When you see the finished product, you would think that it took a small army of carpenters to do such a beautiful job.  Then you find out that your neighbor did it with a couple of friends and those wheels start spinning.  Your house would look so much better with hardwood floors.  You would be surprised to know that installing hardwood flooring is challenging, but is also something that just about anyone can handle with a little training.

Before starting out, give yourself an honest assessment of your talent as a home improvement guy.  If you have a weak area, maybe it is something one of your friends is actually good at it.  With the right team, you guys can all switch off as to who is in charge as the project progresses.  This keeps the knowledgeable one overseeing everything and everyone else following instructions.

Taking on a project like this also means a lot of  prep work.  If you are looking to save money, then you can expect to be doing a lot of running around to find supplies and equipment.  Go everywhere that you can and don’t be timid about asking for a deal.  The more you are spending, the more likely that they are to give you a break.  Even if it is extra nails, it is something for nothing.

The biggest prep job that you are going to have to look at is the house itself.  You are going to be making a lot of dust and if you don’t keep it trapped, it will be in every room in the house.  The way to prevent this is to seal off every room that you will be working in from top to bottom.  Cover all of the air ducts and outlets.  Move all of the furniture out and what cannot be moved needs to be covered.

One of the more challenging jobs in this project is often something that people think will be easy.  It is not that it is a difficult job to do, just that it is very detailed and a mistake will ruin the appearance of the entire floor.  The task of course is the staining process.  To be done properly, it should be put on by hand with a rag and the stain needs to be evenly rubbed in.

When the finish has been applied, you must let it sit for a couple of days to fully settle.  However, you are still not going to want to rush in and drag the furniture back into place.  After you spend all of that time creating this beautiful finish, the last thing that you would want is to scratch it with the furniture.

Invest in some padding that you can put on the bottom of all of your furniture.  Most of the time it already has an adhesive on it and you just need to stick it to the feet of all of your items.  This cushions the hard bottom and also prevents any sliding furniture from shredding up the floor.