Click Lock Flooring Installation Instructions

Before Starting

When you are placing your order of our floating engineered wood flooring, remember to add 7 percent to 10 percent to the square footage needed as allowance for cutting and waste. Our floors are inspected for consistency and quality before shipment. Regardless, a pre-installation inspection of your locking wood flooring should be carried out to ensure you have the correct grade, color, size and finish. Make sure that there is enough lighting for thorough inspection. If you discover a problem in your order (must exceed the 5 percent industry standard), please contact us immediately and we will replace the items in question.

The purchaser of our flooring has the final responsibility as to signing off on grade, style, color, dimensions and quality. Before installing our wood flooring, the installer must use common sense to hold aside, relocate and cut out planks with obvious problems, whatever the cause may be. When you install any plank, that serves as acceptance of that plank and we will not accept responsibility for any plank that has been installed with obvious imperfections.

Should any piece of floor be doubtful as to color, dimensions, finish or quality the installer MUST NOT use that piece. Our company liability is limited to replacing defective flooring in excess of 5 percent, whether you purchased wood flooring on sale or regular price. We do not provide recourse for labor or other costs. All floors must acclimate for at least 72 hours to allow the wood to adjust to room temperature and relative humidity. If you have any questions about installing wood flooring, please contact Ambient Click Floors.

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Tools required

• Rubber mallet
• 40-tooth carbide saw blade
• Spacers (either wood or plastic)
• Chalk snap line
• Tape measure
• Carpenter's square
• 3-in-1 Underlayment
• Duct Tape or Masking tape

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Jobsite Requirements

Before installing the floor you or your installer have to check to make sure that the jobsite and the subfloor meet the requirements of our instructions. We are not responsible for floor problems cause by unsatisfactory jobsite or subfloor conditions. Our engineered wood flooring should be one of the last items installed on your construction or renovation project. All work on the premises that involves water or moisture must be finished prior to the floor installation.

Room temperature and humidity should be consistent with normal and year around living conditions for at least 7 days prior to installation. Room temperatures of 60º to 70º Fahrenheit and humidity range of 40% to 60% are recommended. When the humidity is high in the summer months it is absorbed by the wood causing the planks to enlarge, the reverse is true in the winter months. All wood is hygroscopic and all wood floors experience these seasonal changes. This movement in the floor can be minimized with good ventilation and/or heating and also by using a humidifier or dehumidifier.

Stack the flooring boxes in the installation environment for 72 hours before installation to allow it to adjust to the installation room temperature and humidity. Open the sides and ends of the cartons and the cut the interior plastic wrapping to allow the air to reach the wood. Do not stack the boxes directly on concrete or next to the perimeter walls.

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Acceptable Subfloors

Plywood or OSB 3/4"

Concrete slab

Existing wood floor 3/4" or greater

Particle board

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Subfloor Requirements

• Subfloor has to be structurally sound
• Subfloor has to be clean - thoroughly swept and free of all debris
• Subfloor has to be level - flat to 3/16" per 10-foot radius
• Subfloor has to be dry - subfloor must be dry year-round. The moisture content of a wood subfloor cannot exceed 12%. The moisture content of concrete must not exceed 3 lbs.

Wooden subfloors have to be be dry and well secured. If the subfloor is not level you must sand down high spots and level out low spots with an underlayment patch or a self leveling agent.

All concrete must be fully cured for at least sixty days. All concrete subfloors must be tested for moisture or a moisture barrier layer must be installed. We offer underlayments with built in moisture barriers, simply ask your representative.

If you purchased underlayment from us simply unroll the underlayment with the foil or blue piece facing down. If you have underlayment with an overlay flap make sure the overlay flap side of the piece is not facing the outside towards the wall.

Start in a corner and unroll the underlayment until it touches the far wall. Cut the underlayment so that there is approximately 1/4 inch from the underlayment to the wall. Roll out a parallel piece of underlay next to the first roll. Cut at the wall and secure the length of the seam with duct tape. If there is an overlay flap be sure to overlap the plastic and tape foam to foam. This prevents moisture from coming up between rolls. Make sure to tape all seams throughout the room. To make it easier you can also tape down the perimeter of the underlayment to the subfloor.

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Applications

All of our locking floors must be installed in a floating method, you should not glue or nail them down. If installed below grade we require that you use a moisture membrane for the warranty to be valid. We recommend using one of our three in one underlayments. Joints in the subfloor should be staggered 10 to 20 inches. Bridging the floor across the joists is highly recommended.

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Subfloor Prep

All subfloor surfaces must be clean, dry, smooth and free of dirt, wax, oil, paint, curing agents and other contaminants. Old resilient floors can stay as the subfloor as long as the confitions above are met. Wood subflooring must be made level, the use of a self-leveling agent is acceptable.

Concrete subfloors must have no cracks or holes; if so they can be filled with patching cement. All concrete subfloors have to be tested for moisture and cannot surpass 3 lbs per 1,000 square feet as determined by a calcium chloride test. If the moisture emission of the subfloor surpasses 3 lbs the warranty requires you use an moisture sealant.

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Work out of several cartons

(4-6 boxes recommended)
Wood is a natural product and has natural color variations. Mixing cartons guarantees a more natural folor effect. Never lay out a floor without considering the overall appearance. You the homeowner are responsible for ensuring that the color and pattern of planks are to your liking.

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