How to correctly install a floor

This is the sixth in a series of 12 articles featuring the great information usually shared at Kahala Pacific Floors’ monthly Great Flooring 101 seminars. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the business to cancel its wonderful sessions, but company president Shirley Pai Hilton (pictured below) has developed a new hourlong webinar version of Great Flooring 101 and is sharing some of the information right here with us.

Thus far, we have talked about products, different forms of wood flooring and characteristics of wood, as well as bamboo, laminate and luxury vinyl flooring. This week, we will move over to the other half of the battle: proper installation of your flooring.

Flooring installation is a licensed trade for a good reason. It takes someone with the proper qualifications and experience to install all these different types of flooring properly and attractively. If your installer cannot show you their license, they are operating illegally and can be severely penalized by the state of Hawaii.

Hilton, who herself is a C-21 licensee, has seen or heard of many botched installations during her 20 years in the business. Two of the most important things to consider when laying a new floor, whether it be wood, laminate, vinyl or tile, are the moisture conditions in the subfloor and the flatness of the subfloor.

Most handymen or carpenters probably know how to snap a straight line to start the flooring and to use a table and chop saw, but ask them if they know what a calcium chloride test is and you will probably get a blank stare.

A calcium chloride test is recommended to get an accurate measurement of the moisture output of your slab so you can safely move ahead with your flooring or take other preventative measures. And, it makes a lot of sense that if you want a floor that sits nicely, the foundation on which it is installed needs to be relatively flat to give it support. Highest points need to be ground down, and lowest spots need to be filled with leveling compound.

Want to learn more and get a special discount on your flooring? Register for one of our upcoming Great Flooring 101 webinars happening on Saturday, Dec. 12, at 10 a.m., or Thursday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m.

Registration is required, so please sign up by calling 847-7711 or emailing sales@piiwood.com. See you online!

KAHALA PACIFIC FLOORS
CONTACT 847-7711