With hardwood floor installation costs, people are interested not only when the homeowners hire a professional to do this job. If you have decided to install the flooring, then of course, the cost of the installation will depend on the amount of time you spend on it. And yet, let’s find out whether installing hardwood yourself is cheaper than hiring a specialist.
First, let’s list what you need to install a hardwood floor, and then calculate how much you should pay for it. So you will need:
Tools: This is not just one saw, measuring tape and a pencil. There are a number of tools for hardwood installation, which will be discussed in one of my articles. You can also find this list on one of the other sites. Always make sure that it includes all the necessary tools.
The material: This is for hardwood and its accessories (moldings, transitions, baseboards). The list may include materials for leveling, glue (if you choose to install material with glue down) or the nails/staples (if you choose nail down installation). Do not forget to include the amount for underlayment.
Knowledge, skills and experience in floor installation.
The time spent on installation.
And now, let’s calculate how much your hardwood floor installation costs will be if you do it yourself.
Many men love to do work with their hands. That’s why they have many different tools at home such as saws, hammers, screwdrivers, and so on. This is certainly well, but to identify and calculate the cost of the necessary tools for your hardwood floor, you must know what type of hardwood (and wood!) You choose to install.
The type of hardwood floor and wood will affect what set of tools you choose for its installation. The choice of flooring also requires different methods of installation: nail down, glue down or the method of installing a floating floor.
Therefore, the value of a set of tools will determine the total cost now and in the future for hardwood floor installation costs, along with the need in determining the type of flooring and wood quality you desire. If you have to buy new tools, consider the positive side – your arsenal of tools will have greatly increased. In addition, you do not need buy the most expensive instruments when you can rent them. This will significantly reduce your expenses. The same applies to a set of tools for leveling.
The number and cost of materials/accessories can help you calculate the total cost while in the stores that sell flooring. The exact amount of square ft called for is impossible to determine now, since it depends on the type of flooring and wood quality.
Do not forget to include in the overall hardwood floor installation costs expenses for leveling tools.
In my opinion the most expensive part of the installation for DIY guys is lack of experience and specific knowledge. To be honest, my quality of floor installation took over five years of almost daily practice!
Nevertheless, many owners of the houses/apartments want to install hardwood floor, not only because they want to save money on hardwood floor installation costs, and because they want to learn how to do something new, it also brings them pleasure! If you consider yourself in this category of people, the installation of your hardwood floor will be almost free.
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