From Our Sawmill to Your Home

Reading the following information will help ensure successful receipt and installation of your wood floor

Shipping Receiving/ Unloading Pre-Installation Acclimation Installation

How We Ship Your Wide Plank Floor

  • When you order a floor from HFP, we calculate the least expensive and most convenient way for you to receive it.  If you live in the New England area, it is often less expensive for us to deliver to your home.  We arrange a day and time that work best for you.  Our driver will help you or your contractor unload your floor from our truck and carry it inside your home. 
  • If you live outside the New England area, we compare rates with several carriers to get you the lowest shipping rate available.  Most often, your flooring is delivered by a common carrier in a box trailer truck.  Please note that there are some locations (such as dead end streets or circles in cul de sacs) where these trucks cannot go; if this is the case, let us know and we will arrange another method of delivery.


Receiving and Unloading Your Wide Plank Floor

  • If your floor will arrive by common carrier, your least expensive option is to select a projected delivery date; you can select this date when you pay the balance on your order. In our experience, the projected delivery date turns out to be the actual delivery date about 75 percent of the time. The carrier will call you the day they plan to arrive and give you a window of hours when they anticipate delivery. Projected delivery requires some flexibility on your part, but it is the least expensive option with a common carrier.
  • If you prefer or require an exact date and time for arrival, this option is also available via common carrier, but the carrier charges an additional fee for the guaranteed delivery date. Please let us know if you prefer an exact delivery date.
  • Though many carrier drivers will help you unload the material off of the truck, they are not obligated to do so unless you have requested this service in advance. If you will be needing unloading assistance, please let us know when you place your order so we can arrange this with the carrier.
  • Your flooring is packed in a custom-built wooden crate.  When the carrier arrives at your location, you will need to open the crate with a claw hammer or pry bar.  It comes apart quite easily.  You will also need a pair of tin snips to cut the steel straps that surround the bundles of flooring. The planks then need to be unloaded from the truck.  Usually one person in the truck can hand down a stack of planks at a time for other people to carry into the home.  With a couple of people to unload, you should be able to move 500 square feet per hour.  If you have ordered a lot of material, plan to have extra help on hand.  After the first hour of unloading, the carrier will assess additional charges unless you have opted in advance to have the carrier leave the trailer for a 24-hour period at no additional charge.  Please let us know if you would like to have the trailer left at your location for a day.
  • As you carry your material into your home, you will want to stack it in an area where it will be out of the way, on the opposite side of the room from where the installation will begin, or in an adjacent room.  Consolidate the planks into neat and evenly stacked piles—separated by width if possible.  If your floor is supplied unfinished and you have requested lathes for acclimation, this will be easy. Place lathes between the layers of planks to allow air to flow around all four sides of the boards for optimal acclimation. 

A bundle of our Red Oak flooring before being wrapped for shipment.
Flooring orders are bundled as shown then packed inside a custom built wooden crate to be shipped to your home / job site.

Pre-Installation Guidelines

  • Flooring installation and finishing should be one of the last jobs performed on any construction or remodeling project.  The building must be completely enclosed with all outside windows and doors in place. Evaluate the site to make sure the flooring will not be exposed to extremes of humidity or moisture. Interior environmental conditions should be near the average for the geographic area. Always follow local building codes. Before installing your flooring, all other trades in your home such as wallboard, plaster and paint should be complete.  There are two small exceptions to this rule: 1.) The final coat of paint may be applied after the floor is installed, but before it is sanded and finished. (This helps cover any possible nicks or scratches on the wall that could occur during installation of the flooring.) 2.) Any cabinets or kitchen islands may be installed very carefully after the floor has had one coat of finish applied. 
  • Be sure you are installing your solid plank flooring on or above grade level. We do not recommend installing solid wood flooring below grade. A flooring level is considered to be below grade where soil is present along any perimeter wall and is more than 3 inches above the installed wood flooring level. Ground should be sloped away from the house for proper drainage.

 

Acclimating Your Flooring:

  • The ideal environment for any wood product in your home is a constant temperature and a constant humidity level of 40% to 50%.  Your home’s humidity may vary more than this, so be prepared for some seasonal expansion and contraction in wider floor planks.  Some species, cuts. and widths will move more than others.  Proper acclimation and installation is very important in regard to this as well.  Your home should be fully enclosed with the HVAC up and running at normal living conditions for at least a week prior to the arrival of your wood flooring.   
  • At Hull Forest Products we often recommend at least one week for acclimation (depending on where you live). When your flooring arrives, it should be brought inside the home and stacked in piles in the room(s) in which it will be installed. The piles should be composed of 1 layer of sticks, 1 layer of boards, 1 layer of sticks, and so on. This will allow the air to move freely between the planks. Be sure there is space between the edges of the planks as well.
  • Once your flooring arrives, it is good practice to allow up to a week of acclimation time during which time your flooring will reach equilibrium with your homes environment.  Acclimation may not be necessary depending on product, location, and time of year.  Moisture content of your flooring vs. subfloor can be verified with the use of a moisture meter. Acclimation time is climate dependent; we will make recommendations specific to your location at the time you place your order. Generally, you want your flooring and subfloor to be within 2% moisture content of each other.  Subflooring should be level and at least ¾” thick, with 16” on center joists.  There should not be any flex in the subfloor. 

 

Installing Your Floor

This section is a brief description of the general process of installing wide plank hardwood flooring.  Once you have purchased a Hull plank floor, we will make detailed step-by-step instructions available to you. 


For underlayment, 15 lb. felt paper is still the most commonly used product.  In situations where the flooring is to be installed over crawl spaces or other areas of questionable humidity levels, a stronger moisture blocking material such as Aquabar may be used.  Any excess humidity must also be mitigated with the use of ventilation and dehumidification.


If you have opted to do the end trimming yourself, you will now need to end trim the planks with a mitre saw before they are laid down.  This will create some additional sawdust and wood scraps on site.     

For plank widths of 3” through 5”, simply blind nailing or “toe nailing” the floor down is an acceptable way to fasten it.  For widths of 6” or more, we recommend blind nailing as well as using fasteners through the tops of the planks.  This includes either top nails or screw and plugging.  For some species, only screw and plugging will have the required holding power.  The most common hole and plug size for wide plank floors is ½”.  These fasteners should be installed every other floor joist, 32” on center, as well as at the plank ends.  Fasteners are generally located 1” in from the sides and ends of the planks.  Two to four fasteners can be used across the width of the planks depending on how wide, and what species.  Hull Forest Products can provide these plugs or you can purchase a plug cutter and use a drill press to cut them yourself.  Some customers use a contrasting species of plug for appearance, while others use the same species and orient the grain so that the plugs are nearly invisible.  When you are ready, we can provide comprehensive installation instructions based on your product, subfloor, and location.  We are also available by phone or email to answer any questions you may have.    

Call 1-800-928-9602 to request step-by-step installation instructions.