I
N S T A L L A T I O N I N S T R U C T I O N S
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Please read the following information and
instructions in their entirety before proceeding with installation.
• Subfloors must be level and clean.
•
Assure that both room and flooring are properly acclimated to temperature
and humidity conditions.
• Installers: inform your customers of the details in section:
“Installers–Advise Your Customers of the Following.”
• Do not open the flooring packages until you are ready to begin
installation.
• Work out of several cartons at the same time to insure color
and shade mix.
• To ensure the full benefit of warranties, these instructions
and maintenance procedures must be followed.
• Hardwood flooring is a beautiful product with natural variations
in color, tone and grain. Therefore we cannot warrant against color
variations within a floor nor variations between samples and the installed
floor.
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| Installer/Owner
Responsibility |
• Beautiful hardwood floors are a product
of nature. Our wood floors are manufactured in accordance with accepted
industry standards, which permit a defect tolerance not to exceed
5%. The defects may be manufacturing or natural.
• When flooring is ordered, 5% must be added to the actual square footage needed for
cutting and grading allowance.
• The installer
assumes all responsibility for final inspection of product quality.
This inspection of all flooring should be done before installation.
Carefully examine flooring for color, manufacturing, factory finish
and quality before installing it. The installer must use reasonable
selectivity and hold out or cut off pieces with defects, whatever
the cause. If material is not acceptable, do not install it and contact
the seller immediately.
• Prior to installation of any hardwood-flooring
product, the installer must determine that the job-site environment and the subfloors
involved meet or exceed all applicable standards and recommendations of the construction and materials
industries. These instructions recommend that the construction and
subfloor be dry, stiff and flat. The manufacturer declines any responsibility
for job failure resulting from or associated with sub-surface or job-site
environmental deficiencies.
| Tools
Needed For Installation |
• Saw
• Circular or jigsaw
• Chalk line
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Hammer
• Handsaw
• Tape measure
•
Pull bar
• Tapping block
• Wooden or plastic spacer wedges
For glue down installations, use Parabond's Millennium 2002®, Bostik Best®,
Taylor 2071® or equivalent flooring adhesive. (See your distributor
for adhesive recommendations.) Follow manufacturer’s guidelines
and tool recommendations when using adhesive.
For nail-down or staple-down installation, use
the proper nailer (see recommendations).
See Nail-down or Staple-Down Installation.
For floating installations use White wood glue (PVAC).
CAUTION: By not
using proper tools, “puckering” may result on the face
of the plank. TimberCreek Hardwood Flooring is not responsible
for problems caused by use of improper tools. See your distributor
for tool recommendations and use.
Note: Never hit the planks directly with a
hammer–always use a wooden block to protect the edges of the
boards.
| Pre-Installation
Procedures |
Acclimating the hardwood
HVAC systems should be fully operational at
least 14 days prior to flooring installation, maintaining a consistent room temperature between
60° – 75° Fahrenheit and relative humidity between 40–
60%. This not only stabilizes the building's interior environment,
but also is essential when acclimating hardwood flooring to the job
site.
Hardwood flooring should be
handled and unloaded with care and stored within the environmentally
controlled site. Flooring stored upon “on-grade” concrete
floors should be elevated at least four inches to allow air circulation
under cartons. Leave hardwood flooring during acclimation period. Typical applications require at least a 48
hour acclimation period.
Room Preparation
Remove existing
baseboards, quarter rounds and thresholds and undercut doorjambs,
using a piece of flooring material as a guide.
Door
frames and other wooden elements should be sawed off at the bottom
in order to be able to push the panels under them.
Pre-installation inspection
It is
the responsibility of the installer to
inspect each board for visible defects before installation of
each board. Any board with visible defects will be replaced at no
cost. If the defective board has been installed, no cost of labor
will be paid for repair or replacement of defect.
Subfloor type
Timbercreek® flooring can be installed over
the following subfloors if properly prepared:
• Concrete: On, above or below grade installations are acceptable..
Must be clean, dry and smooth within 3/16" over 10'.
• Terrazzo: Should be lightly sanded and cleaned with mineral
spirits prior to spreading the adhesive. Allow the mineral spirits
to dry prior to spreading the adhesive.
•
Ceramic Tile: Tiles must be securely fastened to the subfloor.
Surface should be roughed up with a sander or grinder and cleaned
to remove all dust. If gout lines are too deep they need to be filled.
• Wood Type Subfloors: Includes plywood, OSB and underlayment particle
board and tongue and groove boards. Must be smooth and dry. Squeaks
and popping areas should be screwed prior to spreading adhesive.
• Vinyl: Includes sheet and
vinyl tile. Vinyl must be securely fastened to the subfloor with full
spread adhesive. Loose laid or perimeter glued sheet vinyl must be
removed. Lightly sand vinyl and clean with mineral spirits and allow
to dry prior to spreading adhesive.
