Purchasing new flooring for your home is an exciting process. Not only does it give your home an added touch of elegance, but it’s also sure to leave you with happy feet throughout your living space.
Whether you’ve wanted to make the investment for a long time or it’s part of a larger home renovation project, we understand that installing new flooring can be daunting. Luckily, with proper preparation, you can ensure that the installation crew is set up for success and that your new flooring is as beautiful as you’ve always imagined.
In this article, we’ll look at everything you need to know about how to prepare your home for new flooring. Continue reading below to learn more and discover why SVB Wood Floors is the number one team to trust for high-quality hardwood flooring services.
7 Steps to Prepare Your Home for New Flooring Installation
If you’re thinking about remodeling your home with new flooring, it’s a good idea to start planning ahead of time. While much of the hard work will be performed by installation professionals, properly preparing your household for new flooring will help speed up the process and ensure a smooth installation.
Here are some tips to help you prepare for a successful new flooring installation.
Remove Fragile and Valuable Items
While this may seem obvious when starting a new flooring project, it’s worth making sure that you’ve removed any items that can easily break well before the installation date.
Before starting the installation process, remove any fragile and valuable items from the room where new flooring will be installed. This includes more than just moving home decor or furniture to another room and could also include lighting fixtures and glass or ceramic items. Furthermore, be sure to remove any wall hangings, drapes, and pictures to protect them from dust.
Clear Furniture from the Room
In addition to delicate items in the room where the new flooring will be installed, removing all furniture from the existing floors is also essential.
While some flooring installers will move the furniture on the day of the installation, for your convenience, you should complete the task before the installation day, as this will save additional time and money. Additionally, installers may not have the equipment to move your furniture as safely as you might prefer. When installing or refinishing hardwood floors, you will be unable to use the room in which the floors are being worked on or installed, so it’s crucial to plan accordingly.
Close Off Nearby Rooms
Installing new flooring can be messy at times and may result in sawdust spilling into nearby rooms. As a result, other areas that aren’t being worked on should be closed to protect them from dust and other materials used during the installation process. To ensure the safety of you, your children, and your pets, consider using masking tape to seal the doorways.
SVB Wood Floors performs all of its wood cuts outside of your home and uses dustless sanding methods to prevent sawdust and debris from accumulating in your house. Our goal is to remove every inconvenience from the installation process that we can.
Disconnect Gas and Electric Appliances
If you are installing new flooring in a room with gas appliances or large electronic items, such as a kitchen or laundry room, make sure that all major appliances are either disconnected or scheduled to be so. While this can be as simple as unplugging each item, if you have any questions or concerns, have the gas and electricity safely disconnected by a professional.
Remove Surrounding Doors, Base Shoe, and Trim
Another important step is to remove any doors from their hinges in the room where the new flooring will be installed. After removing the doors, stack them in a closed-off room and place a soft blanket between each door to avoid accidental scratches. Don’t forget to keep all the hinge pins in a plastic bag or box. After the installation is complete, carefully replace each door with its respective hinges.
Additionally, instead of removing the molding bottoms, flooring installers often cut them to slip the new flooring beneath. As a result, remove all case moldings and doorway stop moldings.
This method results in a more refined appearance and allows installers to fit the flooring tightly beneath the door frame. Once the flooring has been installed, you can go back and reinstall the old case molding or add new molding to your doors to give them an updated look to match your new floors. If you are unfamiliar with this type of trim work, you may want to consider leaving it up to the professionals, though this type of work will also need to be factored into your budget.
SVB Wood Floors will remove any base shoe and unhinge your doors before we begin the installation process so that you don’t have to. Once the installation is complete, we will replace the base shoe to make sure the gap between the baseboard and wood is covered. It is important to leave a gap because of climate changes and wood expansion and contraction.
Empty Closets and Storage Areas
Don’t forget about the nooks and crannies in your home when preparing for a new flooring installation. While these areas are often overlooked, they are equally as critical as the rest of the house.
Be sure to remove anything from the extra closets and storage areas where the new flooring will be installed, including clothing, boxes, or any other personal items that have been tucked away. If you are replacing the kitchen flooring, also be sure to empty the pantry and surrounding areas.
Create Space for Waste Removal
Last but certainly not least, make sure your garbage cans can handle any waste generated during flooring installation. For immediate disposal, place a few smaller dumpsters inside the work zone, and avoid leaving trash on your lawn or in your driveway.
Another option would be to consult a professional waste removal company to learn how they can help with this part of the process and any flooring waste requirements. In some instances, you can have a small dumpster delivered and picked up when the renovation is completed, or if you have the means to take it to the landfill, that is also an excellent way to safely dispose of installation debris.
SVB Wood Floors will remove all debris from the job site so that you don’t have to worry about it. Depending on the size of the job, we like to bring a dumpster to the property to make the removal process easier.
Choose SVB Wood Floors for Your New Floor Installation
As a homeowner, you have enough to stress about. While preparing for new flooring undoubtedly requires some effort, taking all the necessary precautions beforehand gives your flooring installation the best chance of success.
At SVB Wood Floors, we take great pride in our ability to provide our customers with high-quality hardwood flooring that fits their space and budget.
With a wide variety of commercial and residential hardwood flooring services, we’re proud to offer our customers the highest-rated hardwood flooring options in Kansas City. Whether you’re looking for wood floor installation, refinishing, or restoration, our certified NWFA wood floor installation professionals will be there to help you every step of the way to make your life and floor installation as simple and stress-free as possible.
We’ll work with you to make sure your home is prepared for a flooring installation, and unlike other floor installation companies, you won’t have to move out while we perform the job!
To learn more about how we can help with your wood flooring needs, contact SVB Wood Floors to speak with one of our flooring experts and schedule your free in-home estimate today.
