Wood Floors of Dallas Podcast

DIY or Pro: The Hardwood Flooring Decision

• Hunter Ross • Episode 6

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Can I Install Hardwood Flooring Myself, Or Should I Hire A Professional?

Considering installing hardwood floors yourself? This eye-opening episode might save you thousands of dollars in mistakes and headaches. We dive deep into the true costs of DIY flooring projects and reveal why professional installation often delivers superior value despite the apparent upfront savings.

Hunter Ross, with over 20 years of flooring expertise, breaks down why some flooring types should never be DIY projects while offering candid advice about when ambitious homeowners might successfully tackle certain installations. The discussion explores how professional installations combine scientific precision with artistic craftsmanship—a balance that takes years to master. Hunter shares, "This is really a science and an art. You've got to know all the technical details about how to do it, and then you have to have the finesse and artistic talent to make it look beautiful."

The conversation turns to real-life disasters when DIY projects went terribly wrong: flooded homes from amateur plumbing attempts, broken windows during demo work, and the nightmare of discovering that door trim heights don't match new flooring thickness. These cautionary tales highlight why experienced professionals anticipate and prevent problems before they happen. As Hunter explains, "Where you think you might've been saving money, boom, there's an added expense that you couldn't have thought of."

Whether you're leaning toward DIY or professional installation, this episode equips you with crucial considerations before making your decision. Ready to transform your space with beautiful, professionally installed hardwood floors? Call 972-525-0026 for a free in-home consultation or visit Woodfloordallas.com to learn more about working with true flooring experts.

To learn more about Wood Floors of Dallas visit:
https://www.WoodFloorDallas.com
Wood Floors of Dallas
159 W. Main St., Suite 200
Lewisville, Texas 75057
972-525-0026

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Wood Floors of Dallas podcast, where we bring expert insights on hardwood flooring design and craftsmanship, hosted by Hunter Ross, owner of Wood Floors of Dallas, with over 20 years in the building product industry. Whether you're a homeowner or a general contractor, we're here to help you create amazing spaces with honor, quality and expertise. Let's get started.

Speaker 2:

Installing hardwood flooring might seem like a doable DIY project, but is it really the best approach? Here's what you need to know before taking it on yourself. Welcome back everyone. I'm Sophia Yvette, co-host, slash producer, back in the studio with Hunter Ross, owner of Wood Floors of Dallas. Hunter, how's it going today?

Speaker 3:

Going very well, Sophia. How are you?

Speaker 2:

I'm also doing well. So, hunter, hardwood flooring can transform a space, but the installation process comes with its challenges. So let's talk about whether DIY or professional installation is the way to go. Hunter, can I install hardwood floors myself, or should I hire a professional?

Speaker 3:

That is a very good question. It's a very loaded question as well when it comes to hardwood floors. First off, there's so many different kinds, right? If we're talking about solid hardwood floors, I would tell you absolutely don't even attempt it, because it is extremely complex and you have to have years and years of experience to do it. So on that part, I would say don't do anything but hire a professional. But when it comes to, let's say, a click lock wood or a vinyl or even an engineered glue down hardwood, there are some DIY people out there that are pretty capable and they can get it done. You're really going to have to spend a tremendous amount of time learning to make sure that you don't make big mistakes. That can be extremely costly.

Speaker 3:

A lot of people who have an inclination to DIY a project think that they're going to do it and save money, and the majority of the time that is not the case. Quick example is my father always wanted to DIY every single project in our house growing up. And while he got it done because he's very handy and he's very smart and very capable it always took him three times, four times longer than it would have if he would have hired a professional and while he did it pretty good, it was never done at that level of professionalism that you would have if he would have hired a professional. And while he did it pretty good, it was never done at that level of professionalism that you would get if you paid for it right. So I always used to laugh at him and say you could have got this done in a day he's like yeah, but what's the fun in that?

Speaker 3:

Like I get it right. So if you're a handy person and you love to do those types of things and work on projects around the house, you definitely can Just make sure you educate yourself. The other thing is, when it comes to having a successful installation, there's a lot of pitfalls that people run into. Not realizing how much labor and intense work that it happened that it takes is one. Not having the proper tools is another. Not knowing the little tricks like for properly preparing the floor. Like you have to have the floor very flat to begin with, and if you don't, you'll wind up with a either a click lock floor or a glue down floor that has lots of hollow spots, and it can actually cause the whole entire floor, the system, to fail. All the products are engineered for very specific tolerances and specifications and one of the biggest problems is having an uneven floor because it can cause separation of the planks and all kinds of other things. So when you're looking at considering doing a project of this scope and at this expense by yourself.

