grout. As the name suggests, this grout has a fine sand added to it that prevent the grout from excessive shrinking while curing. Unsanded grout is only recommended for lines smaller 1/8″ wide.