DIY Wood Floors: How to Install Them the Right Way
For budget-conscious homeowners, installing a wood floor yourself can look like a simple project. Home improvement shows make it look easy, so it’s natural to wonder just how hard it can be to install a hardwood floor yourself.
It’s simple in concept, but there’s more to installing hardwood floors than it first appears. The long-term success of any wood floor depends on careful installation. With a little extra knowledge, though, a do-it-yourselfer can install a strong, beautiful floor to be proud of.
DIY Installation Preparation
A good wood moisture meter plays a key role in preparing for a wood flooring installation.
A wood moisture meter measures the moisture content (MC) inside the wood. Touching the surface, or assuming the flooring has had enough time to adjust to its new environment, can’t tell you whether there are areas of high moisture in the wood subfloor or in the flooring itself.
Wood that hasn’t reached its equilibrium moisture content (EMC) can lead to flooring problems later that can be very hard to fix once they appear.
Put simply, EMC is the point where the wood’s MC is in balance with the relative humidity (RH) of the surrounding air.
Wood moisture meters come with a variety of features, but the most important one for do-it-yourselfers is a setting for the species of flooring being installed. Make sure the meter has one, and that you’re using the correct setting.
Wood moisture meters like Wagner Meters’ Orion® line have built-in species settings for hardwoods, softwoods, and exotic tropical woods.
Engineered wood flooring can make choosing the right species setting more challenging (check the manufacturer’s recommendations), but accurate MC measurement is still essential at every step of your installation.
Subfloors
Wood subfloors need the same MC check as the wood flooring going over them. Do-it-yourselfers need to make sure the subfloor is also dry and ready for the flooring installation.
Lumber manufacturers dry wood to a standard MC based on how the product will be used. Installers still need to check wood subfloors and flooring to make sure they’re dry enough for installation to go ahead.
Every stop between the lumber mill and the job site can have different conditions, so wood flooring usually needs time to acclimate to its new environment before it’s installed.
For wood subfloors, test for moisture at several locations in the room, with a minimum of 20 readings per 1,000 square feet, and average the results. Pay special attention to exterior and plumbing walls to rule out problems from plumbing, leaking appliances, or water getting in below the subfloor.
In most regions, a dry wood subfloor that’s ready for flooring has an MC of 12% or less. National Wood Flooring Association guidelines also call for the flooring to be within 4 percentage points of the subfloor’s MC for strip flooring (under 3 inches wide), or within 2 points for plank flooring (3 inches or wider). If you get high MC readings, don’t go ahead with the installation until you find and fix the source of the moisture.
Concrete subfloors can also have moisture problems. New slabs should be checked with RH testing to make sure they’re dry enough, and existing slabs should be tested too, to rule out water coming up from below the slab.
Free Download – Wood Flooring Installation: What To Expect
Wood Flooring
Your wood flooring usually needs to reach its EMC before you start installing it. Check the manufacturer’s specifications for how long the flooring should acclimate before installation.
The building should also be enclosed, with the heating or air conditioning running at normal living conditions for temperature and RH. You can help the flooring acclimate by opening the packages and stacking the boards with ¾” to 1″ stickers between each layer so air can circulate.
When the flooring is delivered, check it with a moisture meter to get a baseline MC. Typically, check 40 boards for every 1,000 square feet of flooring. Then check several samples from each package periodically to see when the flooring has reached the recommended EMC for that species.
Again, acclimate the flooring according to the manufacturer’s specifications, or as needed for your region and job site. A pinless moisture meter lets you scan individual boards quickly without damaging the flooring.
Conclusion
When MC readings are stable and within the manufacturer’s specifications, the flooring is ready to install following the manufacturer’s recommended procedures.
Good moisture meter practices help your DIY wood floor last. The floor will still expand and contract a little with the seasons, but if it was installed correctly, that movement will be minimal over the life of the floor. Measuring MC at every stage, from preparation to installation, saves do-it-yourselfers time and money.
For further reading:
How to Use a Wood Moisture Meter: 12 Tips
Right Tool, Wrong Data: Moisture Meter Mistakes
Installing carpet instead? Read our DIY checklist for installing new carpet.
Tony Morgan is a senior technician for Wagner Meters, where he serves on a team for product testing, development, and also customer service and training for moisture measurement products. Along with 19 years field experience for a number of electronics companies, Tony holds a B.A. in Management and his AAS in Electronics Technology.
Last updated on October 13th, 2026
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