Once caught up on the preliminary work of completing a sub-floor, you're ready to fasten down new wood strip basement flooring over either a new subfloor or existing floor. The following paragraphs apply to both unfinished wood flooring and the new type that comes factory finished and waxed.

To keep the new basement flooring from being marred by any dust or moisture that may work up from underneath, put down a layer of as_phalt building paper. Buy the lightweight variety known as 15-pound paper. Lay the stuff at right angles to the strips of the old floor or subfloor. Lap the seams of paper approximately 4 in.

The starter course (the first strip of wood you put down) for your basement flooring should be installed at right angles to the old floor or, if you have installed diagonal subflooring, running the long dimension of the room. At two points along the wall, measure a small amount of in. out from the baseboard and draw a guide line across these two marks so that you can put down the first flooring strip parallel to the wall.

Lay several long strips of basement flooring end to end along the guide line. The grooved side of the wood should face the wall. Nail the entire length of wood in place through the face into the subfloor. Countersink the nailheads. Later you can cover them with wood putty or filler.

Also blind-nail the entire strip for your basement flooring. There's a little technique involved here. Space the nails about 6 in. apart. Start the nail in the groove where the tongue meets the shoulder of the strip. Angle the nails about 50 degrees so that they go in diagonally.

If you are using prefinished flooring, a package of the right type nails probably came with it. If not, use lOd flooring nails for the job. Be rather careful when you blind-nail. Don't try to drive the nail all the way in using just the hammer—you'll batter the projecting tongue. Instead, use a nail set to hammer down the last small amount of in.

Before you go on with the basement flooring job, open up the cartons or bundles of flooring and lay them out loosely on the floor until you get an attractive arrangement. There'll be some variation in color, grain, etc. The odds are slim that you'll be able to cover the entire length of the floor with one board. Each strip will probably have to be pieced. You can plan this phase of the job now so that all the joints don't wind up at one end of the room. Keep end joints 6-8 in. apart or the floor will look as if you should have bought more lumber but didn't.

Tips on Technique

With basement flooring or any kind of flooring, it's a good idea to utilize as many full lengths of flooring as you can. You will still have to trim some strips and will wind up with a sizable pile of cut-offs. Traditionally these are used for closet floors. As a matter of fact, some closet floors look like they were made by a jigsaw puzzle manufacturer on his day off. Don't worry about this little gimmick. If you can use the cast off pieces for small areas, fine.

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