Subfloor preparation
Subfloor must be:
• clean and free of wax, paint, oil, and debris. Scrape
smooth and sweep prior to installation.
• subfloors should be flat to 3/16"--
per 8’ radius. If subfloor prep work is required, “hills”
should be sanded down and “valleys” filled with an underlayment
patch, developed by a reputable manufacturer for use with hardwood
flooring. Do not sand sub-surfaces such as vinyl or synthetic tiles
that may contain asbestos. For small depressions, less that 1/4",
it is possible to use dry sand as a leveler.
• structurally sound prior
to installation. Screw loose areas to reduce squeaking and replace
water damaged or delaminated sub-flooring or underlayments.
Testing for moisture content
All concrete subfloors must be tested for moisture
content, especially adjacent to exterior walls and plumbing fixtures.
Several tests are outlined below.
These
tests do not guarantee a dry concrete slab year round. With that in
mind, a moisture barrier using a minimum of 6 mil poly film should
have been established between the ground and concrete. See “Moisture
Barrier System” below.
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3% Phenolphthalein in Anhydrous Alcohol
Solution — Do not apply solution directly to concrete
surface. First, chip 1/4" deep into concrete test area and apply
several drops of the solution. If any change in color is observed,
further testing is required.
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Calcium Chloride —
Moisture transfer should not exceed 3 lbs/1,000 square feet with this
test. One test must be performed every 250 square feet.
• Tramex
Concrete Moisture Encounter Meter —
Moisture readings using a metering device should not exceed 4.5 on
the upper scale.
Moisture barrier
system
If the above tests reveal
unacceptable moisture levels, install sheet vinyl (PVC) directly to
concrete slab. Follow instructions from sheet vinyl manufacturer,
using a premium grade alkaline resistant adhesive and full spread
application system to bond vinyl to subfloor. Set
Up
• In order to have sufficient material
at hand, calculate area and add 5%
of material to allow cutting waste and
for minor natural or manufacturers defects.
• Work out
of several cartons at the same time to insure color and shade mix.
Layout
• Layout should be designed to save labor
and materials as well as to enhance the appearance of the floor.
The floor will be stronger and more stable if you lay it so that
the joints in the rows are staggered at least 8 inches. Staggered
or irregular joints mean less material waste and a better overall
appearance.
• Plan the layout so that the last row
of flooring (which usually needs to be cut lengthwise) is not too
narrow. In some cases, it may be necessary to cut the first row
as well as the last row.
• Allow 3/8" expansion space along
all walls. Flooring should be laid
at right angle to the floor joist and, if possible, in the directions
of the longest dimension of the room.
|
Installation OPTION Details |
| Installation
Over Radiant Heat (Floating installation only) |
Heating system
• Maximum allowable temperature is
80° Fahrenheit.
• System must be fully operating at normal
temperature for a minimum of 21 days prior to floor installation.
• The heating system must be turned off
24 hours prior to installation and must remain off for 24 hours
after installation.
Subfloor
Note: Only the preinstallation and structural
warranties of TimberCreek® are valid over Radiant Heat, as we
cannot control the specifications stated above.
• The subfloor should be completely
dry. Moisture on a dry weight basis must not exceed 1.5% for concrete,
0.3% or less for gypsum and 6-8% for wood subfloors.
• A vapor barrier should be installed
on all concrete, stone or mineral subfloors.
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Starting 2 days after completion of installation, gradually increase
the temperature over a 7 day period to normal operating level. Never
allow the floor surface temperature to exceed 80° Fahrenheit.
• Maintain recommended
interior humidity levels at all times, if necessary, by means of humidifiers.
• Room temperature should
not vary more than 15° Fahrenheit season to season. Maintain 35
to 55% humidity in radiant heated rooms.
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Heating pipes must be covered with 1" of concrete or be a minimum
of 1/8" below bottom of plywood subfloor.
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Under plywood subfloors heat transfer plates or insulation must be
in place .
Important Note: Maple and beech flooring expand and contract more
than other wood types. There is a great risk of gaps occurring especially
when install over radiant heating systems. Such gaps are not manufacturing
defects. Take the above into consideration when choosing a wood type
to be installed over radiant heat.
Gluing the planks 
• To determine a straight first starting
row, use a snap line the width of a few boards plus 3/8" expansion
space from the wall. To keep first rows straight and in place, nail
a straight 1"x 2" or 1" x 4" holding board on
the first snap line.
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Make another snap line at a comfortable working distance from the
holding board (about 24").
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Spread adhesive in first working area. Do not spread more adhesive
than can be covered within 20 minutes.
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When the first section is complete, strike another parallel snap line
from the last row installed, spread the adhesive and complete the
section.
