installing hardwood floor

[rettigdpm]

I like to do my own work. I installed a 3/4" x3" Brazilian hardwood floor with a pneumatic floor nailer without difficulty.

Now I am interested in an American Cherry floor. 3/4" by 5" widths.

The sales guy says if I get the 3" widths, I shouldn't have any trouble doing it myself. But if I get the 5" widths, it is much,much harder to install, and I shouldn't even think about doing it myself.

He says without much experience, I will have a terrible time getting the pieces to pull together with the nailer. He says if I want to do it myself, get the 3" widths. He says he installed wood floors for 15 years and knows what he is talking about.

Is there any sense to this?

Is this t

[Rich]

IMO - wood is wood. There are many tricks to get the T&G to tighten up whether it's 3" or 5".

[Cole]

IMO - wood is wood. There are many tricks to get the T&G to tighten up whether it's 3" or 5".

Yup, im sure that guy just wants ur job.

[Tom R]

The only part of it that makes any sense to me is that he's getting a better commission on the 3". The wood is milled and it's stable and your nail gun will do the rest to pull it tight.

[rettigdpm]

Thanks for the extremely quick and useful advice.

I don't think there is additional commission on the 3". It sells for less, so he would get less.

I don't think he was trying to sway me to have him itstall it - if I was getting the 3" I don't think he would have even brought it up.

He seemed genuinely convinced that the 5" wood is just exponentially harder to install.

From all your comments, I believe it should be no harder to install. SO I am going to go ahead with it.

If you have any special tips or pearls , please feel free to share. Thanks again.

Rich

[Tom R]

Out my way, central Jersey, especially in flooring, commissions don't necessarily work on a percentage basis, - - I would guess maybe more on a 'supply and demand', or even 'easy access' basis. I've had several customers have to actually 'leave' the local flooring supplier, because the salesman is 'pushing' them to buy some certain size flooring, other than what they specifically went in there to get. I don't see any logical motive, other than commission.

[rettigdpm]

He also warned me about AMerican Cherry being very soft. Warned against that.

Any thought on that?

Thanks. Rich

[Tom R]

Cherry is not actually soft, it's more like a medium density, - - not as hard as oak. To me, it makes for such a beautiful floor, it's well worth being a little extra careful with it. Here you go, - - http://www.hardwood.org/

[Rich]

Yeah I love cherry floors if you can control the sun from hitting it. The problem with cherry is that it suntans. So if you have a window where light comes through a window you can get tan lines.

[ccoffer]

Actually, almost any wood will darken with UV exposure. The darkening of exotics like jatoba(aka Brazilian Cherry) can be quite dramatic.

I try to refrain from calling any wood "hard" when dealing with a client. The types of impacts that typically damage wood floors(heels,dropping metal stuff ,etc) will dent most anything. Unless you are talking about teak or something, none of them are very impact resistant.

CHU

[Tom R]

Good point.

[ccoffer]

By the way, the wider the product, the more movement you can expect.

Most wood orgs spec gluing and nailing anything wider than 3 inches. Granted, this is a failsafe recommendation.

If you have properly acclimated THE HOUSE and the flooring, and you are not in a situation prone to extreme humidity fluctuations, you can get by with just nailing. You had better be nailing pretty durn close, though. Every three inches with 5 inch stuff is about right.

CHU

[jjcold]

[quote="rettigdpm"]

I don't think there is additional commission on the 3". It sells for less, so he would get less.

Oh, his commission likely has nothing to do with the sales price. There may be an overstock on the 3" and either his stocking dealer or the manu. is offering a huge kickback to the store to get rid of it. I used to sell cars (BMWs) and my biggest single commission came on a car that wasn't one of the most expensive ones (of course, ALL BMWs are pretty pricey!) but the manu. had a big incentive for us to get rid of that particular model. No, I don't know why as it wasn't like it was being replaced by a new model the next year.

On the other hand, I've never dealt with wood flooring, (though I may someday put it in my house, I just can't get too excited over Pergo. Except for the ease of installation of course) and he may know of what he says.