Apex System Installation Guide

For Chevron, Versailles and Herringbone pattern flooring. 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.

Each pattern below starts from these two lines. Go to your pattern:

Chevron  |  Versailles  |  Herringbone

4. Chevron

Chevron pieces have angled ends. The ends meet point to point and make a straight line of V shapes down the room. The boxes hold left pieces and right pieces. Sort them into two stacks before you start.

1. Dry fit one left piece and one right piece into a V. Measure the width of one piece from point to point, square across. That is your column width.
2. Use Line 1 as the center line. The points of the first V sit on this line.
3. Snap a check line on each side of Line 1, one column width away. Add more check lines across the room at the same spacing.
4. Screw a straight board to the subfloor along Line 1 as a temporary backer. It gives the first column something solid to push against.
5. Spread adhesive for the first column on one side of the backer.
6. Set the first piece with its angled end tight to the backer and its far point on the check line. Add the next piece above it, tongue into groove. Keep going one piece after the next down the room.
7. After every 4 or 5 pieces, check that the outer points still touch the check line. Adjust now, not later.
8. Let the first column grab. Remove the backer. Set the second column against the first so each pair of ends meets in a clean point on Line 1.
9. Keep adding columns out to both walls. Check each column against its line.
10. Cut the wall pieces last and leave the 1/2 inch gap.

5. Versailles

The box holds 9.5 inch squares and sticks that are 3.55 inches wide and 22.55 inches long. The sticks weave around the squares. Each stick runs past two squares and crosses one joint. The next stick in line stops where a stick going the other way crosses.

1. Sort squares and sticks into separate stacks. Mix pieces from several boxes.
2. Dry lay a section about 4 feet square with no adhesive. Follow the picture below. Make sure every stick end butts tight against the side of a crossing stick.
3. Measure your dry lay from the edge of one square to the same edge of the next square. It should be 13.05 inches (one square plus one stick width). Two repeats should be 26.1 inches.
4. Snap a grid on the subfloor from Line 1 and Line 2 at every second repeat (26.1 inches) in both directions. These grid lines keep the weave square across the room.
5. Spread adhesive in one grid box next to the center.
6. Set the first stick just below Line 2 with its long edge on the line. Line 1 should cross it 9.5 inches from one end. Set the first square above Line 2, tight in the corner made by the two lines. The picture shows this starting spot.
7. Add the sticks that cross it, then the next squares, following the picture. Engage every tongue and groove. Tap with a block.
8. Work out from the center in a stair step, one grid box at a time. At each grid line, check that the pieces land on the line. Correct right away.
9. Tape across joints with blue painter's tape while the adhesive sets.
10. At the walls, cut squares and sticks to fit and leave the 1/2 inch gap. A straight border of sticks around the room makes a clean edge.

6. Herringbone

Herringbone boards are 6.5 inches wide and 32.5 inches long with square ends. The end of one board meets the side of the next at 90 degrees, making a zigzag. If your boxes hold left and right boards (the tongue is on opposite sides), sort them into two stacks. Each zigzag uses one of each.

1. Dry fit 6 to 8 boards in the pattern, with no adhesive, into one zigzag column.
2. Snap a line through the outer corners on the left side of the column and another through the outer corners on the right side. Measure the distance between the two lines.
3. On the subfloor, snap Line A and Line B that same distance apart, with Line 1 exactly halfway between them. Line 1 is now Line C, the center of the pattern.
4. Cut a square of plywood about one board length on each side (32.5 inches). Screw it to the subfloor with one corner on Line C so its two edges run at 45 degrees to the line. This is your starter block.
5. Spread adhesive in front of the starter block.
6. Set the first board against one edge of the block. Set the second board against the other edge, with its end tight to the side of the first board. You now have the first V.
7. Keep adding boards one side, then the other, working down the room. This is the zigzag course. Each board's outer corner must touch Line A or Line B.
8. Check the corners against the lines every 3 or 4 boards. Tap boards back in line before the adhesive grabs.
9. When the first course has set, remove the starter block and fill in behind it.
10. Snap new working lines for the next course at the same spacing. Lay the next course tight to the first. Repeat out to both walls.
11. Cut the wall pieces last and leave the 1/2 inch gap.

7. 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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