Snap together wood flooring eliminates your need for adhesives, nails, or screws of any kind. All you need to do is apply a little pressure to the planks in order to join them together and you’re on your way to enjoying a new and beautiful wood floor in a fraction of the time it takes to install more traditional flooring options.
Snap Together Floors vs. Tongue and Groove Floors
The most obvious benefit of snap together wood flooring is the ease of installation. It’s one of the most cost-effective residential flooring products and does not require traditional flooring staplers and nailers. Snap together floors are designed for floating installation and therefore are always engineered structure. Although engineered wood floors come in 2 types of structures T&G (tongue and groove) or Snap Together (click lock), you can install a snap-together floor without any glue.
Styles
You will have a variety of different styles to select from when looking for snap together hardwood floors. While some manufacturers such as Kahrs, Haro, and Boen specialize in click-lock snap together floors. Others such as Mirage produce these in additional to traditional T&G or Solid Wood.
Installation
Click Lock wood flooring is really one of the simplest flooring products to install, period. Before you get started, however, be sure to read installation instructions carefully so you know what you’re doing. If you think you are getting in over your head, you can always hire a pro. Remember, easier installation isn’t just beneficial for do-it-yourselfers. It also means faster installation times and for those who prefer to hire the job out. Make sure to use a high quality padded underlayment such as Floor Muffler to make sure your flooring does not sound hollow when you walk over every morning.
Common Pitfalls
Snap together floors are great when done right. However, be sure the subfloor is flat prior to installation. Floating floors will magnify subfloor unevenness and hollow spots can be felt after installation. Installing over an uneven subfloor will put excessive stress on the seams of your wood floors causing separation over time. Another common pitfall includes not leaving enough expansion space along the walls or other hard surfaces. If you come home to a hump in the middle of your living room, the most likely issue is lack of expansion space along the walls. Manufactures recommend half inch expansion in most cases. The good thing about click lock snap together floors is that almost all problems can be addressed by unclicking the floors to disengaging the lock for repairs and replacements.