by Smithsonian Institution

You have decided on wood flooring for the floor in the remodeled room. You are not sure whether it would be cheaper to install the floor yourself or have professionals do the job.

After thinking and looking over the last couple of weekends, you have decided on what flooring you want in that room. You went to several flooring stores and found it as low as $ 4.25 a square foot.

Now you need to start getting the tools, supplies, and etc. needed to install the wood floor. Some of the items that you will need to purchase are knee pads, hardwood adhesive, flooring edgers, floor buffers, floor leveling compounds, floor leveling tools, flooring sealers, flooring scrapers, underlayment, nails, screws, a first aid kit and etc. This would have cost nothing if you had hired a professional.

The items that will need to be rented are 10″ miter saw, jig saw, sliding compound miter saw, table saw, circular saw, toe kick saw, and dumpster for waste materials. The rental of these tools would be unnecessary if you hired a professional, as they have all of their own tools.

Did you think about all the supplies and rental items that you need to get to install the flooring? Have you found someone to help you install the floor? Have you set the date for the installation and rented the tools that you will need?

You need to unpack the wood flooring and lay it out flat on the floor. It will need to set out in your home this was for about 72 hours. This will allow the wood to acclimate to the humidity in your home, and prevents warping and bowing of the wood.

You will need to completely remove all flooring that is on the floor right now. It will need to be swept and vacuumed to remove all debris and dirt.

The old flooring will need to be disposed of. Do you rent a dumpster for the waste materials? How much did the rent on the dumpster cost you?
If you would have gone with a professional to install the flooring, they would have removed the old flooring and hauled it away at no extra charge.

So far wood flooring cost you extra charges in the following area: The cost of the supplies, rental of the tools, rental of a dumpster, 3-4 days that the flooring laid out to get use to the humidity in the home, and pain in your back, knees, arms and neck from removing the old flooring.

You have not started laying the floor yet. When you do your helpers will be there to help you out, whether they are family or friends.

As you work on installing the floor, you should measure twice, before you make a cut. If you make an error, you will need to purchase more flooring. Some flooring takes awhile to come in, so you may have to wait for the extra flooring to arrive.

When you get done installing the hard wood flooring it looks great! But the wood flooring cost you even more! It took the time tearing up the floor, 2-3 days of time laying the wood flooring, your friendship with your helper because they missed out on family time, you wife is upset because the house has been a mess for several weeks now, and you’ve lost time with your wife and children that is priceless.

If you would have hired a professional to install the floor, the job would have taken 2-3 days, all the messes would have been cleaned up and rubble hauled away, they warranty on their work, and it is usually equal to or less than it would have cost you in all of the charges you paid installing it yourself.