Okay, here’s my experience assembling wooden flooring, specifically the “batten volleyball oak” type.

Alright, so I decided to tackle this project myself. I’d watched a few videos, and thought, “How hard could it be?” Famous last words, right? I went and picked up the flooring – “batten volleyball oak” – sounded fancy, and I liked the color.

Getting Started

First things first, I cleared out the room completely. Furniture, rugs, everything. Gotta have a blank canvas, you know? Then, I gave the subfloor a good sweep and vacuum. You don’t want any little bits of debris messing things up later.

The Underlayment

Next up was the underlayment. This is like a thin, foamy layer that goes between the subfloor and the actual wood. It helps with sound and a little bit of cushioning. I rolled it out, making sure to overlap the edges a bit, and taped the seams together. Pretty straightforward.

Laying the First Row

This is where things got a little tricky. I picked out some of the straightest boards for the first row, because if that’s crooked, the whole floor will be off. I placed them along the longest wall, leaving a small gap between the boards and the wall (for expansion, they said). I used some spacers to make sure the gap was consistent. Then i nailed the board on the subfloor.

The Rest of the Floor

After the first row, it was basically a repeating process. I staggered the joints of the boards, so they didn’t all line up in one straight line. This makes it look better and supposedly makes the floor stronger. I used a tapping block and a mallet to gently knock the boards together, making sure they were nice and snug.

• Click and Lock: Some of the boards were “click and lock,” which means they have these little grooves that fit together. Those were pretty easy.
• Nailing: For Others, I used finishing nails along the wall.
• Cutting: When I got to the end of a row, I usually had to cut a board to fit. I used a saw for this, making sure to measure twice and cut once.

Finishing Up

Once all the boards were down, I installed the baseboards around the edges of the room. This covers up that expansion gap and just makes everything look finished. I used a nail gun for this, which was pretty satisfying.

Finally, I gave the floor a good clean and stood back to admire my handiwork. It wasn’t perfect, there were a couple of spots where the boards weren’t perfectly aligned, but overall, I was pretty proud of myself. It took a full weekend of work, and my back was definitely sore, but hey, I saved some money, and I learned something new!