• Repeat section
by section until the job is finished. Remove the starting board, spread
adhesive and complete the area from the starting board to the wall.
• To fit the last piece, lay it upside-down
with the tongue edge parallel to the tongue edge of the piece next
to it, the short end butting up against the wall. Mark the cutting
line on the back of the board and cut it to the correct width (save
the cut off piece for the second row). Turn it over, fit it and glue
in place.
Install underlayments
Install 6 mil
Polyethylene vapor barrier over entire flooring surface. Overlap sheets
of Polyethylene 16" and tape together creating an airtight seal.
Using 1/8" foam padding, roll out one roll at a time over vapor
barrier being careful not to poke holes or otherwise damage material
during installation. Run padding up walls 1" to 1.5" and
secure in place with tape. Join padding sections with tape strip.
Tape down any additional loose edges. A ”2-in-1” foam
padding /moisture barrier may be substituted for Polyethylene.
Installing the floor
Boards
are installed left to right with the groove side facing the wall.
A stair-step pattern will be repeated throughout installation. Stagger
the ends of the boards a minimum of 8 inches. Leave
a minimum 3/8" expansion around all vertical objects such as walls, poles, and stairs. If starting wall
is uneven, trace the contour of wall, using a scriber, onto first
row of planks and cut to size.
Application of adhesive
To secure
a durable wood floor the boards must be bonded with adhesive in the
tongue and groove. We recommend waterproof PVAC glue.
The glue must be applied in a continuous
1/8" bead on the inside top of the groove on both the long and
short edges .
Gluing and taping
Dry fit first row
using stair-step pattern. Number each plank in the order of installation.
When you reach the last plank in first row, turn plank 180° so
tongue is flush against tongue of previous plank. Mark the plank and
cut to length. Dry fit final plank of row.
Begin
dry fitting second row, starting with (if possible) left over piece
from previous row. Be sure to stagger end of boards at least 10"
to achieve effective stair step pattern.
Floating
installation is completed by gluing and taping flooring profiles together.
Separate first two rows noting installation order. Holding the first
board with the tongue resting in the palm of your hand, apply a thin
bead of glue in the groove on the side and end of the board. Repeat
process with subsequent planks. Press each board firmly together,
tapping profiles lightly with a block and hammer if necessary. Clean
excess glue from between boards with a damp cloth. Tape each board
together at side and end seams using 3-M Blue Tape. Often the last
row will not end with a full plank. When this happens, place a full
row of planks on top of the last row installed. Insert a 3/8"
spacer against wall, and using a full width plank, trace distance
from wall onto final row. Cut planks for final row to designated width.
Apply glue and fit into place. Tape may be removed within one hour.
Allow 12 hours before placing furniture on floors and 24 hours before
introducing heavy objects or full traffic.
Note: Do not install cabinets or walls on
top of floating floors.
| Nail-Down
OR STaple-Down Installation |
Subfloor preparation
Remove all dirt
and rough areas by thoroughly cleaning, sanding and leveling. Note: particle board is not a suitable subfloor for nail- down or staple-down installation. The
clean subfloor should be covered wall-to-wall with 15 lb. resin paper,
overlapping 4" along the edges.
Installation
To determine a straight
first starting row, use a snap line the width of a few boards plus
3/8" expansion space from the wall. To keep first rows straight
and in place, nail a straight 1 x 2 or 1 x 4 holding board on the
first snap line. For nailer or stapler use correct shoe based on thickness
of flooring. (See illustration under
glue-down installation.)
Use pneumatic staplers with correct shoe base
for the thickness of the product. (see recommendations)
(Powernail® Model 200 Pneumatic Powernailer.)
Set
the compressor pressure to recommended PSI and adjust accordingly
using a “practice” board. Check for surface and tongue
damage before proceeding with installation. Manual Model 250 Powernailer
can also be used.
Begin installation
with several rows at a time, tightening boards as necessary to reduce
gaps before fastening.
Attach
each board placing fasteners every 6"- 8" and 3" from
the ends.
The last 1 - 2 rows
will need to be face nailed where clearance does not allow blind nailing
with stapler or brad nailer. Brad nail or face nail on tongue side.
Rip the final row to fit and face nail. If the final row is less than
1" width, it should be edge-glued to the previous row, before
installation. The two joined rows can be face nailed as one board.
Go back to the starting wall,
remove the starting block and complete final rows using 6d nails,
counter sunk and filled.
| ALL
INSTALLATIONS: Completing the Job |
• Remove spacer wedges.
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Cover all expansion gaps along walls and vertical protrusions with
base board, quarter round or pocket moldings.
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Clean, sweep and vacuum installed flooring before use.
• Use of stain, filler or putty stick
for defect correction during installation should be accepted as normal
procedure.
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