Thinking about a major DIY project?

 When it comes to natural beauty and durability, wood is the material of choice for floors.

Actually, wood can be a warm, beautiful flooring option for bathrooms as long as it’s given a sturdy, protective finish and is dutifully maintained.

Unless you’re experienced in sanding and finishing wood floors, you’ll do well to hire a qualified local hardwood flooring installer (like Unbeatable Floor Company based in Laguna Hills, CA) or, if you want to do it yourself, choose the prefinished type because floor sanding is incredibly dusty work, and a drum sander, in the hands of an amateur, can leave visible marks and ridges on the floor.

- Boards are often delivered in random lengths. Before securing the remaining boards to the subfloor, test fit the boards in sections. Traditional strip or plank wood flooring is fastened down to subflooring and then sanded and finished. Newer prefinished wood floorings are fastened down the same way but do not require finishing.

- Before installing wood flooring, stack it indoors for a few days to allow the wood time to adjust to your home’s humidity level. Mark the positions of the floor joists along a wall for reference and cover the subfloor with a layer of 15-pound asphalt felt to provide some moisture protection and minimize squeaks.

- If the room is seriously out of square, position the tongue of the first row parallel to the centerline and rip the groove side at an angle parallel to the wall. During installation, you’ll find it’s helpful to lay out several rows of boards, staggering them so no end joint is closer than 6 inches to an end joint in the next row. Use a radial arm saw or power miter saw to cut the boards. When blind-nailing with a hammer and finishing nails, don’t try to drive the nails flush–the indentations will show.

- Cover the subfloor with a layer of 15-pound asphalt felt, overlapping seams by about 3 inches. Measure the room’s width at two or more points to establish an accurate centerline, and snap a chalk line parallel to your starting wall.

- To indicate the edge of the first row of flooring, snap another chalk line about 1/2 inch from the starting wall exactly parallel to your centerline.

- Choose the longest boards or widest planks for the first row.

- Blind-nail this and the next two rows by hand. Drill pilot holes at a 45-to-50-degree angle through the tongues, centered on each joist or sleeper, at the ends and every 10 inches along the lengths.

- When installing the second row and every row thereafter, move a short piece of flooring along the edge and give it a sharp rap with a mallet to tighten the new row against the previous row before nailing. Remember that end joints in two adjacent rows should not be closer than 6 inches; end joints should also not line up over a joint in the subfloor.

- If you’re installing flooring over a large area, use a flooring nailer once you’ve installed the first three rows.

- When you reach the final row, use a block and a pry bar to wedge the last boards tightly into position.

If your new floor will cause a change of level to a hallway or adjoining room, install a reducer strip for a smooth transition. It can also be butted against the edges or ends of grooves.