How to Cut Prefinished Hardwood floor

Using tongue-and-groove joinery for row-by-row construction, install durable and warrantied prefinished hardwood flooring in your kitchen.

If you believe that a pre-finished hardwood flooring installation cannot handle kitchen traffic, children’s toys, and dogs, you are mistaken. Modern pre-finished hardwood flooring systems may include 25-year finish guarantees and lifetime structural warranties, in addition to DIY-friendly tools, procedures, and interlocking tongue-and-groove joints.

How to Cut Prefinished Hardwood floor

Step 1:

Accessible Research Internet-based Prefinished Hardwood Flooring Systems

Before deciding whether or not to install pre-finished hardwood flooring in the kitchen, conduct research on the Internet and at a home improvement store. Depending on the cost and quality rating of their products, a number of manufacturers provide extended warranties.

Step 2: 

Prepare Yourself, Your Equipment, and Your Kitchen for Dust Control

To control dust, raise wooden thresholds prior to sealing kitchen entrances and cabinets with plastic and tape. Position a fan so that it can pull dust through the open window. Utilize a dust mask and a vacuum bag with your circular saw.

Step 3:

Use a circular saw to cut tile grout seams and underlayment
Using a diamond-tipped blade designed for cutting stone and masonry, sever tile grout seams. Adjust the depth of the saw blade to cut only through the grout and the first wooden sublayer. Remove the plywood underlayment along with the tiles by prying it up.

Step 4:

Store the Hardwood Flooring for Several Days in the Kitchen

Three to four days before to installation, open and store the prefinished hardwood flooring in the kitchen. The product should adapt to the same temperature and relative humidity as the subfloor in the installation environment.

Step 5:

Commence installation of the prefinished hardwood flooring along an outside wall
Snap a chalk line approximately 3 inches from the outer wall, which is the width of the plank plus the expansion gap of 1/2 inch. Align the plank along the chalk line, then nail it along the perimeter.

Step 6:

Cut notches around obstructions and interlock plank ends.

Mark cut lines on boards at the appropriate positions and dimensions of obstructions such as pipes and air vents. Using a jigsaw, notch the cut lines. Utilize interlocking tongue and groove connectors to link planks.

Utilizing a specialty stapler to secure hardwood flooring planks

Read Also: How to Install Hardwood Floors | Step by Steps guide

Step 7:

On the Remaining Rows, a Special Hardwood Flooring Stapler is Used.
Place the groove of the following plank of prefinished hardwood flooring over the tongue of the previous row. Utilize a specialized stapler that places itself against the edge of the tongue to drive a staple at the proper angle.

Step 8:

Vary the Grain Patterns and Colors of the Planks

Before installation, remove all planks from their packaging and spread them out on the floor to combine their colors and grain patterns. Stagger boards with distinguishable variances so that they blend rather than stand out as a bunch.

Step 9:

Undercut Door Casings and Install Subfloor Planks Install the Planks underneath.

Cut door casings so that the boards can be installed underneath. Cut away the casing by resting a side saw on a scrap hardwood plank at the appropriate height and using the saw to remove the case. Notch the to-be-installed planks, then slide them below and secure them.

Step 10:

Install Strips of Quarter-round Molding over the Expansion Gap

When the installation of the prefinished hardwood flooring is complete, install or reinstall strips of quarter-round molding along the floor at the base of the cabinets and baseboards. The trim will conceal the perimeter expansion gap.