Nail Down Flooring Installation

This is generally the best installation method if your subfloor is 3/4" thick plywood, or wood planks over joists.

This is usually the most economical installation technique. This installation method is most commonly used for solid wood flooring. Solid wood flooring is the term applied to any wood flooring material which is comprised of one single piece of lumber, as opposed to the more recent developments of mutually adhered combinations of ply woods and veneers. Solid wood flooring is available both unfinished (finished on site - sanded and finished in place after installation), and prefinished, (sanded and finished as part of the manufacturing process, before being installed).

Nail down installation of unfinished solid flooring material offers the greatest flexibility in product and aesthetic choices, complexity of installation, (borders and inlays), and cost to value ratio.

We recommend that you consider solid wood flooring first if the conditions allow it. The main drawback of this approach is the high levels of noise and dust it generates, and the fumes associated with polyurethane if that would be your choice of finish which would be a factor if you plan to reside at the house while the work is going on. If this is an issue, a prefinished solid wood floor will give you the all the benefits of solid wood quickly and with considerable less intrusion into your space.