Speaker 3:

I would just say ask a ton of questions to a ton of different people and ask about their results before you attempt something like this. A professional services company like Wood Floors of Dallas we've been doing this for a long time. This is really a science and an art. You've got to know all the technical details about how to do it, and then you have to have the finesse and the artistic talent to also pull it off and make it look beautiful, as well as have the client experience be good. So you have to have a lot of artistic talent to be able to kind of there's a finesse to this. You have to be able to see problems and be very creative, because every single job is different. So that comes from years and years of experience. A professional services company like we do we've been doing it a long time.

Speaker 3:

I'm a technical expert at all these little scientific style details about the materials as well as the installation, and paying good money to a good professional to get a good result is always worth wasting money.

Speaker 3:

Paying somebody to do something that they don't know how to do. Are you attempting to spend your money and basically wasting it because it doesn't work right? I always tell people like when you need a doctor, you go to a doctor. If you have a health problem, you go to a doctor. If you're struggling with something, you go see a counselor. If you need something done in your teeth, you go to a dentist. When you are looking at the most efficient way to get a project done and you want it to be done at a very high level, then you should come to us and ask us about those details and get us to provide that expertise for you so that way we can take care of it and at the end your result is going to be exactly what you wanted. So I would say in some total, if you want to risk it, you definitely can DIY a project of this size, but when you consider the value and the expense, it's usually better to hire a professional to take care of it all for you.

Speaker 2:

Now for our people here who may insist on being DIY experts. What are the biggest challenges DIY installers face with hardwood flooring?

Speaker 3:

That's a really good question. Part of it is understanding what your unique situation is in your house. Just to give you a really quick example, flooring is different thicknesses. Some flooring is very thin, others is like thick, like three quarters of an inch thick. When you look around your home, if you look at your baseboards and you look at your door trim, that's around every single door. Those are all set to a very specific height.

Speaker 3:

Let's say you had a thick floor in and then you wanted to tear it all out and you were going back with a thin floor and you didn't even consider the fact that all of your door jams are cut perfectly to that very thick floor. When you put your new floor in and you get it installed, you run into this issue and you say, oh my gosh, now every single door jam in my entire house is cut high and I just put in a thin floor. Now I didn't even realize it. But now I'm going to have to spend thousands of dollars to go retrim all of those door jams. And so, where you think you might've been saving money, boom, there's an added expense that you couldn't have thought of. Another one how about plumbing, for example, if you have a half bath and you're putting hardwood floors in most of your home. A lot of people like to add the wood in there.

Speaker 3:

I've seen it happen before where somebody ruined their entire installation because they got to the point where they're going into the bathroom and they weren't a plumber and they didn't hire a plumber Remember, these are DIY people. So they unhooked their toilet hire a plumber. Remember, these are DIY people. So they unhooked their toilet. They attempted to unhook everything and broke a pipe and flooded their entire home and ruined weeks and weeks of material that they had installed. And all that effort, all that work, because they just didn't have that experience right. We came after the fact because they had a flood in an insurance claim and we solved the issue.

Speaker 3:

But you talk about tears of pain from the customer after all the work that they did and it was just a little thing that they didn't know to double check or to get a professional to do that one thing. And there's so many stories people breaking lights, breaking windows, they're demoing some tile. So they're trying to demo tile because they're going to put floors in Tile breaks, shards go, break windows, break furniture. There's a lot of little pitfalls that if you don't know what you're looking for, you're going to run into some.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, Wow, well, hunter, that was a great breakdown. Hardwood floors are an investment, and choosing between diy and professional installation makes a big difference. Thank you so much for the insight and we'll catch you next time thank you, I appreciate it, sophia, have a great one.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning in to Wood Floors of Dallas podcast. Ready to transform your space? Call 972-525-0026 for a free in-home consultation or visit woodfloordallascom to learn more. Work with honor, build with excellence. See you next time.