How To Install Wood Flooring & Underlayment In The Kitchen
The best way to install wood flooring in a kitchen to make it last
This project is sponsored by Eco Friendly Cork Foam Underlayment see our policies here
When Adam & I did our first walk-thru in our soon to be forever home, one of the first things we noticed were the floors.
The downstairs main areas were covered in dark, worn, wood floors, including the kitchen.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a wood flooring kinda girl (which you will see in a minute 😉) but these ones are just not really our style & were also warping pretty badly.
We knew that someday we would take on ripping those suckers out & replacing them with something light & bright.
Well y’all today is that day!
If you have been following along with us for any time at all you know we have basically been in a massive kitchen remodel since the day we moved in…
Going on a full year later we are finally starting to see something resembling a light (still too far away to know for sure 😉).
Let’s catch you up though & show you what we started with:
That photo was taken on our very first walk-thru of the house.
This is what is looked like 2 weeks after we moved in:
We tore down the back wall that enclosed the old laundry room to expand the kitchen.
Here is the new laundry room reveal
The flooring back there was tile that was cracked & needed to be removed.
It was at this point that we noticed a pretty major problem…
There was no underlayment under the wood flooring!
So even if we wanted to leave the wood floors we really couldn’t.
Now that we are further along with this kitchen renovation we are finally ready to handle the no-underlayment-ugly-wood-flooring issue!
Supplies:
Wood Flooring
Steel Pull Bar
Tapping Block
Spacers
How To Install Wood Flooring & Underlayment In The Kitchen
Removing Old Flooring/Prep:
After we removed the enormously heavy island out of the way, it was time to get started ripping up the old flooring.
We used a pry bar & hammer to pull up the individual planks.
Once we got about halfway through ripping up the floor we noticed some spots had this weird thing black sheeting.
It had staples securing it to the floor so we removed those with a pry bar as well.
Once all the flooring & the weird cloth thing was removed we sanded & leveled the floor.
Next, we swept the subfloor to remove all the dirt & debris.
Laying Underlayment:
Finally it’s time to lay our new underlayment down!
Eco Cork Foam is our go to favorite underlayment, we used it most recently in our master bedroom makeover.
Not only do we love the sound suppression it provides but it’s also waterproof which makes it a must for any kitchen floor installation!
Start by rolling it out in the direction you plan on laying the flooring.
Use a sharp box blade to cut it to length.
Laying the underlayment is by far the fastest & easiest portion of the project, especially since everything you need is already attached to the ECF roll.
After the underlayment is all laid out & attached, use a box cutter to cut out any air vents.
Installing Hardwood Flooring:
Before I start actually installing anything I like to open a few boxes of the flooring & mix in pieces.
This helps blend the slight color variations between boxes.
The engineered hardwood we chose to go with is called Shenandoah Oak & it already has different length pieces in each box!
Light hardwood flooring in the kitchen
Now it’s time to actually install the flooring, start on one wall of the room & add spacers between the boards & wall.
This flooring is installed with the click and lock method.
Each board clicked into the one before it, then we used a tapping block & dead blow hammer to lock it into place.
We worked in about three row sections mixing in the different length boards.
The main thing to consider when deciding the placement of the boards is that you want at least 6 inches in-between seams.
This will make the click and lock mechanism more durable!
Installing the floors actually went pretty quickly, the only thing that takes a bit of extra time is cutting out notches for the vents.
A jigsaw works great for cutouts, just make sure you have a hardwood blade installed.
During every project there is a happy dance point & this was ours!
We weren’t done yet but this already felt like such a major victory.
Finishing Touches:
After we recovered from the happy dance, it was time to attach the new shoe molding.
We cut it to length with a miter saw & attached the pieces with finishing nails.
Some people attach small trim pieces with just adhesive, but we have a toddler whose mission is destruction so we need things extra secure…
Once the necessary baseboards were replaced & shoe molding was attached we caulked all the seams.
Finally, we painted the new trim work Alabaster to match the walls (controversial I know 😉) & we were finished!
Tip: When painting trim I like to take a piece of construction paper & jam it between the floor & trim, this saves me from having to tape off the floor.
Kitchen Flooring Reveal:
I feel like I need a bigger word than Ta Da!
This space feels so much more complete now that the entire kitchen has one type of flooring.
And it feels even better knowing the entire space now has the proper amount of underlayment protection underneath!
These new floors definitely give the space a brighter & cozier feel.
We still have some projects left to tackle in here & a stove needs to make an appearance but this was a huge step in the right direction!
Let me know any questions you have & what you think of our new flooring!
