Wood Flooring Accessories: From Underlayment to Stair Parts

Hardwood is already a thing of beauty and strength. But, just as with any floor type, the right hardwood floor accessories will complete the look of your flooring and ensure that it performs at its best. These include prep and installation materials such as underlayment, floor preparation material, adhesives, and molding like baseboard and quarter round, stair parts, and vent grills. And for the long term, floor protection and maintenance essentials will help to keep your floor looking great.

 

Subfloor Prep and Flooring Installation

First and foremost, it’s important to consult the Warranty, Installation, and Care (WIC) guide associated with your particular wood flooring product. It will tell you what kind of installation methods to use and guide you step by step through the installation—from subfloor prep to the finishing touches.

 

Subfloor prep materials you may need to include self-leveling agents and patches to even out your subfloor. If you’re gluing down your flooring, you’ll need a specific flooring adhesive. If you are installing a wood floor over concrete, which is only suitable with engineered hardwood, you will need moisture control products as well.

 

A good, premium underlayment can help make your floor sound and feel more comfortable. Some of them also include moisture protection.

 

What Tools Do You Need for Wood Flooring?

For solid hardwood, you’ll either be nailing down your floor, nailing with glue assist, or gluing it directly to the subfloor. Many engineered hardwood options feature a click profile, allowing you to install it as a floating floor—no nails or glue required.

 

The tools and equipment you need will depend on your installation method. For instance, if you’re nailing down tongue and groove hardwood floors, you’ll need the appropriate fasteners, such as flooring cleats or flooring staples, as well as a flooring nailer or stapler (unless you want to do quite a bit of hammering!). Regardless of the installation method, cutting equipment—such as a miter saw—and spacers are necessary to ensure an appropriate expansion gap between your flooring and walls.

 

Make sure you use the appropriate trowel to apply your flooring adhesive. And, of course, basic tools like a measuring tape, a pencil, and a level are necessary for just about any flooring project.

 

Trims and Molding—the Finishing Touches

Your new floor is coming along nicely, but you might wonder how to make it look even better. This is where trims and molding come in, and your flooring project won’t be complete without them.

 

 

Baseboard and Shoe Molding

Due to changes in temperature and humidity, you might observe some natural expansion and contraction of your hardwoods. One of the functions of the baseboard is to protect the area where this occurs. Paired with a strip of shoe molding (or a quarter round, which is just a slightly different shape), this combination will hide the site of seasonal expansion and contraction. It will also frame your flooring to make it look more complete and professional.

 

While it’s up to your personal taste, the trim doesn’t necessarily need to match your hardwood. At LL Flooring, we have a wide selection of hardwood floor accessories in various wood species and colors. In some cases—like for vent grills and stair parts—you might want to choose an item that matches your flooring as closely as possible. Consider doing the same for your baseboard if you’d like to continue the wood look and make the floor appear more spacious. White is also a popular choice for baseboards when you want to more clearly separate your flooring from your walls to create a more classic look.

 

Transitions

Now that we’ve handled what goes around your flooring let’s learn more about the transition pieces and what they’re called. There are many transition moldings out there; all meant to ease the transitions to adjoining floors. For instance, a threshold helps the transition to higher/thicker flooring, while you incorporate a reducer for joining to a lower/thinner floor. You would also use a threshold for doorways. T-molding goes between floors of equal heights.

 

Stair Parts and Vent Grills

The finishing details don’t stop with the baseboard and transition molding. Carry your flooring theme to your stairs for the ultimate continuity. We offer stair risers, treads, and stair noses to match your hardwood floors. Keep the theme going strong with grills for your vents. We offer flush and drop-in styles.

 

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Protection and Care Accessories

Knowing how to care for hardwood floors—as well as preventative measures to protect them—is important for the long-term beauty of your flooring. This process is outlined in the WIC guide, which we recommend you reference to ensure the longevity of your floors.

 

Protection

Use felt pads at the bottoms of your chair and table legs to help prevent scratches and dents. It’s also helpful to place mats on either side of entryways to keep abrasive dirt from getting tracked in. Additionally, protective mats are helpful in areas prone to spills and splashes, such as under sinks.

 

If you ever have to slide large items across your wood floors, use special pads designed to avoid scratches. But if you ever do get a scratch on your hardwood floors, don’t panic. We offer scratch repair pens for easy touch-ups.

 

Cleaning and Maintenance

It’s important to use products that effectively yet gently clean your hardwood. At LL Flooring, you’ll find cleaning and dusting pads and hardwood-friendly cleaning formulas and mops.

 

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As you can see, there’s no need to wonder where to buy flooring trim and accessories, as well as the installation and maintenance products you need for your flooring project. When it comes to flooring and accessories, LL Flooring has you covered from A to Z.

 

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In this fun video, a manager of Moldings, Accessories, and Tools reads an LL Flooring review from a customer who describes why she chose underlayment when installing new flooring in an upstairs guest room.