Installation of wooden flooring with clips – a step-by-step guide

Whether you decide to install your wooden floor yourself or hire a professional installer, one thing is certain: with our first-class product quality and detailed installation instructions, your project will be a success. You have a choice of three installation options, and in this blog post we would like to help you with step-by-step instructions for laying with clips a plank width of 135/137 mm. We will provide you with valuable tips, information and help and advice.

Laying solid wood flooring: Step-by-step instructions for laying wood flooring with clips, including video instructions for laying FEEL WOOD solid wood flooring.

Before starting, it is important to note that the floorboards should be acclimatised in the room for at least 48 hours in the unopened packaging. This prevents condensation if the floorboards are colder than the room atmosphere. Packs of boards should be stored no more than 2 packs high and in loose stacks. A minimum distance of 50 cm from the walls must be maintained so that all floorboards in the package can be warmed equally. This allows the wood to adapt to the climatic conditions of the room.

Please also note the following:

The surface must be dry (maximum residual moisture of 0.3% for anhydrite screed and maximum residual moisture of 1.8% for cement screed), stable and smooth. – An expansion gap of at least 15 mm to walls and other fixed components is required to allow the boards to expand and shrink. – The room should have a healthy indoor climate ( in your own interest). A humidity of between 50 % and 65 % and a temperature of around 20 °C keep shrinkage and swelling of the floorboards within limits.

Checklist for laying wood flooring with clips

1.Preparation

1.1 Tool checklist

1.2 Surface requirements

  • The surface must be stable, smooth and dry.
  • If there is a risk of rising damp, a moisture barrier (e.g. PE film 200μ) should be installed and pulled up a section of the walls.

1.3 Impact sound isolation

  • Recommended materials: rolled cork or impact sound isolation with built-in vapour barrier.

2. Installation

2.1 Installing the clips

  • Press the clips into each other and lay the chain at a distance of 70 cm from each other.

2.2 Room size and installation direction

  • Take note of the laying direction of the staple chain and the solid wood flooring.
  • Laying with clips is suitable for small room sizes (max. 4 m laying width).

2.3 Maintaining the wall clearances

  • Maintain a wall clearance of at least 10 mm per 1 m room width, but not less than 15 mm.

2.4 Locking the floorboards

  • Push the floorboards with the groove into the tongue and lock into place with a firm strike.

2.5 Use of clips for soft impact sound insulation

  • In the case of soft impact sound insulation, place a spatula or similar under the clips to ensure good locking into the clips.

2.6 Control of the alignment

  • After laying the first and second row of floorboards, check the alignment and touch up if necessary.

3. Glueing

3.1 Glueing the head joints

  • Head joints must be glued.
  • Apply glue only to the centre of the bottom of the groove.

3.2 Attention when gluing

  • Never glue lengthways.

4. Wall finish

4.1 Cutting the last row of floorboards

  • Cut the last row of boards to size, taking into account the distance from the wall.

4.2 Lengthwise gluing of the last row

  • This last row can be glued lengthwise.

5. Fitting the plinth

5.1 Removing the wedges

  • Remove the wedges when the glue is dry.

5.2 Covering the distances to the wall

  • Cover the gaps to the wall with the plinth moulding.
Practice tip

In order to get the most out of your FEEL WOOD floor, maintenance immediately after installation is particularly important. Floorboards are usually delivered with a finished surface. However, during the construction and installation phases, soiling can occur. To show off your floor in its new home and enhance its natural beauty, we recommend that you carry out some simple maintenance immediately after installation.

There are lots more tips and tricks for the installation and maintenance of your FEEL WOOD wooden floor in our blog.