Apex Panels Installation Guide

For Antoinette, Bordeaux and Buckingham parquet panels. 31.5 inch square, 3/4 inch thick engineered white oak.

1. Before you start

Job site conditions

• The building must be closed in. Windows and doors are installed. Concrete, drywall, paint and all other wet work are finished and dry.
• Heating and air conditioning must be running for at least 5 days before delivery, during the install and after it.
• Hold the room at 60 to 80 degrees F and 30 to 50 percent relative humidity. Keep it there for the life of the floor.
• Store cartons flat, inside the conditioned space, off the concrete. Keep cartons closed until you are ready to install.
• Gutters and grading must move water away from the building. Crawl spaces need a ground cover and at least 18 inches of clearance.

Tools and materials

• Moisture meter for wood, and a concrete moisture test kit for slabs
• 10 foot straightedge, tape measure, framing square, chalk line (a laser helps)
• Wood flooring adhesive and the trowel the adhesive maker calls for
• Rubber mallet, tapping block, pull bar, 1/2 inch spacers
• Track saw or table saw, miter saw, jamb saw
• Blue painter's tape, adhesive remover made for your adhesive, clean rags
• 100 pound floor roller, if the adhesive maker calls for one

2. Subfloor

The subfloor must be clean, dry, flat and solid. Most pattern floor problems start here.

• Flat: within 3/16 inch in 10 feet, or 1/8 inch in 6 feet. Grind high spots. Fill low spots with a cement based patch or leveler rated for wood flooring adhesive.
• Clean: scrape and vacuum. Remove paint, drywall mud, oil, wax, curing compound and old adhesive.
• Solid: no loose panels, no squeaks, no movement. Screw down anything that moves.

Which method to use

Moisture testing

• Wood subfloor: take readings across the room. The subfloor should read 12 percent or less and be within 2 percentage points of the flooring.
• Concrete: the slab should be at least 30 days old. Test with in-slab relative humidity probes (ASTM F2170) or a calcium chloride kit (ASTM F1869). Stay inside the limit printed for your adhesive.
• Write down your readings, the date, and the room temperature and humidity. Keep them with the job file.

3. Layout lines

Pattern floors are laid from the center of the room out to the walls, never from a wall. Walls are rarely straight or square.

1. Measure the room and mark the middle of each end wall. Snap a chalk line between the marks. This is Line 1.
2. Mark the middle of Line 1. Snap Line 2 through that point, square to Line 1.
3. Check square with the 3-4-5 rule. Measure 4 feet along one line and 3 feet along the other. The distance between those two marks must be exactly 5 feet. If it is not, fix Line 2 before going on. In a big room use 6, 8 and 10 feet.
4. Sight down the lines to the doorways and the main view into the room. Shift the lines if the pattern needs to line up with a doorway, fireplace or hallway.

Plan the panel grid

1. Dry lay a row of panels along Line 1 and a row along Line 2, with no adhesive. Fit the tongues and grooves tight.
2. Look at the cut panels at each wall. Opposite walls should get the same size cut. Try to keep cuts at half a panel or more.
3. If the cuts are thin, move the grid half a panel (15 3/4 inches). This puts the middle of a panel on the center line in place of a seam. Pick the layout with the larger cuts.
4. Decide the direction of the pattern now. Every panel must face the same way, with tongues pointing the same way.
5. Open several boxes and mix panels from all of them as you work so color and grain blend across the room.

4. Set the panels

1. Spread adhesive in one corner where the two lines cross. Cover enough for 2 to 4 panels.
2. Set Panel 1 with its corner exactly on the crossing point and its edges exactly on both lines. Line up the wood edge, not the tongue. This panel sets the whole room. Take your time.
3. Set Panel 2 beside it along Line 2. Lower it into the adhesive a short distance away and slide it in to seat the tongue and groove. Tap with a block and mallet. Never hit the panel edge directly.
4. Set Panel 3 along Line 1, then Panel 4 in the corner between them. Keep building out in a stair step so each new panel locks into two panels.
5. Check all four corners where panels meet. The seams must form a clean cross. Fix it now. An error of 1/32 inch per panel grows to 1/4 inch in eight panels.
6. Every second panel (63 inches), measure back to your chalk lines. Snap extra grid lines across the room if it helps.
7. Tape across seams with blue painter's tape to hold panels tight while the adhesive sets. Pull the tape within 24 hours.
8. Finish one quarter of the room, then do the next quarter the same way, working back toward your exit.
9. Cut the border panels last. Measure each one. Leave the 1/2 inch gap at the wall.

5. Edges and finish

• Expansion gap: leave at least 1/2 inch at every wall, door frame, pipe, cabinet, hearth and post. Do not fill the gap. Cover it with base and shoe molding nailed to the wall, never to the floor.
• Door frames: undercut jambs and casings with a jamb saw so the floor slides under.
• Cuts: cut with the finished face up on a table saw or track saw, face down with a circular saw. Use a sharp fine tooth blade.
• Doorways and other floors: use a T-molding or reducer and keep the gap under it.
• Rolling: if the adhesive label calls for it, roll the floor with a 100 pound roller within the stated time.
• Cure: keep foot traffic off for 24 hours. Wait 48 hours for furniture and 2 weeks for area rugs, or as the adhesive label states.
• Protection: if other trades are still working, cover the floor with breathable builder's paper. Do not use plastic. Do not tape to the finished face.

Care

• Sweep or vacuum with a hard floor head. Clean with a cleaner made for polyurethane finished wood. No wet mops, steam mops, oil soaps or wax.
• Put felt pads under furniture and mats at outside doors.
• Keep the home at 30 to 50 percent relative humidity all year. Small seasonal gaps are normal for real wood.

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