Best Tools for Laying Down Hardwood Flooring

You’ve decided you’re fed up of your old carpets, and instead want to lay down hardwood flooring. The question is what tools are best to have at hand when you want to install your new wooden floor?

Here are the best tools for laying down hardwood flooring that you can find in any hardwood flooring store.

1. Use safety goggles

It’s better to be safe than sorry. Eye injuries can occur when you are working with wood. Make sure you wear safety goggles the whole time you’re laying down your new floor to avoid permanent eye damage. If you normally wear prescription glasses, there are prescription goggles available.

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2. Don’t forget about heavy gloves

Now your eyes are protected, it’s important to protect your hands too. Wear heavy gloves with reinforced fingertips to avoid hand injuries or splinters.

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3. Safety boots for your project

In any industrial workspace, your feet are vulnerable to getting damaged. Heavy materials can be dropped or can fall onto your feet quite easily when you’re working with wood and large tools. Wearing high quality safety boots will avoid serious foot injuries. They don’t have to be steel toed boots, but ideally, they should have extra protection around the toe area.

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4. Wood moisture meter one of the best flooring tools

It’s the worst when you lay down a new floor, and find it starts to crack or buckle after a few months. This happens when there is too much moisture in the wood.

To avoid this, a wood moisture meter is crucial. You can get pinless or pin-style meters like these here that measure changes in the electromagnetic field of the wood caused by moisture.

5. Tape measure a crucial tool

This is something every installer should own. They are small but absolutely necessary. Buy a retractable tape measure with a hook at the end of the tape so you it will stay in place when you are measuring longer distances by yourself.

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6. Table saw the most used flooring tools

A table saw can be used to cut the length of your hardwood flooring panels, or to file them down to specific shapes. There are many types of saws used for varying purposes. Commonly, a standard hand saw or jamb saw are used to install wooden floors. For more information of the various types of table saws available, see this article here.

Hand saws allow you to cut wood into desired shapes and sizes. Jamb saws are used to remove the bottom of the door casing to enable you to install your new hardwood floor nicely underneath.

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7. Drill and nails for laying down hardwood flooring

Once you’ve reached the final step of laying down your flooring, you need a drill. Nailing directly into the wood can leave splinters, so you can pre-drill holes into the panels to use for the nails, or use a nailing machine if you’re concerned. Use the drill to create clean holes to insert the nails. Be sure to use the right sized nails!

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8. Hammer one of the essential flooring tools

Ideally, you want to use a rubber mallet when finalising your new wooden flooring to avoid damaging the wood. Whack the nails firmly into place with a hammer to avoid gaps appearing between the panels.

There are many other tools not mentioned in this article, but the ones above are the essentials. As long as you’ve got these items, you’re good to go and you can start laying down your new hardwood flooring.

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