Flooring

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  Creating High-End Interiors With MDF (Subscriber content)

  Though it costs less than wood, MDF is arguably a better material for a paint-grade job. Here are some design and installation tips.

   

• Q&A: Should Floor Trusses Be Attached to Walls Below?

  Q. What is the proper way to attach an interior basement wall to floor trusses ? both perpendicular walls and walls that run parallel with the bottom chord and fall between the trusses. I have been told to nail directly to the trusses, and I have bee

   
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  No-Callback Carpet Installation

  Though it ultimately comes down to the carpet installer, there are measures the GC can take to ensure a top-notch job. Here’s the lowdown on choosing the right carpet and pad, locating seams, and prepping the site for installation.

   

• Inside Interior Doors (Subscriber content)

  New engineered-lumber cores have cut the cost and improved the stability of raised-panel doors. Here’s an overview.

   

• Q&A: Carpet Filtration Mystery

  Q: We are builders in the Philadelphia area. Over the past few years, we’ve experienced several cases of what we’ve been told is "carpet filtration" — dark ghost lines that appear on the carpet under doors and around the perimeter of rooms. We tested the hvac system and found a sizeable imbalance...

   

• Installing Laminate Floors (Subscriber content)

  Plastic laminate, with its choices of colors and patterns, has moved from countertops to floors. We follow a professional flooring contractor as he shows how to lay a flat, durable finish floor with this versatile material.

   

• Fast, Accurate Trim (Subscriber content)

  A high-quality trim job doesn’t have to take forever. A finish foreman tells how to measure, cut, and install wood trim quickly and without error.

   

• Trouble-Free Stairs (Subscriber content)

  In stair-building, most finish headaches start out as framing foul-ups. A veteran builder shows how to accurately figure rise and run, locate landings, and install squeakless treads and risers.

   

• Q&A: Health Effects of Foam

  Q: We typically build energy-efficient houses with 1-inch foil-faced polyisocyanurate foam on the interior of our walls. But more than one customer has questioned us about the potential health effects of the foam. Their concerns seem to stem from the outgasing of chemicals, more than the potential...

   

• Laying Wide Pine Floors (Subscriber content)

  In many parts of the country, softwood is a traditional flooring material. A veteran finish carpenter explains his method for installing wide-board softwood floors.