Installation & Assembly

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INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR

URETHANE FINISHED FLOORS

Installation is the responsibility of the Homeowner, Installer, Retailer, and Contractor.

The Element Flooring Company assumes no liability for any installation. It is the responsibility of the

installer to ensure the job site conditions and method/manner of installation meet all criteria acceptable

to The National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) as well as those listed in these instructions. Only

a qualified professional hardwood flooring installer should perform your hardwood flooring installation.

These Installation Instructions should be followed carefully to ensure the proper installation of your new

Element Flooring hardwood floor.

P roduct Inspection

Beautiful hardwood floors are a product of nature and therefore, are not perfect. Element Flooring

hardwood floors are manufactured in accordance with accepted industry standards, which permit a defect

tolerance not to exceed 5%. The defects may be of a manufacturing or natural manner.

It is strongly suggested that upon delivery of product to the jobsite, two or three boxes/bundles be opened

and laid out before the end user. The end user/homeowner should compare the contents of each

box/bundle to their floor sample to verify that it is the expected product. Reseal these boxes with tape

after inspection is completed. If there is any discrepancy between what was expected/purchased and the

actual product received, DO NOT PROCEED WITH THE INSTALLATION! Notify the retailer, dealer,

or contractor immediately.

Element Flooring prohibits the use of any adhesive tape on the flooring at any time during

installation or thereafter. This includes tapes that are specially made for wood flooring, such as

blue or green masking tapes. Such use of tape may void this Warranty and no claims will be

addressed in regards to defects in the finish as a result of the use of tape.

Individual wood products may vary due to dye lot changes in the staining process. Element Flooring

cannot honor claims due to a lack of on-site product inspection/acceptance by the homeowner/purchaser.

The homeowner/installer should perform a final inspection of the boxes/bundles to check on

manufacturing and factory finish of the delivered product. The installer must use reasonable selectivity

and hold out or cut off pieces with defects, whatever the cause. Element Flooring shall not accept

responsibility for the installation of flooring with visible defects. The use of stain, filler, or putty stick

for the correction of minor defects during installation should be accepted as normal procedure.

Summary of content (10 pages)

PAGE 1
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR URETHANE FINISHED FLOORS Installation is the responsibility of the Homeowner, Installer, Retailer, and Contractor. The Element Flooring Company assumes no liability for any installation. It is the responsibility of the installer to ensure the job site conditions and method/manner of installation meet all criteria acceptable to The National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) as well as those listed in these instructions.
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Note: Before installing Element Flooring hardwood flooring, the installer and homeowner should verify that the jobsite and sub floor conditions meet all installation requirements as outlined here. Our Limited Warranty does not cover flooring failures resulting from poor jobsite and/or poor sub floor conditions.
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Radiant Heat Guidelines and Conditions Element Flooring Euro Oak and Walnut hardwood is warranted over radiant heat. Maple and Hickory are not warranted over radiant heat. To install any of our flooring products over radiant heat, the following procedures and information should be followed for best results: Only Element Hardwood Flooring products, greater than 1⁄2” thickness are approved for installation over radiant heated subfloors using Adhered installation methods for the product.
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Acclimation Process / Jobsite Conditions Do not open boxes/bundles of Element Flooring hardwood flooring until the day of installation. Always store boxes/bundles on a flat surface. Protect the boxes/bundles from moisture. The jobsite should have a consistent room temperature between 60° and 80°F. The relative humidity should be maintained between 35-55%, before, during and after installation. Do not open the boxes/bundles or take the planks out until the wood floor is acclimated and ready to be installed.
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Concrete Subfloors Continued Remember: A "DRY" SLAB, AS DEFINED BY THESE TESTS CAN BE WET AT OTHER TIMES OF THE YEAR. THESE TESTS D O NOT GUARANTEE A “CONTINOUS” DRY SLAB. ALL CONCRETE SLABS SHOULD HAVE A MINIMUM OF 6-MIL POLY FILM MOISTURE BARRIERS BETWEEN THE GROUND AND THE CONCRETE. Grind high spots or use a Portland-cement based leveling material (minimum compressive strength 3000 psi) to fill all low spots to a maximum height variation of 1/8” in a 6’ radius or a 3/16” in a 10’ radius.
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Wood Subfloors Continued Subfloor panels should conform to U.S. Voluntary Product Standard PS1-07, Construction and Industrial Plywood and/or US Voluntary PS 2-04 and/or Canadian performance standard CAN/CSA 0325.0-92 Construction Sheathing. Other CSA standards also apply. Acceptable Panel Subfloors: Truss/joist spacing will determine the minimum acceptable thickness of the panel subflooring.
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Blending of Cartons To achieve a uniform appearance across the entire floor, we highly recommend that you open and work from several cartons/bundles of Element Flooring hardwood flooring at a time and dry-lay the flooring, mixing the planks from several cartons/bundles. This will allow you to blend the planks for maximum aesthetic appearance.
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Glue Down installation Continued Installing The Floor Spread the adhesive from the chalk line/straightedge out to approximately the width of two planks. Install the first row of starter planks along the chalk line/straightedge and secure into position with the tongue facing the starter wall. NOTE: Proper alignment is critical. Misaligned starter rows can cause side and end gaps to appear in proceeding rows of flooring. When you have the starter rows complete, you can begin the next row.
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Nail Down Installation Additional Tools and Material Needed: Drill Tapping Block Compressor w/air hose and in line regulator Pneumatic Nailer/Stapler Industry approved moisture vapor retarder such as Aquabar NOTE: Our products are not warranted against squeaking, popping or crackling when using staple-down or nail-down installation methods. Some squeaking, popping or crackling is normal and possible when using staple-down or nail-down installation methods.
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Nail Down Installation Continued After the subfloor has been properly cleaned and prepped cover the subfloor with an industry approved moisture vapor retarder such as Aquabar. This material will help to keep the floor clean and help to retard moisture from below (there is no complete moisture barrier system for staple or nail-down applications). Select a starter wall. An outside wall is best: it's most likely to be straight and square with the room.